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National Asteroid Day: A Celebration of Mysterious Small Bodies
Imagine a celestial body larger than the Statue of Liberty skyrocketing past Earth with enough energy to flatten a city. Since 2011 this has only happened once, and it occurred earlier this month. Asteroids are small bodies, often made up of rock, that exist in the solar system. Where did they come from? Scientists speculate […]
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Congratulations, 2018 Pegasus Professors!
UCF’s annual Founders’ Day Honors Convocation celebrates outstanding achievements of the university’s faculty members, staff and students. Among the recognitions this year are five Pegasus Professors, three from the College of Sciences. View a full list of Founders’ Day Honors Convocation honorees. The Pegasus Professor Award is the highest academic honor an educator can receive at UCF and rewards highly […]
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COS Faculty Join Elite Society
Eight University of Central Florida College of Sciences faculty were inducted into the Scroll and Quill Society on April 13, 2017. The society honors faculty members who have brought positive national and/or international attention to the university through their scholarly work. The faculty who were recognized have demonstrated sustained scholarly contributions over a period of […]
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Physics Professor on Good Day Orlando
University of Central Florida Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., was a special guest on FOX 35’s morning show, “Good Day Orlando,” on Friday morning, January 13. Britt, director of the Center for Lunar & Asteroid Surface Science at UCF , will help explore some of the oldest asteroids in the solar system thanks to a […]
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Professor’s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids
Story by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today University of Central Florida Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., will help explore some of the oldest asteroids in the solar system thanks to a new NASA mission. NASA, this month selected the Lucy mission, which will explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids for the first-time. The robotic spacecraft will also explore […]
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New Ways to Colonize Mars
Two researchers at the University of Central Florida were featured in an article published by The Atlantic titled ‘The Low-Tech Way to Colonize Mars.” The article focuses on the research conducted by Philip Metzger, Ph.D., an associate in planetary science research at the Florida Space Institute, and his team. Daniel Britt, Ph.D., professor in the Department of […]
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Physics Faculty Lead Conference
UCF Physics professor Daniel Britt, Ph.D., who was recently selected to take part in the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) New Horizons extended mission, continues to make waves in the world of physics. Most recently, he assisted in organizing the International Conference on the Exploration of Phobos and Deimos hosted by NASA […]
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Knights in Space
In the latest issue of UCF’s magazine, Pegasus, there are many stories focusing on UCF’s involvement with space. Many of these stories feature researchers from the UCF Physics Department. In the page One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for UCF, a timeline traces UCF’s history with space. From Citronaut, UCF’s first mascot in […]
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COS Grad Student to Study at Vatican Observatory
A University of Central Florida graduate student is one of only 25 people worldwide selected to attend a prestigious summer school in astrophysics at the Vatican Observatory. Leos Pohl, a second-year doctoral student in UCF’s Planetary Sciences Group, will join two dozen other students at the observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, a resort community just […]
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UCF Professors Land NASA Grants Focused on Asteroids, Comets, Venus
UCF professors are involved in two potential NASA spacecraft missions that could take flight as early as 2020. The five proposed space missions would study Venus, near-earth objects and a variety of asteroids and comets. Each mission team will receive $3 million and have a year to get their proposals ready for a final round of […]
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College of Sciences Dean’s Awards
Last year the university and the college started several new awards for research accomplishment. The COS Dean’s Distinguished Researcher and Rising Star Awards recognize the efforts of the most ‘research productive’ faculty and the outstanding value that they bring to their classroom teaching, as well as to the unambiguous value of the research mentorship that they […]
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College of Sciences Celebrates 18 new PH.D.s
Thursday, Dec. 11, the College of Sciences celebrated 18 new Ph.Ds at a special graduation reception. The graduation celebration took place in the atrium of the Physical Sciences building. In attendance were family members of the graduates, faculty advisors and members of the Dean’s office staff. Dean Michael Johnson and Associate Dean Teresa Dorman, of the […]
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Visual cues help earthling search the alien planet
In August 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars, following an eight-month flight and what NASA engineers described as “seven minutes of terror.” The vehicle descended through Mars’ atmosphere, decelerating from 13,000 mph to a dead stop while the mission’s team of engineers were able to do nothing more than look on and hope for the best. […]
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Mars’ true colors show thanks to UCF invention
The exciting and colorful images being beamed back from the planet Mars this past week should be true to life, thanks to the ingenuity of researchers at University of Central Florida. Physics Professor Daniel Britt built two calibration targets that sit on the Curiosity rover now exploring the red planet. The rover captured America’s imagination […]
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UCF professor travels to Washington to support space, NASA
Once again, an administration’s plans for NASA face congressional criticism, scrutiny from a blue-ribbon panel and demandsfor more funds that set parts of the agency against one another. “You cannot have a public space agency without politics playing a role. That’s only right when the taxpayers are paying the bills,” says planetary scientist Daniel Britt of the University […]