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UCF board approves WUCF TV station
The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees gave its blessing May 26 for the school to become the news PBS affiliate TV station. When ailing PBS affilliate WMFE-TV stops broadcasting July 1, WUCF-PBS will come online in its stead. The station will be a collaboration with UCF and Brevard Community College. The deal will […]
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UCF clears 1st hurdle to develop arboretum
The University of Central Florida got approval from the St. Johns River Water Management District to remove the conservation easement on 8 acres of arboretum land and is now awaiting state approval. The arboretum area had a conservation easement on it, preventing development. The water management district approved lifting the 8-acre arboretum easement in exchange […]
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Professor nominated for prestigious award
Dr. Lei Zhai, associate professor of UCF’s Nanoscience Technology Center and the Department of Chemistry, along with postdoctoral associate Jianhua Zou, has been nominated for a Katerva Award for his Frozen Smoke project. These awards are given for the very best sustainability initiatives on the planet. Also nominated is the team of UCF researchers who […]
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At UCF, scientists look for lingering damage from BP oil spill
If dolphins could turn out for a roll call, then biologist Graham Worthy would have a much easier task determining the survivors, victims and overall harmful effects of the massive oil spill last spring and summer in the Gulf of Mexico. Mattie? Here. Tabbs? Here. Xeno? Xeno? But since a dolphin roll call and other […]
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$5 million award for higher education partnership
University of Central Florida President John C. Hitt will join several Florida College System presidents and state education leaders Thursday, May 26, in celebrating a longstanding partnership that benefits tens of thousands of students annually. The educators will commemorate the state’s investment in 2+2 Pathways to Success, a program that provides opportunities for students who […]
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Scientific gathering at UCF
Soon after the BP gusher was plugged last summer, the oil seemed to vanish as if entirely eaten by bacteria, evaporated by hot sun and sea breezes or swept to far reaches of the Gulf of Mexico. But a two-day scientific gathering at the University of Central Florida last week unveiled several findings that crude […]
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Scientist to chase down asteroid
One of the world’s leading planetary scientists is chasing down a nearby asteroid to help retrieve the first-ever sample from one in orbit. Humberto Campins, a University of Central Florida professor who discovered water ice on two different asteroids last year, is part of a team that has just gotten the go-ahead for the NASA-sponsored […]
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UCF researcher featured in the New York Times
Fountains of Optimism for Life Way Out There from The New York Times For those who hunt for life on other worlds, water in its liquid form is perhaps the leading indicator. Life as we know it on Earth is based on water and carbon. And if organisms can prosper here in nasty environments — in […]
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Inaugural ICRC conference
Attendees and participants in the 2011 International Crisis and Risk Communication conference included those who had traveled from Korea, the UK, and from all over the USA. They included scholars, researchers, graduate students, professionals, public sector leaders, defense and military authorities, top managers of major businesses and government agencies. One of the most significant aspects of […]
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Nanotechnology journal highlights UCF research
Research from UCF scientists was highlighted in the IOP Science Nanotechnology journal in the electronics and photonic category. You can view it by clicking here. Nanotechnology encompasses the understanding of the fundamental physics, chemistry, biology and technology of nanometre-scale objects. The article, “High Yield Fabrication of Chemically Reduced Graphene Oxide Field Effect Transistors by Dielectrophoresis,” was […]
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Faculty staff campaign
This year’s faculty and staff contributions in the College of Sciences not only reached the expected goal, but exceeded it dramatically. Last year, COS raised just over $28,000 and this year COS came in at over $42,000! The college’s participation stayed fairly consistent down 1% from last year and COS hopes to boost that next […]
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Student research work recognized with awards
Several students from the College of Sciences were recently awarded for their hard work at the 2011 UCF Graduate Research Forum. Their official award was for outstanding presentations. Joanna Fletcher, an Anthropology student, won for her research titled “Monitoring the Applicability of Ground-Penetrating Radar on Detecting Shallow Graves Using Proxy Cadavers.” William Hawkins, an Anthropology […]
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UCF Journalism Students Launch Campus Magazine
Twenty students at the University of Central Florida have pooled their talents and created the university’s first student-produced magazine. Centric was founded this spring by students enrolled in the Magazine Editing and Production course offered by the Nicholson School of Communication. The magazine was created under the mentorship of Instructor Rick Brunson. “This is very […]
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Students, biologists trying to save Turtle Mound
A team of University of Central students and biologist are seeking volunteers to help save Turtle Mound, a Native American shell mound within the Canaveral National Seashore in New Smyrna Beach. The project, which runs Saturday and Sunday, is one of six national finalists in the 2011 Field & Stream Magazine and Toyota Hero for […]
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UCF Professor, Tom Clancy’s Co-Writer
Peter Telep isn’t your average professor. By day, Telep teaches screenwriting, creative writing and fiction writing at the University of Central Florida. By night, he’s a New York Times best-selling author and the most recent collaborator of Tom Clancy, the renowned author of international thrillers. He co-authored Clancy’s newest book “Against All Enemies,” to be […]
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Florida today feature UCF students’ research
Biologists who study Mosquito Lagoon’s oyster reefs keep seeing sea squirts they suspect may be an exotic species somehow transplanted from Panama. This little squirt adds to a long, growing list of species that may harm the habitats of natives to the Indian River Lagoon — another current worry of environmentalists and others. Biologists don’t […]
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Orlando pushes ahead of Miami in economic growth
Orlando is leading Florida out of recession and expanding so briskly the city best known for theme parks is poised to push aside Miami as the state’s fastest growing metropolis for at least a generation. Beyond globally famous Disney World and a massive lodging sector, Orlando in central Florida is benefiting from above average jobs […]
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UCF wins $250,000 grant for blended classes
The University of Central Florida is developing a national model for blended learning, a practice that combines web-based learning with traditional classroom instruction. The Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) awarded UCF a $250,000 grant, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others. NGLC is coordinated by EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit group that promotes the […]
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Betsy Von Holle talks with ScienceWatch.com
Betsy Von Holle talks with ScienceWatch.com and answers a few questions about this month’s Emerging Research Front paper in the field of Environment/Ecology. Why do you think your paper is highly cited? Prior to our study, scientists believed that a primary reason for success of nonnative species in a given habitat was the diversity of […]
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Year After Gulf Oil Spill, Dolphin Deaths Up
Graham Worthy, an expert ondolphins who ran Texas’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network for a decade and continues to monitor the Gulf of Mexico will be available to media today, the one-year anniversary of the nation’s largest oil spill. Worthy, a professor at the University of Central Florida, is analyzing data from his most recent survey […]
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First Place at the State Science & Engineering Fair
Dr.Yan Fernandez, Assistant Professor of Astronomy Department of Physics, worked with his UCF student Jean-Marc Denis to help a high school student, Tana Hanberry, win first place at the State Science & Engineering Fair. The group focuses onresearch. Hanberry’s project involves studying the properties of serendipitously-observed asteroids in archival CCD imaging datasets. She won in the Earth and Planetary Science […]
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Math paper explores new science, gets most downloads
“Reconstruction of planar Conductivities in subdomains from incomplete data” that was co-authored by Dr. Alexandru Tamasan made the top 20 articles fully downloaded earlier this year on the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics website. This mathematical paper concerns a new noninvasive method to quantitatively measure the electrical conductivity in a body. The method combines two […]
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From Touch Tanks to Movies, UCF’s Service-Learning Delivers Science
College students in a marine conservation class created a touch tank so pre-K students could see the diversity that exists in a nearby watershed. Another group cast fifth-graders at Carillon Elementary School in a movie that explains why it is important to recycle. These are just two examples of how service-learning is incorporated into science […]
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Physics professor sited as expert in Orlando Sentinel
From Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel. By the time Challenger exploded in 1986, it was painfully obvious the shuttle could not provide the routine access to space that we were promised. But because of the huge investment and lack of alternatives, we were locked into a lemon. The space station was designed in the […]
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Video featuring UCF professor from the Orlando Sentinel
Scientists around the world are documenting increasingly severe invasions of ascidians — which survive by consuming plankton filtered from the surrounding seawater — and which are overpowering oysters, mussels and clams, also filter feeders. Possibilities for why that’s happening include rising sea temperatures brought on by climate change; worsening water pollution; and overharvesting of the […]
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Marketing major competes in national surf competition
With the East Coast Championships about to get underway, it was an excellent time to chat with University of Central Florida team captain Amy Nicholl. The 21-year-old from New Smyrna Beach, Florida is a National Champion and has won multiple East Coast Regional and Conference titles in both individual and college divisions. Amy recently added another […]
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Students win national ethics bowl
The tensions were high at the National Ethics Bowl. Senior ethics bowl team member Catherine Perrault checked her pulse; it was at a constant 80 BPM. She knew she was ready. An hour and a half filled with arguing and critiquing had passed and after discovering the judge’s scores, the team discovered they had won. […]
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Students continue the fight to save Arboretum
UCF has requested the release of 7.85 acres of land protected by a conservation easement from the St. Johns Water Management District. This area is a portion of the 82-acre Arboretum that educates students and the community about nature and protects the environment. Patrick Bohlen, Arboretum director since the fall of 2010, said this area […]
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UCF alum Marla Weech joins Central Florida News 13
From Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel Where’s Marla Weech? That long-running mystery was solved Tuesday, when the longtime Orlando anchor joined Central Florida News 13. Her on-air debut should come in late April. “I will be so excited to be back on Central Florida airwaves,” said Weech, who will be a reporter and a […]
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Sea creature threatens oysters
A mysterious sea creature ofunknown origins has been found in Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County. The creature that looks like bunched up bright red daisy petals is an ascidian, better known as a sea squirt. But exactly how it gotinto the lagoon and where it came from has researchers puzzled. The only thing scientists […]