Fri Mar 13
Kimberly Renk, Ph.D., is rebuilding families by taking psychology off the couch and into disadvantaged Orlando communities. Renk is a child psychologist by training, and she shares her more than 20 years of experience in both the classroom and the local judicial system. Her work at UCF includes leading the Understanding Young Children and Families…
Wed Mar 4
Peter Sinelli’s wardrobe choices can bring students running to his classroom. That’s particularly the case when he’s spotted crossing campus wearing one of the many loud, vibrant tropical shirts that fill his closet. Savvy students know the blinding colors signal it’s pop quiz day. “They’ve caught on,” Sinelli said with a laugh. “The tradition is…
Wed Mar 4
Anew study exploring nesting preferences of North America’s largest swallow is giving students hands-on experience in scientific methods. The Purple Martin Project, led by a Department of Biology Research Scientistnna Forsman, aims to attract the bird using strategically placed nests around UCF’s main campus. Students from Forsman’s biology courses and the Wild Symbioses Lab worked diligently to place 12…
Tue Mar 3
Members of the UCF Arboretum tabled at the Orlando Wetlands Festival on Saturday afternoon to bring awareness to the community about the impacted wetlands on campus and discuss their mission for years to come. The Orlando Wetlands Festival was open to everyone including local families in order to help them become environmentally aware and in…
Fri Feb 28
The University of Central Florida is hosting this week more than 70 scientists from around the nation who study gravitational waves. The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves Physics Frontiers Center (NANOGrav) selected UCF for its spring meeting March 4-6. The organization only conducts two major meetings a year. NANOGrav is a collaboration of…
Thu Feb 27
The University of Central Florida’s reputation as a leader in space research has been further established with the recent announcement that one of its planetary scientists has been named to the science advisory board of a major aerospace company. Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist with UCF’s Florida Space Institute, joined Blue Origin’s science advisory board in…
Thu Feb 27
UCF leads the state and ranks third in the nation for the number of National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipients this year. UCF has nine confirmed awards as of this week and NSF has recommended two more for funding. In Florida a total of 21 awards have been given so far, including four to University…
Wed Feb 26
A new $970,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will allow biologists to deepen their research into the biological makeup of parasitic fungi that hijack the behaviors of their hosts. The five-year CAREER grant also paves the way for Assistant Professor Charissa de Bekker, Ph.D., to develop an upper level insect behavior course and broaden…
Wed Feb 26
For the first time, a team of scientists at the University of Central Florida has created functional nanomaterials with hollow interiors that can be used to create highly sensitive biosensors for early cancer detection. Xiaohu Xia, an assistant professor of chemistry with a joint appointment in the NanoScience Technology Center, and his team developed the…
Tue Feb 25
The College of Sciences recently sat down with Michelle Kwon, Ph.D., to talk about her work as a mathematics professor and leader of Math Circle. (Some answers edited for clarity and brevity.) COS: What’s the purpose of Math Circle, in your own words? Kwon: The purpose of Math Circle is to make middle school students…
Fri Feb 21
Buddy and Nugget shed more love than hair — and if you’ve seen the back of their ride you know that’s saying something. The owner of these two rambunctious Golden Retrievers would be happy to keep all that love to himself. But Michael Sigman, Ph.D., director of the National Center for Forensic Science, has other…
Fri Feb 21
An independent study examining the role of psilocybin is opening new lines of thought and fulfilling a student’s interest into understanding the effects of naturally occurring psychedelic medicines. The study, funded through a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research, was conducted by Maria Orozco, an undergraduate student completing a double degree program in Anthropology…
Thu Feb 20
The most recent English-language general history of early colonial Cuba dated 100 years back—until University of Central Florida History professor Luis MartÃnez-Fernández published Key to the New World: A History of Early Colonial Cuba. This book won the 2018 Florida Book Awards bronze medal in general nonfiction, first place at the 2019 International Latino Book…
Tue Feb 18
Two Physics professors are bridging their day jobs and their hobbies at the speed of sound. Professors Richard Klemm, Ph.D., and Robert Peale, Ph.D., have devoted their professional lives to teaching students the intricate mechanics that make the world work. That same complexity and challenge attracts them to playing violin as a break from laboratories…
Tue Feb 18
As the daughter of two immigrants from Guatemala and Venezuela, Carla Garcia has always been passionate about understanding perspectives different from her own. It’s what inspired her to pursue political science at UCF, and it’s the reason she was recently chosen by the American Political Science Association for the Minority Fellowship. The fellowship awarded to…
Mon Feb 17
Every four years — well almost every four, but we’ll get to that later — an extra day gets tagged on to the month of February. Humans have been practicing Leap Year since the days of Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire, but why? UCF physics Professor Josh Colwell explains the science behind the need for Leap…
Mon Feb 17
NASA’s New Horizons team, which has been studying the asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, has found more clues about the earliest days of the solar system. “What we found is a remarkable window into the past,” says University of Central Florida Physicist Dan Britt, who is part of the mission. “(Asteroid) Arrokoth turned out to…
Wed Feb 12
Days after resuming operations post-earthquakes, Arecibo scientists make rare find.
Tue Feb 11
Former UCF student-athlete Jordan Johnson has been named the Male PlayMaker of the Month for February by the Institute for Sport & Social Justice on the UCF campus. Johnson, who graduated in December with a degree in human communication, is the first Knight to earn the distinction. The award, which recognizes academic achievement and community…
Thu Feb 6
Physics doctoral candidate John Beetar spends his day studying how electrons interact on an extremely short timescale, called attoseconds. At this scale, electron dynamics are still not very well understood, especially in solid materials. That’s one reason Beetar is driven to conduct his work. He wants to contribute to the understanding of this highly evolving…