-
NIH Awards UCF Researcher $3.8 Million to Study Opiate Overdoses
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced that UCF will receive a $3.8 million milestone based grant to better understand how overdosing on opiates works, their impact on multiple organs and the effect of drugs used to treat overdoses, including potential toxicity of organs. James Hickman, a professor at […]
-
Students Travel to Iraq For Kurdish Studies
By Doreen Horschig, doctoral candidate of Security Studies. Two students affiliated with UCF’s Kurdish Political Studies Program (KPSP) conducted research in Kurdistan over this summer. Tutku Ayhan, a doctoral candidate in Security Studies program at the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at UCF and Jenna Dovydaitis, a senior of the UCF Burnett Honors […]
-
UCF Biologist Records Highest-Ever Voltage By Electric Eel
A UCF biologist is attracting global attention for recording the highest-ever voltage generated by an electric eel — or any living creature, for that matter. The record-shattering 860-volt eel was discovered by Associate Professor William Crampton, Ph.D., during an expedition to the Tapajós River of Brazil. The eel belongs to one of two new species […]
-
Ph.D. Student Heads Home to Guatamala To Study Maya Civilization
Mapping and excavating Maya ruins this summer not only fulfilled a lifelong dream for Rodrigo Guzman, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology, but connected him with his roots. Guzman spent the month of July excavating an ancient site in northeast Guatemala called Holtun. Working in conjunction with the Anthropology Department, Guzman uncovered 32 […]
-
Glitter, Hurricanes and Amphibians Among Topics of ’19-20 Distinguished Speaker Series
The College of Sciences Distinguished Speaker Series brings renowned speakers to enrich the lives of members of the Central Florida community. You don’t need to be in a classroom to learn the latest technology or hear the latest findings of our cutting-edge research. Our speakers will address topics relevant to the natural, computational, social or […]
-
Physics Student Spends Summer Studying Asteroids for OSIRIS-REx
While many students spent their summer break at the beach or working to earn tuition money, UCF physics student Jennifer Nolau spent her break analyzing thousands and thousands of digital images beamed to her from an asteroid millions of miles from Earth. Curled up in her favorite pajamas with her laptop in her off-campus apartment, the […]
-
Arecibo Observatory Gets $19 Million NASA Grant to Help Protect Earth from Asteroids
BY ZENAIDA KOTALA Knowledge is power and NASA has just invested $19 million into the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to gain a lot of knowledge about asteroids. NASA awarded the University of Central Florida (which manages the site on behalf of National Science Foundation) the four-year grant to observe and characterize near-Earth objects (NEO) […]
-
$610K Grant Boosts Development of Radiochemistry Lab
One of UCF’s newest labs just received a $610,000 grant to advance the field of radiochemistry and produce a new generation of nuclear scientists. The grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was awarded to the Chemistry Department’s Vasileios Anagnostopoulos, Ph.D., whose research focuses on the environmental fate and geochemical transformations of radioactive contaminants, organic pollutants […]
-
Conference Promotes Cross-Discipline Approach To Research
Big problems require big answers. But often scientists are narrowly focusing on their own fields of research, or, as Jacopo Baggio, Ph.D., puts it, “Hunting for vertical solutions to horizontal problems.” Baggio, an assistant professor in the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, recently collaborated with another researcher in Sweden, Örjan Bodin, to host […]
-
Summer ’19 Ph.D. Grads Honored At Reception
The Summer ’19 doctorate degree students were recognized Friday at a special reception. Graduates celebrated their achievement with their faculty advisors, family, College of Sciences Dean Michael Johnson, Ph.D. and a special champagne toast. Click here to see the full gallery of photos. Chemistry Anuradha Akmeemana, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor: Michael E. Sigman, Ph.D. Dissertation: […]
-
Department of Energy Selects UCF Assistant Professor for National Research Program
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA For a second consecutive year, one of UCF’s physics faculty members has been selected for the Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. Physics Assistant Professor Luca Argenti is one of 73 scientists across the nation and the only one from Florida selected for the program, which includes a $750,000 grant […]
-
Biology Master’s Student Chosen For Prestigious Pew Fellowship
A biology master’s student’s research just received a big endorsement from the prestigious Pew Charitable Trusts and the Florida Wildlife Commission. The national and state organizations are funding the research of Michelle Shaffer, ’16, who has spent the past five years studying the ecosystems and wildlife in the Indian River Lagoon in conjunction with the […]
-
Medieval Bones Reveal Diet Secrets
Jane Holmstrom doesn’t speak medieval French, but that hasn’t stopped her from learning from the long-dead residents of Saint-Jean-de-Todon in Laudun, France. The bioarchaeology doctorate student traveled at the beginning of May to an archaeological site about 90 minutes northwest of the Mediterranean city of Marseilles. The site sits on a hill just above […]
-
NASA Spacecraft Crosses Into Uncharted Territory
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA NASA’s New Horizons mission continues to fly toward the outer edges of our solar system, now more than 4.1 billion miles from Earth with a cruising speed of 33,000 mph. The mission has been going for more than 20 years, with its biggest claim to fame being the first close flyby […]
-
UCF Research Impact: U.S. Virgin Islands Ban Harmful Sunscreens
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The U.S. Virgin Islands Tuesday became the first American jurisdiction to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate effective Dec. 31, to help restore its coral reefs and marine ecosystems. Hawaii and Key West, Florida, passed bans that go into effect next year but they don’t go as far as this legislation, which […]
-
UCF History Instructor Explores the Cinema of West Bengal
BY DAVID MORTON Last summer I embarked on an extraordinary journey into India’s remarkable cinematic past and present. As a passionate enthusiast for international cinema, I was presented with an extraordinary opportunity to go behind the scenes to study one of India’s oldest and internationally prestigious motion picture industries. While many westerners may have at […]
-
Security Studies Ph.D. Students Win Research Awards
Davide Dell’Isola and Sara Belligoni, Security Studies Ph.D. students in UCF’s Department of Political Science, were recognized with awards for their research presented at the recent Florida Political Science Association’s (FPSA) conference in Tampa. Dell’Isola won first prize in the graduate student best paper competition for his paper on “Immigration and the Demise of Social-democratic […]
-
Arecibo Observatory Debuts New Mascot at Puerto Rico’s Comic Con
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The University of Central Florida is storming the comic con world this week by participating in MegaCon Orlando and Puerto Rico Comic Con. Both events are geared for fans of science fiction, fantasy, anime and horror. They draw thousands of attendees who attend celebrity panels, shop for their favorite novelties, comics […]
-
Research Holds Life-Changing Potential For Malnutrition Victims
Research underway in the National Center for Forensic Science carries life-changing potential for people suffering from malnutrition or exposure to hazardous toxins. Malnutrition is the source of a host of health issues, including zinc deficiency. Low amounts of the mineral can delay growth in children, suppress the immune system and even cause brain damage. The […]
-
Mining the Moon For Ice Focus of UCF Research
BY ROBERT WELLS With space set to be the site of the next “gold rush,” University of Central Florida researchers are helping prospect a spot for a major first step in the upcoming scramble – creating a lunar mining outpost. The work will be funded through a recently announced grant from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts […]
-
Professor Remembered For Changing Lives With Research
Professor Emeritus of Sociology James Wright, whose research was central to a modern understanding of poverty and homelessness, died Monday. He was 71. Wright was a prolific writer and academic, with more than 200 journal articles, 10,000 citations and 22 books to his name. He was also recognized as a Pegasus Professor in 2013 […]
-
$750K Awarded To Physics Professor To Improve Online Ed
A UCF assistant professor’s reimagined approach to optimizing online physics education has landed him a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The NSF award to Zhongzhou Chen, Ph.D., lasts for five years. In collaboration with the Center for Distributed Learning at UCF, Chen is developing a series of new online learning modules optimized for […]
-
UCF Marks 1st Year at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico
BY ZENAIDA KOTALA UCF celebrates its first anniversary this month of operating the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The observatory is the first national research center that UCF has led. It is home to one of the world’s most sensitive Incoherent Scattering Radar systems, which detects microscopic fluctuations due to thermal motions in the […]
-
College of Sciences Welcomes New Pegasus Professor and Honors Reach for the Stars Recipient
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA AND ALLISON HURTADO ’12 Two College of Sciences professors were among those honored Wednesday for their dedication to teaching UCF students and their innovation in the classroom. Josh Colwell, Ph.D., was one of four new Pegasus Professors, the highest academic honor a professor can receive at the university. Tim Hawthorne, Ph.D., […]
-
U.S. Air Force Taps Psychology Professor For Scientific Advisory Board
UCF is now represented on the scientific advisory board that supplies independent guidance to U.S. Air Force research. Peter Hancock, Ph.D., was appointed recently to the roughly 50-member board, which studies topics considered of critical importance by the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force. While many members are engineers or provide similar […]
-
Asteroid Bennu Gives NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Team Lots of Surprises
BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA Sometimes the unexpected is more exciting than finding exactly what you thought you’d find, and this is indeed the case for the science team involved in NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sample mission. This mission, a first for the United States, aims to collect a sample from the near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu and bring […]
-
Book Explores Treatment of Mentally Ill in Mexico
The attitudes toward mental illness, treatment options and overall quality of living at a Mexican hospital for the mentally ill provide a microcosm of Mexico’s overall attitude toward the mentally ill, according to a book by Beatriz Reyes-Foster, Ph.D., an associate professor of anthropology. “The question that guided my work is ‘What can we […]
-
Compelling Research on Disabilities in Ancient Cultures
A new article in Science Magazine includes a UCF anthropology professor’s research into attitudes ancient civilizations had toward people with conditions like dwarfism and cleft palates. The article reports on research presented at the first Workshop on Ancient Rare Diseases, which was hosted in Berlin, Germany. Overwhelmingly, scientists challenged the conventional view that people with […]
-
Researchers Recruit Drones To Map Past, Determine Future
Drones have evolved over the years from novelty to a sophisticated tool deployed in the wake of natural disasters. Now researchers have unlocked its use as a time machine. The work is happening in the coastal communities of Belize, including Hopkins Village, where rising sea levels are threatening homes and livelihoods. Lain Graham, a UCF […]
-
UCF Research Laying Groundwork for Off-World Colonies
BY ROBERT WELLS Before civilization can move off world it must make sure its structures work on the extraterrestrial foundations upon which they will be built. University of Central Florida researchers are already laying the groundwork for the off-world jump by creating standards for extraterrestrial surfaces. Their work was detailed recently in a study published in the […]