Category Archives: News

BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA UCF is joining LaserNetUS, a consortium of the nation’s best large laser facilities started by the Department of Energy as a part of a broader strategy to boost the nation’s standing in intense laser science. The invitation-only 11 member- network boasts big players in the laser research world, including Lawrence Berkeley […]

By ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA & ALLISON HURTADO Pegasus Professors Peter Delfyett, Ph.D.., and Kathleen Richardson, Ph.D., were among the 15 faculty recognized Wednesday night at the annual Luminary Awards Night. UCF leadership lauded faculty members for being leaders in their fields and conducting work that has had a significant impact on the world. COVID-19 disrupted […]

BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) recently awarded three UCF graduate students scholarships worth up to $10,000 to continue their work in the area of directed energy. The students, Jessica Peña ’19, Owen Thome and Nicholas Vail are all part of the Laser Plasma Laboratory, which is part of UCF’s Center for […]

A chance encounter in the workplace is what led Rebecca Venegas, M.S ’20, to find her purpose as an electro-optics engineer. Venegas, a scientist who specializes in integration and characterization of EO systems, was looking for meaning in her work after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Astronautics and Aeronautics. […]

The Army Research Lab has awarded the University of Central Florida a $4.5 million grant to develop a smart, computer vision-based navigation system for when GPS is unavailable or jammed. The system will be like a cyber co-pilot that supports navigation of ground vehicles by using artificial intelligence and machine learning to assess computer imaging […]

Students pursuing a career in optics and photonics will benefit from the generosity of California-based photonics company Lumentum. The endowed scholarship begun by Lumentum is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and is intended to foster “a more diverse learning and working environment,” according to a news release. In addition to underrepresented students, the scholarships […]

By ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded UCF a grant to purchase and install an almost $2 million high-peak-power, high-repetition-rate ultrafast infrared laser system — a first of its kind in the world. The money is an investment in the cutting-edge research being conducted at UCF, which is advancing knowledge and […]

The September edition of the American Ceramic Society’s (ACerS) Bulletin publication features Pegasus Professor Kathleen Richardson, Ph.D., one of three people recognized in 2021 as a Distinguished Life Member. Richardson will officially accept ACerS’ highest distinction at an awards banquet in October. The award recognizes a lifetime of achievement that has earned Richardson a worldwide […]

By ROBERT WELLS One of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations – the W. M. Keck Foundation – has awarded the University of Central Florida a $1 million Science and Engineering Research grant. The money is for a project led by University of Central Florida College of Optics and Photonics Professors Ayman Abouraddy and Demetrios Christodoulides. The project […]

  Josh Kaufman’s journey to full-time faculty member this fall begins as a self-described “nerdy kid” reading engineering magazines. Kaufman, Ph.D., ’14, chose CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, for his terminal degree based on those magazines, and it’s proved a prescient choice. It’s given him not only an education and training, but the […]

Pegasus Professor David Hagan, Ph.D. recently assumed responsibility as the third dean of CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics. Hagan has a ground floor perspective on the college as one of the original faculty to join CREOL shortly after its founding in 1986. In this interview, Hagan shares the beginning of his career and […]

Richard DeSalvo, Ph.D. ‘93, takes wireless communications further into the future every day, but it’s the people of his past that inspire his every step — beginning with Neil Armstrong. DeSalvo credits the 1969 moon landing and his mother for steering him toward the sciences in general, but it would take years of starts and […]