Please join us!\u00a0Tentatively, here are the speakers that have committed to discuss their research and other initiatives:<\/p>\n
Dr. Linda Walters, Biology, October 3, 2012, 7 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Marine Ecosystems in Peril<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 Linda Walters, PhD, will provide vignettes of some of the ways humans have altered marine systems, including ocean acidification, coral bleaching, fisheries, invasive species, and habitat destruction. She will also discuss community-based education and outreach campaigns that her lab at\u00a0UCF\u00a0has successfully\u00a0started.<\/p>\n Dr. Walters\u2019 is currently a Pegasus Professor in the\u00a0UCF\u00a0Biology Department, Director of\u00a0UCF\u2019s Fellers House Field Research Station in Canaveral National Seashore, and Interim Director of the\u00a0UCF\u00a0Women\u2019s Research Center. She has been a faculty member at\u00a0UCF\u00a0for 15 years with a Ph.D. from Univeristy of South Carolina and post-doctoral research experience in Hawaii, Quebec and Cochin, India. Her research program focuses on many of the diverse ways humans impact the marine environment. She is interested in both pure ecology questions and goal-based conservation issues for a wide range of marine and estuarine habitats in the Caribbean and the southeastern\u00a0US, especially the Indian River Lagoon system and the Florida\u00a0Keys.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Kevin Belfield, Chemistry,\u00a0November 7, 2012,\u00a07 p.m. \u00a0 Cancer: Seeing the details before it’s too late<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Belfield’s research interests are in multiphoton absorbing materials, supramolecular materials, two-photon photochemistry, two-photon 3D optical data storage, multiphoton fluorescent probes and multiphoton bioimaging for early tumor detection and image guided surgery, photodynamic therapy agents, nanostructured functional organic and polymeric materials, and photochromic materials.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Jim Wright, Sociology,\u00a0December 5, 2012,\u00a07 p.m.\u00a0 Down and Out in Theme Park Nation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A place like Orlando, Florida is not transformed from swampland to sprawling metropolis through Peter Pan-like flights of fancy, but through theme park expansions requiring developmental schemes that are tough minded and often worsen relationships between the wealthy and the poor.<\/p>\n Dr. Wright will be summarizing the main themes and points of his\u00a0new book,\u00a0Poor and Homeless in the Sunshine State: Down and Out in Theme Park Nation.\u00a0<\/em>The homeless arrive with their own hopes and illusions, which are soon shattered.<\/p>\n James D. Wright\u00a0is an author, educator, and the Provost\u2019s Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Sociology at UCF.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Humberto Campins, Physics, January 9, 2013,\u00a07 p.m.\u00a0 Did Asteroids Bring Water and Organic Molecules to Earth?<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The recent discoveries of water ice and organic molecules on two In August 2002, Dr. Campins joined the UCF faculty as Provost Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy and head of the Planetary and Space Science Group.\u00a0Dr. Campins. research area is astronomy. He studies comets, asteroids and other small bodies in the solar system using a variety of ground based, airborne and space based telescopes. This research is funded by NASA and by the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Eduardo Salas, Psychology, February 6, 2013,\u00a07 p.m.\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Teamwork has become a way of life in many industries, agencies and organizations. \u00a0But, what do we know about teamwork, team leaders and team effectiveness after decades of research? \u00a0Professor Salas will highlight what we know about the science and practice of teamwork and team leadership. \u00a0The talk will provide HR executives, managers and practitioners with valuable practical insights about what contributes to team effectiveness in organizations.<\/p>\n Eduardo Salas is University Trustee Chair and Pegasus Professor of Psychology at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He also holds an appointment as Program Director for Human Systems Integration Research Department at UCF\u2019s Institute for Simulation & Training.\u00a0 Previously, he was a Senior Research Psychologist and Head of the Training Technology Development Branch of NAVAIR-Orlando for 15 years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Llew Ehrhart, Biology,\u00a0March 6, 2013<\/strong>,\u00a07 p.m.\u00a0 The UCF Marine Turtle Research Group’s Role in the Creation of a New National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s East Coast<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Emeritus Professor Ehrhart is a vertebrate zoologist whose research program is focused on reproduction, population biology, ecologic geography, and conservation biology of marine turtles. His most recent research interest involves characterization of juvenile and subadult populations in coastal lagoons and over near-shore reefs, as well as long-term studies of nesting beach productivity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Talat Rahman, Physics,\u00a0April 3, 2013<\/strong>,\u00a07 p.m. Dr. Talat Rahman is the UCF Physics Chair and a a UCF Pegasus Professor.\u00a0Only a few years ago, the science and engineering of manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular level seemed to be a promise of enormous changes to come in a few decades. Instead, the results of nanoscience quietly sneaked into our everyday lives yesterday. Dr. Rahman will talk about nanoscience, its brief history, and its current state.\u00a0Rahman’s research interests focus in the development of a theoretical and computational framework for understanding phenomena such as chemisorption, diffusion, reaction, and ordering that control novel properties of materials at the nanoscale.\u00a0 Her work also engages multiscale modeling for the simulation of epitaxial growth and surface morphological evolution. For the past 12 years she has been organizing a workshop in Pakistan on Nanoscience and Condensed Matter Physics at the annual International Nathiagali Summer College which was started by Nobel Laureate Professor Abdus Salam.\u00a0 She is known for her ability to collaborate with experimentalists and theorists alike, and does so with some of the leading groups worldwide.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Drs. Arlen and Diane Chase, Anthropology, May 1, 2013,\u00a07 p.m.\u00a0 After the Maya Apocalypse: Caracol, Archaeology, and Time<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n When Arlen and Diane Chase first traveled to Caracol in 1983, the city was completely covered by Belizean jungle.\u00a0In more than 25 years of research, the Chases, husband-and-wife anthropologists at the University of Central Florida, have pieced together what Diane describes as \u201ca much more complete story about Caracol,\u201d one of the largest Maya cities. Through stable isotope analysis they can tell you what Caracol\u2019s residents ate — which residents had a high-maize, high-protein diet, and which didn\u2019t — and they can also tell you how the relatively uniform distribution of pottery suggests a strong sense of shared identity across social classes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2012\/08\/littlecaymanday1-139-e1344513060963-150x150.jpg\" "\\"littlecaymanday1-139-e1344513060963\\"")
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\nasteroids, 24 Themis and 65 Cybele, are transforming current views of
\nthe delivery of water and organic molecules to Earth by asteroids, and
\nthe origin and evolution of life on Earth.\u00a0 These discoveries also
\nhave important implications for the three current asteroid sample
\nreturn missions: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, the European Space
\nAgency’s Marco Polo-R mission and the Japanese Space Agency’s
\nHayabusa-2 mission.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2012\/08\/Capture1-e1346176922605-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Capture\\"")
<\/a>The Science of teamwork: what effective teams do, think and feel<\/em>
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<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Talat](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/05\/Rahman-Talat-208x300.jpg\")
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