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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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Indian Journalism Documentary Screened At Panel Discussion
On March 25, the India Center at UCF partnered with the Global Peace Film Festival and WUCF for an Indie Lens Pop-Up screening of the Academy Award-nominated feature documentary film Writing with Fire. The goal of Indie Lens Pop-Up is to bring people together for film screenings and community-driven conversations through partnering with local […]
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NSCM Debate Team Makes Top 10 Finish In National Competition
The UCF Speech and Debate Team placed fifth overall in a national competition recently, landing them in the top 10% of schools participating in the 2022 National Pi Kappa Delta (PKD) Convention and Tournament. In addition to the overall top finish, the UCF debate team received the R. David Ray Outstanding Young Chapter award […]
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Using the Arts to Take a Deep Dive into the Sea
A few phenomena will occur as the audience settles into Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 9. This is what happens when you drift into the seagrass with clown fish: Breathing eases. The blood pressure drops. Stress goes poof. For this two-hour show in the middle of […]
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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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Researchers Develop Method to Determine Where Storm Surges Are Increasing Most
Extreme storms, like Sandy or Xaver, don’t happen often but when they do, cities need to be prepared. That’s why researchers have developed a new method, detailed in a study published this week in Nature, to determine where extreme events, like 100-year storm floods, are more likely to occur, whether the likelihood of such extremes […]
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James “Jim” Rosengren ’81, one of UCF’s most dedicated partners and philanthropists, has passed away
James “Jim” Rosengren ’81 passed away Monday, March 28, 2022. Rosengren, with his wife, Julia, supported a wide range of programs across the university including making multi-million-dollar gifts to the College of Sciences, the College of Arts and Humanities and UCF Athletics. From the start of their philanthropic relationship with UCF, the Rosengrens wanted […]
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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 Threepeats as World’s Best Graduate Game Design Program
By HEATHER LOVETT The University of Central Florida’s graduate game design program is the best in the world for the third straight year, according to The Princeton Review and PC Gamer magazine. The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) has garnered the top spot, coming in ahead of New York University, Southern Methodist University, the University […]
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India’s Space Policy Focus of Recent Event
By Kassidy Menk The India Center hosted Rajeswari (Raji) Rajagopalan, Ph.D., director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi in a virtual discussion titled “Launching Further: A Discussion on India’s Space Policy” on March 2, 2022. Brendan Byrne ’13, space reporter at WMFE, moderated the event. Attendees […]
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Mission to End Mental Health Misconceptions Takes Senior To Florida Capitol
Senior Katelyn Yarbrough of the UCF Department of Psychology has a mission to end the harmful misconceptions surrounding mental health diagnoses. That mission got a boost recently when she was invited to the Florida Capitol to present her research on anxiety, depression, eating disorders, ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder. “I’m looking to create dialogue about […]
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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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COS Employees Honored For Years of Service, Performance Excellence in 2022 Knight Star Awards
Every year, UCF Human Resources organizes a ceremony for faculty and staff to gather and recognize USPS and A&P employees who make the university such a great place to work. At the Knight Star Awards, honorees include employees celebrating years of service milestones, retirees and recipients of the USPS Employee of the Year Award and […]
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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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Movie Maker Finds True Calling in Teaching Next Generation of Film Students
Associate Professor Robert Jones has more than 50 productions to his name as a filmmaker —and he’s not content to keep all that experience to himself. Jones moved to Los Angeles in 1991 like so many before him with big dreams to become a famous director. And, like so many others, Jones found himself looking […]
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Commitment to Affordable Curriculum Earns Chemistry Faculty Member Inaugural Award
A chemistry faculty member’s passion toward offering affordable course materials recently earned her the inaugural AIM High Student Nomination award. Lecturer Julie Donnelly, Ph.D., was nominated by a student for the AIM Knight’s Choice Award, which recognizes UCF faculty members that help reduce curriculum costs. “Students shouldn’t face barriers to getting the information they need […]
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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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Ballot Education Video Produced Through Partnership With Lou Frey Institute, Orange County
A collaboration between the Florida Supervisors of Elections and UCF’s Lou Frey Institute will leave first-time voters feeling a little less overwhelmed when stepping up to the poll. The videos stem from a law passed July 1, 2021 by the Florida legislature requiring students to show competency in understanding the state’s uniform ballot system. That […]
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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 Names 2022’s 30 Under 30 Alumni Award Winners
By ASHLEY CULLINS UCF Alumni has announced its annual 30 Under 30 Award winners. They are inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, athletes, academics, teachers and nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic, and more. Each member of the 2022 class has demonstrated great professional success, a commitment to helping others, and a track record of giving back […]
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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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Computer and Political Science Mesh For Fresh Perspective on Redistricting
Politics has always been a point of passion for graduate Craig Wilding, M.S.’21, who is using his background in the computer sciences to make an impact on the local political landscape. Wilding recently won the Maps Across America “Redistricting Contest,” where he was tasked with redistributing a population of over 21.6 million people in a […]
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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 […]