Mon Apr 19
Professor Emeritus Llewellyn Ehrhart, known internationally for his long-term research and advocacy for sea turtles, has been named the UCF Arboretum’s inaugural Earth Day Conservation Hero. Ehrhart retired from the Department of Biology in 2004 after more than 30 years researching sea turtle-nesting productivity on Florida’s east coast, which helped scientists understand the turtle population…
Thu Apr 1
Michael Himes is a fourth year doctoral candidate studying planets lightyears away (also called exoplanets) by using machine learning to better understand their atmospheres. This type of research could have big impacts on the future of understanding what is out in the universe, potentially including the remote detection of life. Himes began harnessing the capabilities…
Wed Mar 31
When COVID-19 hit and Central Florida went into lockdown, UCF undergraduate student Victor Blocker began noticing mounting tension and stress among his friends, particularly couples. That’s what sparked Blocker’s research idea, which he turned into a project he will share during the Student Scholar Symposium, part of UCF’s annual Student Research Week, March 29-April 2.…
Mon Mar 29
Not many people may imagine that an expertise in applied mathematics would make someone a “rock star.” But UCF mathematics Professor Bhimsen Shivamoggi is certainly a celebrity in the world of physics these days. American Scientist magazine this month notified Shivamoggi that a blog featuring his work — the first systematic theoretical formulation to describe the…
Mon Mar 29
Early screening can mean the difference between life and death in a cancer and disease diagnosis. That’s why University of Central Florida researchers are working to develop a new screening technique that’s more than 300 times as effective at detecting a biomarker for diseases like cancer than current methods. The technique, which was detailed recently…
Thu Mar 25
UCF’s graduate video game design program has been recognized as the top graduate game design program in the world. This marks the third time in the past six years that UCF has garnered the top spot, ahead of New York University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Southern California. UCF’s undergraduate game design program also ranked highly at…
Fri Mar 19
UCF RESTORES, which began as a government-funded research initiative in 2011, has grown to serve as an invaluable resource to the Orlando community, the state of Florida and beyond. The nonprofit’s unique approach to treatment — including the first-of-its-kind (in the U.S.) three-week intensive outpatient program — combines exposure therapy, emerging technology, and one-on-one and…
Tue Mar 16
Assistant Professor Kenicia Wright, Ph.D, is challenging perspectives through her research focusing on the interplay of race and gender. The School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs faculty member’s most recent accolade is winning the American Political Science Association’s 2021 “Best Paper on Race and Intersectionality Award.” The award comes from APSA’s Women, Gender, and…
Tue Mar 16
A psychology professor’s work at the intersection of people and machines recently earned him the U.S. Army’s Civilian Service Achievement Medal. Pegasus Professor and Provost Distinguished Research Professor Peter Hancock, Ph.D., specializes in human factors, a unique discipline that blends human behavior and engineering. It’s behind the design of everything from medical equipment to smartphones…
Fri Mar 12
Impactful community research in rural Belize will continue for another three years thanks to renewed funding from the National Science Foundation. The $465,000 grant supports fully funded research experiences for eight undergraduate students and two K-12 teachers each year. The team will perform drone-mapping and citizen science to mitigate flooding and litter in Hopkins Village…
Wed Mar 10
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 the…
Wed Mar 10
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that collected a sample from an asteroid 200 million miles from Earth in October, is going to take one final look at the collection site before heading home. In April, the spacecraft will focus its cameras on the site it disturbed when it removed a sample of asteroid Bennu’s soil. The images…
Wed Mar 10
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, revealed how health affects academic performance and common barriers for students accessing healthcare. “I’ve…
Wed Mar 10
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…
Wed Mar 10
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 the UCF…
Wed Mar 10
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…
Wed Mar 10
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 project with FEMA aiming to geo-map lesser known historical sites throughout the United States. In the case of natural disaster or emergency, these geolocations provide…
Wed Mar 10
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…
Wed Mar 10
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 played…
Tue Mar 9
Students interested in big data science careers will benefit from a new Bachelor of Science degree coming this fall. The bachelor’s in Data Science spans a variety of sub-disciplines within the greater field of data science, including mathematics, statistics, specialized programming and algorithm design. It also teaches students how to draw useful conclusions from data so businesses…