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New NSF-Funded Survey Aims to Understand Gender Inequity in STEM Fields
University of Central Florida researchers are starting a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded project to identify systemic gender inequities impacting university STEM faculty so that they can be addressed by the institution. The $300,000, two-year project will focus on UCF. The project will study STEM faculty’s perceptions of departmental culture through the frameworks of organizational justice […]
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Distinguished Chemistry Career Earns Recognition From American Chemical Society
Al Sattelberger, Ph.D., regularly surprises chemistry students with how readily he can predict the outcome of an inorganic or organometallic reaction. But that’s to be expected with a resume that spans 44 years — including scientific leadership positions at two DOE National Laboratories. Today Sattelberger is technically “retired”, but the pull of lab work was […]
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UCF Physics Professor Named Jefferson Science Fellow
UCF Physics Professor Humberto Campins has been named a Jefferson Science Fellow and will report to Washington D.C. beginning Nov. 21 to spend a year advising the U.S. Department of State. Campins is an international expert on asteroids. He is part of NASA’s historic OSIRIS REx mission, which is headed back to Earth with a […]
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New Study Shows Impact of Roadkill on World’s Vulnerable Animal Populations
Vehicular collisions are a common cause of death for animals such as the endangered Florida panther and the state’s black bears, and a new international study has quantified how big of a threat roads can be to the survival of animal populations around the world. The study has identified four animal populations globally that are […]
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17 Teams Awarded Almost $5 Million in Jump Start Awards
Seventeen faculty and staff projects will receive about $5 million in Jump Start funds to advance UCF’s impact under President Alexander N. Cartwright’s 2021-22 Strategic Investment Program. “I am delighted that we were able to fund so many strong proposals and only wish that we had the resources to support more of them,” says Michael […]
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Survey Certificate Program Offers Expertise For Students of Multiple Disciplines
Surveys are a great tool for measuring intangible data like feelings and opinions, but designing one that can withstand academic scrutiny takes real skills. That’s where a new Survey Research Graduate Certificate Program comes into play. The program launches in Spring 2022, and primarily targets social science students studying behavior in areas like criminal […]
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Clues Emerge: How Harmless Bacteria Go Rogue Turning into Deadly Flesh-eating Variants
For bacteria, like people, lifestyle matters. A new study from the University of Central Florida found that the environmental lifestyle that bacteria possess reveal why some go rogue and turn deadly while others remain harmless to humans. The findings, which published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focus on Vibrio […]
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2021 Another Record Year – Five Consecutive Years of Rising Research Funding
Despite a pandemic that slowed the economy; delayed or derailed some federal and private agencies’ spending plans; and frustrated supply chains, UCF generated $212.9 million in research awards — up more than $8 million from 2020. The total doesn’t include any CARES nor Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds, which the federal government provided in response […]
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3 Faculty Honored for Advancing Research, Creative Works
Three faculty members who maintained high levels of research excellence and creative works during the past year of the pandemic earned the 2021-22 UCF Women of Distinction Awards from Faculty Excellence. The winners each receive a $1,000 professional development stipend from the Office of the President and are invited to a celebration in their honor […]
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UCF’s Expertise Gets Invite to Ivy League Network of Large Laser Energy Facilities
UCF is joining LaserNetUS, a consortium of the nation’s best large laser facilities started by the Department of Energy as a part of a broader strategy to boost the nation’s standing in intense laser science. The invitation-only 11 member- network boasts big players in the laser research world, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National […]
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UCF Part of NASA Mission Launching Saturday to Explore Trojan Asteroids
UCF Physics Professor Dan Britt is counting down to Saturday morning when NASA’s Lucy mission is set to blast off from the Space Coast. Britt, a physicist and geologist, is part of the science team that will analyze the data Lucy collects from the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. This area of the solar system is […]
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UCF Grad Student Leaves No Stone Unturned to Advance Space Exploration
This Knight leaves no stone unturned, not even on the moon. Autumn Shackelford is a physics doctoral student studying planetary bodies without atmospheres. Specifically, she is looking at the surface composition of the moon and Mercury. Being the first in her family to pursue the sciences, the Tennessee native was deeply influenced by science museums […]
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Pandemic Widened Health Risks of Pregnancy, Childbirth Among Women of Color, Sociologists Say
The health risks of childbirth and pregnancy among women of color grew higher in 2020 as the pandemic widened preexisting inequities. These are among the findings two UCF sociologists presented in a chapter of the recently published “Social Problems in the Age of COVID-19.” Professor Shannon K. Carter, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Bhoomi K. Thakore, […]
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UCF Has More Than a Dozen Research Projects Aimed at Returning the U.S. to the Moon
When the U.S. returns humans to the Moon in the coming years, there’s a good chance that University of Central Florida research will have played a role in the return, whether from landing there safely, harvesting its resources, or training the next generation of space scientists. The university, known for its extensive space research, currently has […]
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Neptune Celebrates 175th Birthday, Still a Mystery Worth Solving
Students and community members got a nice view of the planet Neptune and its biggest moon Triton during one of September’s Knights Under the Stars events hosted at UCF’s Robinson Observatory. It was an early look at the planet, which today celebrates its 175th birthday. “I did a Neptune project all the way back in […]
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Student Finds Career Direction in Summer Anthropology Program
A hands-on examination of Bronze Age bones brought classroom lessons to life this summer for Hannah Jeanlouis. Jeanlouis joined the Bioarchaeology of Bronze Age Social Systems Program at the University of South Alabama during the summer of 2021. The program offers students a chance to live in Alabama for two months as they study skeletal remains housed at the Center for Archaeological Studies in the University of South Alabama. The […]
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New Study Into Latinx Behavior and Politics Launched With Acceptance of Build and Broaden Grant
The political behavior and policy preferences of the Latinx community will be the subject of a new study in the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (SPSIA). The study is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Build and Broaden 2.0 Grant, created to encourage research by scholars at minority-serving institutions to apply for grants. […]
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Scientists Work to Ensure Solutions to Red Tide Don’t Cause More Harm than Good
A team of experts from Florida and Massachusetts are evaluating a technique that may help eliminate the algae blooms that cause massive fish kills, stink up neighborhoods and disrupt the Florida economy. A recent large-scale experiment promises a deeper understanding of how marine life responds to a red tide mitigation technique called clay flocculation. Red […]
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Study Finds Critical Data Needed for Monitoring and Preserving Biodiversity is Missing
The world’s largest repository of raw genomic sequences from wild plants, animals and fungi is missing critical data necessary to monitor and protect the Earth’s biological diversity, according to a new study. The missing data includes the time and location the organism’s sample was collected, which is needed for monitoring the genetic diversity of populations. […]
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‘CBS This Morning: Saturday’ Features UCF Professor’s Work With Oysters, Climate Change
A recent segment of “CBS This Morning: Saturday” highlighted UCF Pegasus Professor of Biology Linda Walters’ work with oyster reefs, which are vital to healthy waters in Florida. The segment kicks off with an interview with Walters and CBS anchor Lonnie Quinn at Mosquito Lagoon, which is part of the Indian River Lagoon and a […]
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UCF Awarded $800,000 Grant to Establish Center on Materials Research and Education
The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Central Florida an $800,000 grant to help build a partnership with the University of Washington that will accelerate research in the areas of Ultrafast Dynamics and Catalysis in Emerging Materials. UCF was one of 10 universities selected across the nation for the award. The funding, […]
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UCF Moon Dust Research Blasts Off Aboard Blue Origin
University of Central Florida research has blasted off on another high-profile flight with the launch of spaceflight company Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket today. The research, an experiment to study charged dust behavior in microgravity, lifted off from the company’s West Texas location aboard the rocket and past the von Karman Line for three minutes […]
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Paper Gains Doctoral Student Second Place Award From Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards
Chemistry doctoral student Jordan Stanberry recently received second place in the Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Fuel and Supply Chain. The award is linked to his research paper “Oxidative Dissolution of TcO2 by Mn(III) Minerals under Anaerobic Conditions: Implications on Technetium-99 Remediation,” published in […]
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Book Profiling Early Botanist Takes Spotlight in New Smithsonian Magazine
The biography of a little-known French botanist is bringing UCF to the pages of the prestigious Smithsonian Magazine. Biology Professor Emeritus Walter Taylor, Ph.D., along with Charlie Williams, retired librarian of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Eliane Norman, professor emerita at Stetson University, published “André Michaux in North America: Journals and Letters, 1785-1797” in March 2020 […]
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A Summer of Hands-on GIS Field Work for UCF Researchers
The Citizen Science Geographic Information Systems (GIS) team at UCF spent long days trekking through shoreline mud and sweating in coastal heat this past summer — and they couldn’t have been happier about it. The return to fieldwork follows a pandemic pause on critical shoreline mapping, which the team attempted to continue with limited success […]
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UCF is 1 of 7 Universities to Win Grant to Support NASA’s Artemis Program
UCF will be a player in developing innovative technologies needed to support NASA’s Artemis program, which will return people to the moon and create a robust presence there over the next decade. The university has been awarded a $500,000 grant to create transformative space technologies by bringing together interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students to […]
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UCF Space Experts Work with School Teachers to Bring University Research Alive in Classrooms
When children return to school next week, students at four Central Florida schools will have new hands-on space science activities to look forward to, thanks to a collaboration with space experts at UCF. This past summer, teachers from East River High School, Wekiva High School, South Creek Middle School, and Mollie Ray Elementary spent time […]
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Radioactive Contaminant Research Receives Boost from American Chemical Society
New research on radioactive iodine has received the American Chemical Society Award in Environmental Chemistry. Ilana Szlamkowicz recently received the award for her research in the fate of iodine, a radioactive contaminant that results from nuclear fission in the environment. “We’re trying to find ways to lower the risk of people encountering radioactive iodine,” Szlamkowicz […]
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Study of Medieval Migration Moves Forward with NSF Grant
A deep dive into the evolution of Christianity in medieval France will continue unabated thanks to a new NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. The $19,986 grant funds the work of bioarchaeology student Jane Holmstrom, whose research centers on two cemeteries in the remnants of Saint-Jean-de-Todon, near Laudun, France. Holmstrom’s research to date is built […]
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Study: UCF Tops Production of Ergonomics and Human Factors Research Papers
The University of Central Florida and five of its researchers produced the most articles in the world on the topic of ergonomics and human factors over an 18-year span, according to a new study. The study, published July 20, 2021 in the International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, examines the volume of research produced […]