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New UCF Podcast Provides Government Transparency and Real-world Journalism Experience
Rooted in a government transparency mission, the Winter Park Sunshine Podcast provides UCF journalism students a wealth of leadership and professional experiences. One of those students, UCF junior Jackie Cardentey, says serving as the podcast’s executive producer gave her real-world experience that was integral in guiding her career’s path. “This podcast is all about keeping […]
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Research in 60 Seconds: Quantum Physics for the Future of Tech
Whether it’s solving the world’s biggest problems or investigating the potential of novel discoveries, researchers at UCF are on the edge scientific breakthroughs that aim to make an impact. Through the Research in 60 Seconds series, student and faculty researchers condense their complex studies into bite-sized summaries so you can know how and why Knights […]
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UCF Research Seeks to Give Families Closure by Developing Tools to Help Identify Individuals in Mass Graves
New research out of the University of Central Florida has the potential to give war crime investigators a new tool and the victims’ families closure. The National Institute of Justice has awarded UCF Associate Professor Matthieu Baudelet at the National Center for Forensic Science a grant to advance a technique that may help identify individual […]
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UCF Students Reap the Benefits of the Plant Breeding Initiative
It’s getting hot in the hoop houses at UCF as students grow peppers for the Department of Biology’s Plant Breeding Initiative (PBI). Hoop houses are tunnel-shaped solar greenhouses that are constructed from steel frames and a plastic covering. Launched in Fall 2019 with a vision to create a living classroom built around growing plants, the […]
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Florida Space Institute Scientist Recognized as 2022 Orange County Distinguished Resident
UCF planetary scientist Noemí Pinilla-Alonso was recognized as Orange County’s Distinguished Resident for 2022 during a surprise ceremony on March 28. The county says the award aims to spotlight individuals who “with their work or their actions, exemplify collaboration, innovation and inclusion.” Pinilla-Alonso became a resident of Orange County in 2015 — when she joined […]
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UCF Names 2022 Pegasus Professors
Two faculty members have been selected for this year’s Pegasus Professor Award, UCF’s highest faculty honor. Both honorees have been recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in their disciplines and are accomplished researchers, teachers and administrators. Honorees are selected by the president and provost and each receives $5,000. While their research may be in two […]
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UCF Recognized for Academic Excellence and Advancing Professional Careers in Engineering, Research and Innovation
UCF is one of the best universities in the nation for students looking to continue their education and advance their careers in a wide range of professional areas, including emergency and crisis management, high-tech research and the engineering fields. Take it from U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate Schools Rankings, which are based […]
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Student Research Week: Preserving History Through Field Work and Technology
Alexander Nalewaik ’21 enrolled at UCF as an undergraduate with one thing in mind. He wanted to merge his love of history, people and the outdoors into a major that would lead to a great career. Fast forward a few years and the anthropology alum is now pursuing a master’s degree in the field while […]
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Helping Save Endangered Giraffes from Extinction with the Power of Math
UCF graduate student Huntir Bass, who is pursuing a master’s degree in math, knows the power of math to solve problems. And she’ll be presenting about the project at UCF’s annual Student Scholar Symposium, the cornerstone of Student Research Week. “Since I was little, I have always gravitated towards math,” says the Mobile, Alabama, native. […]
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26 Exemplary Students Awarded 2022 Order of Pegasus
Twenty-six students — ranging in disciplines from engineering to biology to education and others across the institution — have been named as 2021-22 recipients of the Order of Pegasus, UCF’s most prestigious student award for those who display incredible academic achievement, university involvement, leadership and community service. This year’s honorees joined UCF already having accomplished […]
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UCF Experimental Space Dirt Used by NASA, Private Companies to Advance Space Exploration
An ingenious idea born out of a research lab at the University of Central Florida has led to a growing operation that is having a direct impact on space exploration. Chances are that some of the equipment landing on the moon and the methods that will be used to grow food or build shelter, will […]
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Recipients of the 2022 Seed Funding Program Announced
Thirty-two teams representing colleges across the university and several centers were selected for 2022 Seed Funding awards, the third year the program has been available to faculty. The program, a result of a collaboration between the Office of Research and the Office of the Provost, is aimed at facilitating research, which is likely to attract […]
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PHOTOS: Knights Celebrate World Wildlife Day
UCF Knights conduct research around the globe to help understand and conserve wildlife. To celebrate World Wildlife Day, launched on March 3 by the United Nations in 1973 to help raise awareness about how people benefit from “fauna and flora,” we asked our Knights and our faculty to share some pictures from their field work. The […]
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Faculty Honored at UCF’s 3rd Authors Celebration
David “Jamie” Poissant kicked off UCF’s third Authors Celebration with a story about how he hated reading as a child and eventually became an associate professor of English and published author. Poissant was one of 47 honorees at the celebration Tuesday, March 1, at the Live Oak Room on main campus. The celebration, held every […]
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UCF Researcher to Collaborate with MIT on DARPA Night-vision Project
The four-year project is a collaboration between the laboratory of Michael Leuenberger at UCF and the laboratory of Dirk R. Englund ˙at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It’s funded by a $1.1 million-dollar grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “The goggles that currently exist in the field are too heavy and bulky,” […]
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Florida Sea Turtles Get a Boost with Gift of New Boat
Thanks to a trio of donors with a passion for supporting the state’s marine life , the new boat debuting this spring replaces a 1976 craft reaching the end of its lifespan. “I always joke our bimonthly team building exercise is fixing something on the boats,” says Kate Mansfield, an associate professor and director of […]
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UCF Joins Program to Strengthen Data-based Research at Minority-serving Institutions
UCF was recently tapped to participate in a national training program that strengthens the capacity for data-based research among historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs). This initiative builds evidence-based research through data analysis to promote the success of Black and Latino students in postsecondary education. The Leveraging Big Data to […]
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UCF Selected for New NSF Student Research Program in Conservation, Restoration, Communication
Beginning this summer 10 undergraduate students from across the nation will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience working with UCF biologists to see how they conserve, restore, and communicate what they do and why it matters. The U.S. National Science Foundation has recently awarded UCF $369,000 over three years to run the new program. […]
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Pushing the Boundaries
Kathleen Loftin ’89 ’00MS ’09PhD is in her happy place on a Saturday morning: pulling weeds in her garden. The work is peaceful, filthy, and as down to earth as you can possibly be. “Papayas grow without much effort,” Loftin says, sounding more like a wonder-struck gardener than the center chief technologist at Kennedy Space […]
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UCF Researchers Share Their Insights into Innovation and Inspiration
Innovation at UCF is not an exception; It is the expectation. In 2021, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Central Florida as the 15th most innovative university in the United States — of the top 30, it was also the youngest. The classification drew from a survey of top college administrators, asking […]
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Associate Provost for UCF Downtown Named
The new associate provost for UCF Downtown is a seasoned academic leader and distinguished criminal justice scholar who helped launch the campus in Fall 2019. The appointment of Ross Wolf ’88 ’91MPA ’98EdD by Michael D. Johnson, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, elevates his role from assistant provost for UCF Downtown that […]
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UCF Student Nanotech Team Designs Space Suit Material for NASA Competition
A group of six University of Central Florida students and alums from a range of fields designed and won the Best Technical Poster award as finalists in NASA’s recent Lunar Dust Challenge. They received the honor after NASA’s 2021 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge Virtual Forum in November 2021. As part of NASA’s […]
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Two Knights Awarded 2022 Foreign Affair Fellowships
For the first time ever, two individuals with UCF affiliations have been awarded the Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship and the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship in the same year. These are both highly coveted fellowships that give the recipients the opportunity to work as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of […]
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UCF Scientist with Stake in James Webb Space Telescope Closely Monitoring Unfolding Mission
Planetary Scientist Noemi Pinilla-Alonso has become addicted to NASA TV because of its live feeds of the James Webb Space Telescope mission. The telescope, more than 20 years in the making and after multiple delays, launched on Dec. 25, 2021. The telescope is traveling quickly to reach its destination — 900,000 miles away from Earth […]
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New Funding Will Help UCF Researcher Develop Nanotech to Detect Animal-Borne Diseases
A University of Central Florida researcher will be leading a new project to use nanotechnology to advance research in the detection and mitigation of emerging animal-borne infectious diseases. The project is funded by a $50,000 grant from national philanthropic foundation Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funding is part […]
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UCF Research in 60 Seconds: Understanding the Impact of Diversity
Whether it’s solving the world’s biggest problems or investigating the potential of novel discoveries, researchers at UCF are on the edge scientific breakthroughs that aim to make an impact. Through the Research in 60 Seconds series, student and faculty researchers condense their complex studies into bite-sized summaries so you can know how and why Knights […]
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Graduation Marks Major Milestone for Student Veterans
The educational and career journey often looks different for those who chose military service. Meet three student veterans — Bryce Frase, Margarita Figueroa and Craig Plummer — who all served our country and are now preparing to graduate from UCF. Despite their different ages, careers, service branches and learning modalities, they’ve found a home and […]
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UCF Develops the World’s First Optical Oscilloscope
A team from UCF has developed the world’s first optical oscilloscope, an instrument that is able to measure the electric field of light. The device converts light oscillations into electrical signals, much like hospital monitors convert a patient’s heartbeat into electrical oscillation. Until now, reading the electric field of light has been a challenge because […]
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From the ‘Smithsonian’ Magazine to the Tonight Show, UCF Research has a Big Year in the News
UCF research stories were everywhere in 2021 from Smithsonian magazine to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The most popular research stories of 2021 focused on threats to our survival and opportunities to advance our species — from the impact of sea rise to technology that promises to propel our exploration of the solar system. […]
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Graduating UCF Film Student Completes Environmental Documentary
Making people care through the power of filmmaking is Vince Marcucci’s mission. The day after he graduates from UCF with a bachelor’s in film, he’ll show his first documentary series — an 80-minute, four-part feature following a day in the life of four Florida naturalists — during a private showing to cast, crew and local […]