September 8, 2021
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…
August 25, 2021
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…
August 18, 2021
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…
August 18, 2021
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…
August 9, 2021
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…
July 15, 2021
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…
July 8, 2021
A new device demonstrated by the laboratory of Professor Shin-Tson Wu, Ph.D. offers a novel method for expanding the capabilities and accuracy of non-mechanical laser beam steerers. The method, detailed in a new article in Light Science & Application titled “Miniature planar telescopes for efficient, wide-angle, high-precision beam steering,” addresses the inherent limitations of current…
June 28, 2021
Two students from CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, will accomplish their dreams while traveling the world through the Imaging and Light in Extended Reality (IMLEX) Fellowship program. Teodor Malendevych ’20 and Ilina Sunkara, a third-year undergraduate student, will pursue their master’s degrees in extended and augmented reality at three international universities in Finland,…
June 28, 2021
A graduate of CREOL’s Photonic Science and Engineering (PSE) program is reaching for the stars while pursuing doctoral research at Princeton University. Nicholas Kosan ’19 will have his research in laser spectroscopy systems supported by NASA through the NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities. Throughout the process of attaining his Ph.D, Kosan will work with…
June 15, 2021
An international scholarship that recognizes outstanding scholars in optics and photonic research was recently awarded to a graduate student in CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics. Kun Yin, a doctorate candidate studying virtual and augmented reality displays, is the recipient of the 2021 SPIE Optics and Photonics Scholarship. “This scholarship awards students from all over…
June 14, 2021
Leaving his home in Romania wasn’t something Gabriel Popescu, Ph.D ’02, ever expected to do until the opportunity presented itself. Motivated by the chance to make an impact on the world, Popescu packed his bags and left home in 1997 to pursue an American education at the CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics. It’s been…
June 11, 2021
David Hagan was announced today as the new dean of the College of Optics and Photonics by Michael D. Johnson, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. Hagan joined UCF in 1987 and is a founding faculty member of CREOL, UCF’s renowned Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers. Since December 2019,…