Tue Oct 6
Successful professional communication is as much about what not to say as it is the right way to negotiate a raise or write a thorny email, reasons Communication Assistant Professor Michael Strawser, Ph.D. And what better teacher of gaffes and miscues than the “world’s greatest boss” Michael Scott of NBC’s hit series “The Office.” “This show brings…
Mon Oct 5
Two UCF physics students just landed two NASA awards that are giving the pair the opportunity to recreate the harsh cosmic conditions found on asteroids and comets in a lab at UCF. Brian Ferrari ’18 and Katie Slavicinska are doctoral candidates in the Astrochemistry Lab working under Assistant Professor Christopher Bennett. They met in the lab and share a passion…
Tue Sep 29
One of the largest eDNA surveys of Florida’s coastline started this summer thanks in large part to a global pause on traditional research. Pandemic restrictions put in place at the end of the Spring semester forced Assistant Professor Michelle Gaither, Ph.D., to get creative and replace her summer research plans with something safe and local.…
Thu Sep 24
The Dominican Republic holds a special place in my heart, going all the way back to high school when I was introduced to the future mayor of Santo Domingo. I stayed in close contact with the island for years and eventually landed a position as the city’s U.S. liaison. It was in that role, and…
Thu Sep 24
If UCF physics Professor Humberto Campins was a betting man, he should run out and play the lottery. The planetary scientist, who is an international expert on asteroids, predicted a finding from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu — remnants of another asteroid scattered across its surface. The spacecraft took images and made observations of…
Wed Sep 23
Anew National Science Foundation-funded survey of six states has found that during the past two months, more people are wearing masks, vaccine uncertainty is on the rise, and many people are overestimating their risk of becoming seriously ill and dying from COVID-19. The results are in a new report published this month by the Risk and Social…
Mon Sep 21
Associate Lecturer Chrysalis Wright, Ph.D., serves as the Honors in the Major program coordinator for the Department of Psychology. She was recently elected to the board of directors at the Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations. In an interview with the College of Sciences, Wright shared the latest developments in her research into fake news,…
Fri Sep 18
Kicking off this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration is Sociology Professor Fernando Rivera, Ph.D. director of the Puerto Rico Research Hub. Join Rivera as he shows us how to make a staple of Puerto Rican cuisine: bacalaitos. Bacalaitos, also known as fried codfish fritters, are flavorful and easy to make! Here’s how it’s done. Bacalaitos Recipe 1…
Thu Sep 17
Only a handful of the roughly 4,000 identified planets outside our solar system can potentially support human life — what experts call “habitable exoplanets” — but astronomers are certain there many more. The best candidates were found when they crossed in front of the star they orbit. A silhouette is hard to analyze for life-sustaining…
Mon Sep 14
AUniversity of Central Florida researcher is co-author of a new paper that may help answer why some animals have a magnetic “sixth” sense, such as sea turtles’ ability to return to the beach where they were born. The question is one that has been unresolved despite 50 years of research. “The search for a mechanism…
Fri Sep 11
Kelsie Johnson’s thumb was decidedly not green growing up. So it was all the more surprising to her grandparents when Johnson â16 announced she was pursuing horticulture and environmental conservation as a career. “Kelsie has always been outgoing, but never did we picture her becoming involved in the Arboretum program or any of the outdoor…
Thu Sep 10
A little due diligence went a long way for a team of UCF chemists studying a fundamental catalytic reaction used by hundreds of research groups around the world. Assistant Professor Titel Jurca, Ph.D., and graduate student, Lorianne Shultz, in collaboration with Assistant Professors Melanie Beazley (UCF Chemistry) and Xiaofeng Feng (UCF Physics) published the initial…
Thu Sep 10
Florida Space Institute Planetary Scientist Estela Fernández-Valenzuela has been awarded a $315,700 NASA grant to use modern day technology to analyze one of the oldest and least understood objects of our solar system. The first trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) — objects that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune — was discovered more than 25 years ago. Some…
Thu Sep 10
Today marks 30 days since the Arecibo Observatory went offline, because an auxiliary cable broke and damaged the dish and Gregorian Dome. While no cause has yet been determined, the AO leadership team is working closely with the National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the facility, to implement a plan to first stabilize the critical structural elements…
Mon Aug 31
An interdisciplinary team of faculty led by Physics Assistant Professor William Kaden, Ph.D. has received funding to bring a new piece of equipment to UCF’s Materials Characterization Facility (MCF). The state-of-the-art Near-Ambient Pressure Xray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) apparatus – the only of its kind in the southeast U.S. – is made possible through a $775,000…
Sun Aug 30
Five research teams using Artificial Intelligence and Big Data have been awarded a total of $185,000 to conduct COVID-19-related research. Establishing the awards was the first act of UCF’s new Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Initiative announced this summer. The intent of the program is to seed the development of research projects that use these tools to answer…
Fri Aug 28
Thirty-seven students will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this semester to observe what it takes to be part of a historic NASA mission. UCF physics Professor Humberto Campins is part of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which aims to bring back to Earth a sample from asteroid Bennu, which is between Mars and Jupiter. The near-earth asteroid could pose a…
Wed Aug 26
Physics Assistant Professor Yasuyuki Nakajima, Ph.D, has received his first National Science Foundation CAREER grant for research on semi-metal materials with characteristics of nematic superconductivity. “We are exploring materials that could potentially revolutionize information technology,” said Nakajima. “I formed the hypothesis that an unusual superconducting state called nematic superconductivity could be a key research ingredient…
Wed Aug 26
A new scholarship for a Biology student will support her final undergraduate year studying and promoting sea turtle conservation. Christine Sarkis is the third 2020 recipient of the $10,000 scholarship from the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation. She’s joined by two other students working in tandem with the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group, led…
Wed Aug 26
UCF is offering a free virtual reality environment and augmented reality app to help teachers supplement science lessons and provide some stress relief for those isolated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maria Harrington, an information scientist and artist, created the applications as a way to advance virtual reality technology, while engaging the public in informal…