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Toy Telescope Launches Career Hunting for Life on Exoplanets
It all started with an inexpensive toy telescope Theodora Karalidi’s father gave her when she was 5 years old. “I looked through it and I was wowed,” says Karalidi, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Central Florida. “To five-year-old me, it was like millions of sparkling stars and I was hooked. Of […]
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Prestigious Fellowship Opens Fresh Opportunities For Nuclear Studies Ph.D. Student
Doreen Horschig, a doctoral candidate in the Security Studies program, has been awarded the Roger L. Hale Fellowship. This highly competitive one-year fellowship provides an exemplary individual with an outstanding opportunity to develop professional skills by working at a leading peace and security institution. She was also recently accepted into the Nuclear Scholars Initiative by […]
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UCF Genetics Expertise Extends to the Land Down Under
The genetic expertise of University of Central Florida researchers is extending all the way to the land down under in a new study of a unique animal of Australia’s waters – the weedy seadragon. In the study, which appeared recently in the journal PLOS One, UCF researchers helped discover that the weedy seadragon found off […]
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Chemistry Student Chosen for Internship at Storied National Laboratory
An upcoming internship at one of the most storied laboratories in the world represents a big first step into a career as a nuclear scientist for Travis Hager. The Department of Chemistry senior is poised to wrap up two years of study and research under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Vasileios Anagnostopoulos,Ph.D.. Adding to his […]
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From Lighting Shows at Universal to Supporting Space Launches at KSC, UCF Grad Shines
Like many Central Florida teens, Jonathan Kessluk ’20 got a summer job at one of Universal’s theme parks in 2014. Little did he know that a job working lights for some of the park’s shows, would lead him to a UCF engineering degree and a job at Kennedy Space Center. Kessluk, who graduated in August […]
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UCF Names 30 Under 30 Alumni Award Winners
UCF Alumni has announced its annual 30 Under 30 Award winners. These accomplished graduates were chosen for their great professional success, commitment to helping others and track record of giving back to UCF and their local community. “Every year, UCF Alumni’s 30 Under 30 classes are made up of extraordinary young alumni. This year’s class […]
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New UCF Study Examines Leeches for Role in Major Disease of Sea Turtles in Florida
University of Central Florida researchers are homing in on the cause of a major disease of sea turtles, with some of their latest findings implicating saltwater leeches as a possible factor. The disease, known as fibropapillomatosis, or FP, causes sea turtles to develop tumors on their bodies, which can limit their mobility and also their […]
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Delfyett to be Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering
When Peter Delfyett first fell in love with science during elementary school, he imagined he would grow up to be a paleontologist. Instead, the Pegasus Professor of optics and photonics has spent his career developing futuristic technology. From lasers that are used to cut Gorilla Glass for Samsung phones to fiber-optic cable technology that allows […]
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Sociology Research Project Show Pre-Med Student Human Side of Medicine
Practicing medicine is as much about compassionate, human interaction as patching up broken bodies. Pre-med graduate Emily Vernet ’20 got a firsthand understanding of this fundamental truth through an undergraduate research project in partnership with the Department of Sociology. The results, which were published in the Journal of American College Health on January 31, 2021, […]
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Pegasus Professor Chosen For Fellowship in American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science will induct Pegasus Professor Talat Rahman, Ph.D., as a fellow in an official ceremony this weekend. The storied society traces its history back to the mid-19th century; Rahman shares her fellow status with scientists as varied as Thomas Edison, sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois and anthropologist Margaret Mead. […]
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Lab Work by Chemistry Student Sets Up Future Success Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Recent UCF graduate, Michael Greenberg ’20, is the recipient of the January Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award for his work on functionally engineered deoxyribozymes and their biomedical applications. With an interest in the medical sciences, Greenberg dove headfirst into his research opportunity with Department of Chemistry’s Yulia Gerasimova, Ph.D, and her accompanying research group. “A close […]
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New Scholarship Program Opens Statewide Access to RESTORES Training Course
Mental health clinicians across Florida will benefit from free PTSD training thanks to a new educational scholarship program offered by UCF RESTORES. The scholarships open access to UCF RESTORES’ six-hour, fully online Trauma Management Therapy training course, designed to give Florida-based mental health counselors the opportunity to apply the successful methods used within […]
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Pegasus Professor Accepted Into National Academy of Engineering
More than 30 years in the lab advancing our understanding of lasers recently earned Pegasus Professor Peter Delfyett, Ph.D., one of the highest recognitions in his industry: membership in the National Academy of Engineering. While there are other NAE members on UCF’s faculty, this is the first membership earned from work completed at the university […]
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NASA Selects UCF Honeybee-inspired Spacesuit Material Design for Further Development
NASA has selected a University of Central Florida nanotechnology team as one of seven university groups from around the country tasked with developing ways to stop the negative effects of moon dust during lunar missions. The selection, which was announced recently, is part of a year-long initiative known as the Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, […]
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UCF Funds Second Round of $1 million SEED Initiative to Support Faculty Research
Thirty-seven UCF teams will split $1 million in UCF SEED funding to conduct preliminary research the university hopes will lead to bigger individual grants from other agencies and breakthroughs in a variety of fields. The Office of Research and the Provost Office began the pilot SEED program with $1 million last year. Those recipients will […]
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Smithsonian Internship Enables Grad to Preserve Historical Sites With Data
A dream internship with the Smithsonian Institute is where non-traditional student Jennifer Larsen ’20 has put her degree in the Integrative Sciences to work. When she’s not balancing the homeschooling of her two boys and managing a personal disability, Larsen is virtually assisting the data collection in the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, a collaborative […]
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Identifying Implicit Bias Today Sets Stage for Future Inclusion Success
In recognition of Black History Month, the College of Sciences asked the Department of Sociology to write a short editorial on its current work to address racism in the workplace. By Drs. Elizabeth Mustaine, Scott Carter, Shannon Carter, Amy Reckdenwald and Yingru Li Committing to anti-racism requires that we not only examine individual-level interactions that […]
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2 Teams Awarded 2020 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Wellness Innovation Awards
Two projects aimed at helping educate first responders and communicating the importance of vaccinations to new parents have been named winners of the 2020 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Wellness Innovation Awards. The awards, which each receive a $25,000 grant, were founded in 2018 by Orlando’s Pabst Steinmetz Foundation to recognize cross-disciplinary teams building sustainable […]
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Tips for Living With Academic and Pandemic Stress
Stress is a fact of life, but there are circumstances that make it worse. A global pandemic, national unrest and individual life challenges all compound our feelings of stress. Added to that is another academic and work semester separated from campus for many members of the UCF community. In this editorial piece, clinical psychology […]
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A UCF Aerospace Engineering Student Has Out-of-This World Dreams
Jillian Gloria of Orlando has always been inspired by space exploration, and as a junior pursuing aerospace engineering at UCF she has held multiple research positions and worked with industry as she prepares to someday become an astronaut. Her most recent project came out of her involvement with UCF physics Assistant Professor William Kaden’s Research […]
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UCF Data Team Advances to Finals of Global COVID-19 Competition
World leaders don’t have a crystal ball to help them predict how the pandemic will look in the coming months, but a team of UCF data scientists are working to provide the next best thing. A group of faculty and graduate students from the departments of Statistics and Data Science and Computer Science have advanced with 47 other […]
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UCF Society of Physics Students Awarded the 2019-2020 Outstanding Chapter
By NIKITTA CAMPBELL UCF’s Society of Physics Students (SPS) Chapter has received the 2019-2020 Outstanding Chapter — the highest possible distinction. The Outstanding Chapter Award recognizes high levels of outreach, as well as unique approaches to fulfilling the mission of SPS: “help students transform themselves into contributing members of the professional community.” “SPS has […]
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UCF Satellite Launches Successfully into Space from Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne Rocket
University of Central Florida planetary science continues its ascent as a leader in space research with another high-profile flight, this time aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne, which was blasted into orbit Sunday from the company’s 747 carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl. The launch took place at 10:50 a.m. at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. […]
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UCF Faculty Collaborate to Provide Students Free Course Materials
Textbooks and other required course materials can add significantly to the cost of a college degree, and UCF faculty are doing what they can to help. During the Fall 2020 semester, at least 31 faculty members provided their required course materials at no cost to students through the use of open educational resources (OER). These […]
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UCF Engineering and Biology Researchers Collaborate to Aid Coral Reef Restoration
Florida’s threatened coral reefs have a more than $4 billion annual economic impact on the state’s economy, and University of Central Florida researchers are zeroing in on one factor that could be limiting their survival – coral skeleton strength. In a new study published in the journal Coral Reefs, UCF engineering researchers tested how well […]
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DNA Analysis From Chemistry Lab Provides Water Insights for Orange County, Orlando
Chemistry Assistant Professor Melanie Beazley, Ph.D., and her team have developed a groundbreaking biochemical analysis to identify excess contaminants and nutrients in Orlando’s local lakes caused by native Florida birds. The research, done in collaboration with Orange County and the City of Orlando, uses the DNA of contaminant-inducing agents against specific biomarkers to identify and […]
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Online Class Revamp Earns Psychology Lecturer Top Marks from UCF
UCF prides itself on the quality of its online learning, but the competition was extra steep in 2020 when digital instruction became the widespread norm. So it’s all the more impressive when the Department of Psychology’s Martha Hubertz, Ph.D., landed the annual award for exemplary leadership in online teaching. Hubertz received the Chuck Dzubian Award […]
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UCF Student Elected to Help Protect Local Natural Resources
There are the average demands of a final semester in college, and then there’s Raquel Lozano’s life. She’s juggling two majors — political science and public administration — a minor in urban and regional planning and a certificate in human resources. The 24-year-old has the power of attorney and is the healthcare surrogate for her […]
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UCF Developed Sensor Passes First Test, On Track for Future Moon Missions
A prototype sensor that detects Moon dust by shooting lasers through the sky has successfully completed its first hurdle. That means UCF is one step closer to building the real instrument that could fly to the moon on a future mission. UCF researchers designed the Ejecta STORM instrument to scan the area around a lunar […]
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Rare Bethlehem Star, Geminids and More Delight Stargazers this Month
Stargazers are in for a very rare treat on Monday. If the clouds cooperate, they’ll be able to see the “Bethlehem Star” — an event that hasn’t been seen in about 800 years. The moniker applies to the Christian description of the “Bethlehem” or “Christmas Star” that was said to have appeared in the night […]