University of Central Florida faculty members are the foundation of the university. They energize students, academic programs, research and service through academic excellence and innovation.
Mon Aug 31
Patients lay intubated in hospital hallways, their respirator tubes and monitors running through holes punched into walls. Continuous lines of ambulances dropped off the sick and dying and returned with even more. Three refrigerated 18-wheelers sat parked outside, serving as makeshift morgues. That was the scene that greeted UCF College of Medicine faculty physician Jeff…
Mon Aug 31
History professor Robert Cassanello actively engages students in primary document research in his new course, “History of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.” The course is a featured case study on the Adam Matthew website, a digital publisher of unique primary source collections from archives around the world. Within the course design, Cassanello involves students…
Thu Aug 27
Viruses have been around for nearly 500 million years. So what happened to make the COVID-19 virus into a pandemic? How did this virus appear out of nowhere and then spread to millions across the globe? For answers, we turn this week to Griffith Parks, associate dean for research at the College of Medicine, director…
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…
Tue Aug 25
Professor Shin-Tson Wu publishes the second edition of “Introduction to Flat Panel Displays“ Introduction to Flat Panel Displays describes the fundamental physics and materials of major flat panel display technologies including LED, OLED, LCD, PDP and FED and reflective displays. A reference for graduate students and new entrants to the display industry, the book currently covers the…
Tue Aug 25
Professor Konstantin Vodopyanov publishes a book titled “Laser-based Mid-infrared Sources and Applications“ Laser-based Mid-infrared Sources and Applications gives a comprehensive overview of the existing methods for generating coherent light in the important yet difficult-to-reach mid-infrared region of the spectrum (2–20 μm) and their applications. The book describes major approaches for mid-infrared light generation including ion-doped solid-state lasers,…
Mon Aug 24
Each year, new faculty members in the College of Health Professions and Sciences attend a college orientation as part of their onboarding process. This year, although the location was remote, and they had to supply their own snacks, the messaging was the same: We are glad you’re here, and we will do everything we can…
Mon Aug 24
Dwight K. Lewis Jr., PhD, is the newest faculty member to join the Department of Philosophy at UCF. Lewis previously was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Pennsylvania State University. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of South Florida while holding a Mellon Fellowship at Emory University in the James Weldon Johnson Institute…
Thu Aug 20
The Department of Writing and Rhetoric extends a warm UCF welcome to our new department chair, Dr. Sherry Rankins-Robertson! Dean Jeff Moore welcomed Dr. Sherry Rankins-Robertson with this message: “Dr. Rankins-Robertson comes to UCF from the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she has been a very…
Fri Aug 14
A shift from rote memorization to active learning is producing measurable, positive results for students taking Calculus I. The Fall 2019 drop/add rate fell from UCF’s historical 54% to 18-22% across all calculus courses after Professor Eduardo Teixeira, Ph.D., deployed a technique called meaningful learning theory. The statistical majority grade also rose to an A.…
Thu Aug 13
I am pleased to welcome you back for fall and share what you most need to know for a successful start to this unusual semester. This fall will be challenging – teaching in unusual circumstances, uncertainty about controlling the pandemic, the potential of a pivot to remote teaching, and the anxiety that all of us…
Tue Aug 11
Wes Naylor, the interim director of UCF’s School of Modeling, Simulation and Training (SMST), is leaving Aug. 17 to return to his private sector job. “My position was always of an interim nature,” says Naylor. “I believe I have accomplished what I set out to do. Our partners continue to have faith in this amazing institution…
Tue Aug 4
“I have desks all over the place,” laughs Eric Merriam. “I think I have four right now. I spend a lot of time at those desks.” Merriam is an associate professor with a joint appointment to the Department of Legal Studies and the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at UCF. He’s also a husband and father, UCF’s Moot…
Mon Aug 3
A paper “A Monolithically Integrated Racetrack Colliding-Pulse Mode-Locked Laser With Pulse-Picking Modulator” by Professor Peter Delfyettâs Ultrafast Photonics group, in colaboration with Infinera, made the front cover of IEEE JQE August Issue. This work presents a novel InP-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) that monolithically integrates a racetrack mode-locked laser with a pulse-picking modulator and an optical amplifier. In addition, monolithic…
Tue Jul 28
Under the guidance of interpreters and two faculty members, a group of 10 undergraduate nursing students practiced how to provide pre-, intra- and post-operative care to medically underserved patients in rural Peru. It is what the students would have encountered on a study abroad trip with UCF to the Yantaló Clinic – an experience they had been planning and…
Mon Jul 27
Programs in the Division of Kinesiology are now designated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), thanks to recent approval by the State of Florida. The change in the Classification of Instructional Programs, codes designed to report outcomes in higher education by specific disciplines and professions, will give CHPS its first STEM programs, said David Fukuda, Associate Professor and Chair, Division of Kinesiology. Additionally,…
Fri Jul 24
Mary Lou Sole pauses for a moment before allowing herself to go there. Back to the day in 1991 when she was flipping through a magazine and saw these words: University of Central Florida. The old days, you might say. Over the past 40 years, UCF’s nursing program has graduated more than 11,000 alumni who have…
Fri Jul 24
Orlando Opera and UCF Professor Stella Sung today were awarded a prestigious grant to the tune of $10,000 as part of Opera America’s national program to promote female composers of the genre. Nine teams of opera companies and composers around the country shared in Opera America’s $100,000 announcement. Sung, also director of UCF’s Center for Research…
Thu Jul 23
M.C. Santana has been assigned as Discipline Coordinator for Women’s and Gender Studies programs across the state of Florida. The Department of Education’s Statewide Course Numbering System oversees the assignment of course numbers to all courses in Florida colleges and universities. Santana will work with the Department of Education in Florida to assign new and revised…
Tue Jul 21
UCF’s Simulation, Technology, Innovation & Modeling (STIM) Center has received international accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. The STIM Center, based in the College of Nursing was granted full accreditation in the area of teaching and education from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the Council for Accreditation of Healthcare Simulation Programs. To receive accreditation, UCF…