News

Some of the best ideas come when the mind can wander, process new knowledge, and connect dots that don’t obviously seem to belong together. For computer scientist and engineer Gregory Welch, the AdventHealth Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation in the UCF College of Nursing and Pegasus Professor, some of his biggest “aha” moments occur at…

Proposals from CREOL Professor Shin-Tson Wu, Ph.D., to slim down and evolve augmented and virtual reality displays are the subject of a new feature in Light: Science and Applications. The article details how to take advantage of the recent development of miniaturized optical devices. These advancements offer unique opportunities in the ongoing challenge of evolving…

  The work of two graduate students in CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, recently earned them recognitions from industry leading organizations. The International Liquid Crystal Society presented Kun (Kelly) Yin and Jianghao (Jasper) Xiong (Jasper) Xiong with the Diamond and Platinum awards, respectively.  Another CREOL student, Tao Zhan, received the Platinum award in…

Innovative research underway in CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, received several spotlights in the latest issue of UCF’s main publication, Pegasus. A super-resolution microscope funded by $3.3 million in grants is one of them. Assistant Professor Kyu Young Han, Ph.D., is building the microscope to study the movement and network of proteins that…

UCF’s Center for Directed Energy has been selected to receive a UCF Jump Start Award worth $450,000. The funds, part of President Alexander N. Cartwright’s Strategic Investment Program, will help expand the capabilities offered to a larger user base at the Townes Institute for Science, Technology, and Experimentation Facility (known as TISTEF). The project was…

Seventeen faculty and staff projects will receive about $5 million in Jump Start funds to advance UCF’s impact under President Alexander N. Cartwright’s 2021-22 Strategic Investment Program. “I am delighted that we were able to fund so many strong proposals and only wish that we had the resources to support more of them,” says Michael…

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…

The Office of the Provost and the Office of Research have partnered to provide those conducting research and creative works at UCF a new resource — the Scholar Expertise Portal. The portal allows faculty and students to see what kind of research and creative works their fellow colleagues are working on. You can search by…

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…

When Peter Delfyett first fell in love with science during elementary school, he imagined he would grow up to be a paleontologist. Instead, the Pegasus Professor of optics and photonics has spent his career developing futuristic technology. From lasers that are used to cut Gorilla Glass for Samsung phones to fiber-optic cable technology that allows…

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.…