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Distinguished Speaker Series Revolutionized
The first talk of the 2015-2016 Distinguished Speaker Series was held on September 23rd, at Cevíche Tapas Bar & Restaurant in downtown Orlando. Approximately 70 guests came out to hear Sarah Parcak’s, Ph.D., presentation on “A Digital Revolution: Archeology from Space”. Many UCF faculty, staff, alumni, students, and community members were in attendance, including the Dean of the College […]
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National Award for Substance Abuse Identification Test
Congratulations to 5th year Ph.D. chemistry student David Nash, on receiving the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Graduate Research Fellowship. The NIJ is the research-funding branch of the Department of Justice. Annually, they provide a handful of graduate students a monetary award to conduct research in the social or physical science fields that will help the criminal justice, […]
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A ‘Winning’ Personality
Amanda Castro fell in love with broadcasting while only in the fifth grade. Back then she was an anchor reading the morning announcements and school’s lunch menu. That year, during her school district’s television awards program, she won the award for Best Team Anchor. “That’s when I knew I wanted to be a journalist!” she […]
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2015 College Showcase
On September 19th, the College of Sciences participated in College Showcase 2015 which was an event hosted during Family Weekend 2015. The College of Sciences was among the many participating colleges. The COS showcase included displays by the UCF Department of Physics, UCF Department of Biology, and UCF College of Sciences Academic Services. Other colleges participated, including […]
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Record Year for UCF Marine Turtle Research Group
Green sea turtles have had their highs and their lows. Before being commercially harvested for hundreds of years, green sea turtles used to be a typical sight in the Atlantic, but now they are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in multiple locations across the globe. Even with being one of the first species to have federal regulations protecting them, green […]
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Chemistry Students Uknight to Combat Graduate Level Stress
Like many graduate students, Karen Chiang entered her Ph.D. program full of enthusiasm, and she looked forward to earning her scientific wings. But instead, graduate school became associated with some of the lowest points in her life, because of the overwhelming stress and self-doubt she experienced. “I had a very difficult time seeing myself in […]
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UCF Anthropologists “Dig Up” New Speaker Series
In partnership with the University of Central Florida, the Orlando Science Center is hosting a special guest speaker series in conjunction with the Mummies of the World: The Exhibition. Topics will feature studies on current anthropological and archeological research around the world, including mummification, bioarcheology and forensic anthropology. The Mummies of the World exhibition depicts an once-in-a-lifetime […]
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Spicy New Distinguished Speaker Series
The College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida presents its 2nd annual Distinguished Speaker Series. The series brings renowned speakers from across the country to enrich the lives of students, faculty, alumni and the community. Our speakers will address topics relevant to the natural, computational, social or behavioral sciences and to the societal implication […]
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2015-16 Science Café features Amazing Research
Science Café is designed to showcase UCF professors in a fun and casual environment. The fall 2015 series will span three months, September-November, with each month featuring a scientist from a different department in the university. Admission is free, but we encourage everyone to RSVP for this event in advance. Each speaker will begin their […]
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Mathematics Professor Becomes Editor
One of our esteemed mathematics professors has been invited by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to serve as a Senior Associate Editor for the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. Mourad Ismail, Ph.D., has been recognized on numerous occasions for his hard work within the field of mathematics. NIST, now a part of […]
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New Associate Dean and Director of Interdisciplinary Graduate Education
UCF biology professor John Weishampel, Ph.D., will soon be putting his experience with over 100 graduate committees to good use as he assumes his new position as Associate Dean and Director of Interdisciplinary Graduate Education this fall. “I’m excited at the opportunity to make a difference across the broad arena of graduate studies at UCF,” […]
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New Fellow in the College of Sciences
Elizabeth Grauerholz, Ph.D., will be serving in the coming year as a Dean’s Fellow for the UCF College of Sciences. Her responsibilities will include the college’s assessment efforts. Dr. Grauerholz is a professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida with areas of research interest that include the scholarship of teaching and learning, gender, family and […]
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Anthropology Students Help Uncover Napoleon Army Death Mystery
After the discovery of a mass grave in 2001 featuring the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte’s army in Lithuania, UCF anthropology students Serenela Pelier and Sammantha Holder recently performed a research study on the remains of the soldiers. Over 3,000 corpses were found and revealed to be from “Napoleon’s Grande Armée” in 1812. The soldiers were amidst traveling through Vilnius, […]
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Sociology Program to Offer New Classes in Fall, Spring
The UCF sociology program will be adding five new undergraduate courses just in time for the 2015-2016 academic year. This fall, students can register for Spatial Sociology, Careers in Sociology, and Consumer Society. Video Games in Society and Food and Society, Families and Aging will be available for the spring semester. Sociology majors and minors […]
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Army Youth Program Extends Through UCF
Two Hagerty High School students are spending part of their summer working with Stephen Kuebler, Ph.D. Kuebler is a mentor for high school students through the 2015 AEOP-REAP program. AEOP-REAP stands for the Army Educational Outreach Program’s Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program. The program is a summer STEM program, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, which […]
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COS Connection to Historic Pluto Flyby
When the New Horizons spacecraft passed within a mere 7,750 miles of Pluto on Tuesday, many at the University of Central Florida cheered for the historic flight and its leader, Alan Stern, Ph.D. Stern, whose advocacy, tenacity and some would say sheer bull-headedness are largely to credit for the selection and execution of NASA’s farthest-ever […]
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COS “Superman of Environmental Conservation” Returns
An esteemed professor is returning to the ranks in the biology department. C. Ross Hinkle, Ph.D., who after serving as the Vice Provost and Dean for the College of Graduate Studies, has decided to return to the College of Sciences as a senior faculty member in biology. Hinkle joined UCF in 2007 as chair of the biology […]
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The Empire Strikes Back: Violence and Counterinsurgency in the North Caucasus
On Thursday May 21, David Siroky, Ph.D., of Arizona State University gave a presentation to UCF students and faculty about indiscriminate and selective violence in the North Caucasus. Siroky presented two of his current works in progress: “The Empire Strikes Back: Ethnicity Terrain and Indiscriminate Violence in Counterinsurgencies” and “The Logic of Killing Kin in […]
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Laser Researcher Receives Grant to Partner with 5 Universities
The University of Central Florida researcher who holds the world record for the shortest laser pulse ever produced has been awarded part of a Department of Defense grant with an international team to continue study on ultrafast lasers. Zenghu Chang, Ph.D, a distinguished professor of physics and optics who has appointments with both the College […]
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New Invention Improves Parkinson’s Symptoms
UCF Professor Emeritus Richard Gilson, Ph.D., along with a team of neurological experts, created a new tool to battle the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Gilson received a patent for the invention that will help patients struggling with conditions including Tourette’s syndrome, Epilepsy, Essential Tremor, and mood disorders last year though UCF. Parkinson’s is an incurable […]
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Mathematics Professor Wins National Award
UCF mathematics professor Basak Gurel, Ph.D., demonstrates the quality of her research by receiving the National Science Foundation CAREER Award on May 15. The Faculty Early Career Development Program, or CAREER, is an NSF-wide activity that offers the most prestigious awards in support of faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through the integration of […]
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Excellence in Mathematics
The Simons Foundation Division for Mathematics and the Physical Sciences recently awarded Zhisheng Shuai, Ph.D., with a grant for mathematics. Shuai, an associate professor at UCF, applied for the award with his work entitled, “Mathematical Investigation of Infectious Disease Models.” He is the third UCF recipient of the award in the Department of Mathematics. The […]
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Mummy Expert Draws Crowd to UCF
UCF recently hosted Mummies: Culture, Science and People From Around the World presented by Heather Gill-Frerking, Ph.D, in the Psychology building. Over 200 people attended the presentation, including UCF faculty members, UCF students and members of the community. Gill-Frerking presented different types of mummies, the Mummies of the World exhibition and personal stories. She also […]
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Breast Milk Sharing Communities Trend
A new study from three UCF professors in the College of Sciences on sharing breast milk was published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine. The study consisted of work by sociocultural anthropology professor Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster, and assistant professors of sociology Dr. Shannon K. Carter and Dr. Melanie Sberna Hinojasa. “I was surprised by the high prevalence of overlap, where […]
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A New Way to Find Out What Lies Beneath
Arlen Chase, Ph.D., Interim Director for the Nicholson School of Communication, and Diane Chase, Ph.D., executive vice provost, were recently featured in a Washington Post article about Lidar. Lidar is an archaeological technology that helps archaeologists survey the ground. UCF’s archeology pair utilized Lidar when they surveyed Caracol, which was a major Mayan city, in […]
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NSC Scholarship Winners Announced
The Nicholson School of Communication recently announced its scholarship recipients for the 2015-16 academic year. 14 winners were chosen based on their classroom and community achievements. Danielle Hendrix, a journalism major, received the Anthony Reid Nicholson Endowed Scholarship. James Rowland, a graduate student in the Nicholson School of Communication, received the Buhr Graduate Fellowship in […]
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International Conference Honors Mathematician
The Department of Mathematics at UCF hosted an International Conference on Orthogonal Polynomials and q-Series in honor of Mourad Ismail’s, Ph.D, 70th birthday. Organized by a committee headed by Zuhair Nashed, Ph.D, a mathematics professor at UCF, the conference was organized to honor Ismail’s work in the fields of orthogonal polynomials and q-series. Mourad Ismail, […]
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UCF Leads State in Department of Defense Equipment Awards
The Defense University Research Instrumentation Program awarded Zenghu Chang, Ph.D. up to $252,000 for laser research. Chang, a distinguished professor of physics and optics at UCF, is one of three award recipients at UCF to receive an award from the program, which is the most among Florida universities. The award money will go toward purchasing […]
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Preparing the Researchers of Tomorrow
This summer, the UCF College of Graduate Studies initiated the “Preparing Future Researchers” program to offer seven international undergraduate students an opportunity to gain networking and researching experience. The students are each paired with a UCF faculty member in their discipline to conduct research on a topic of mutual interest. For about 40 hours a […]
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Physics Undergraduates Win Bronze at Physics Competition
After 48 hours of analyzing and writing, three UCF physics majors showed the importance of research by winning the bronze medal in their participation of the fifth annual University Physics Competition. The team of Brandon Blue, Chris Tiller, and Dylan Bruce performed calculations on the orbital stability of planets and determined their conclusion based on […]