At UCF’s 2012 Graduate Research Forum, Ph.D. candidates Tanmay Bera, Daeha Joung and Biddut Sarker each received best poster awards in the category of Engineering, Computer Science, Optics, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Modeling and Simulation. The Graduate Research Forum features poster displays representing UCF’s diverse colleges and disciplines. The forum is an opportunity for students to…

Ashley Ewh has been awarded a 2012 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Ashley was selected based on her outstanding abilities and accomplishments, as well as her potential to contribute her field. The award is worth $30,000 annually, and fellowships are funded for up to three years. Ewh is a graduate student in UCF’s Materials…

ACS Nano‘s Most Read Articles of 2011 includes a paper by researchers from UCF’s Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC) and the NanoScience Technology Center (NSTC). The article, titled “Ultralight Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Aerogel” (DOI: 10.1021/nn102246a), was authored by Jianhua Zou, Jianhua Liu, Ajay Singh Karakoti, Amit Kumar, Daeha Joung, Qiang Li, Saiful I.…

Four of Saiful Khondaker’s students won awards at the 2012 AVS Florida chapter meeting: Udai Bhanu received a grand award in the Computational and Experimental Material Science category Edwards Jiminez (undergrad, Electrical Engineering) received a grand award in the Materials Characterization category Biddut Sarker received second prize Feras Alzubi received honorable mention The event was…

David Letter won the 1st place poster award at the TMS Annual Meeting in the Undergraduate category of the Biological Materials technical division. He will receive a $500 prize. His poster, entitled “Kinetics of Phosphate Ion Cerium Oxide Nanoparticle Interaction and Effect on Redox Activity of Bare and Functionalized Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles,” was one of…

Dr. Sudipta Seal has been selected to receive the Pegasus Professor award, the highest honor given by the University of Central Florida to faculty who have made a significant impact on the university. Dr. Seal is the director of UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center and Advanced Materials Processing & Analysis Center as well as Nano Initiative…

Kevin R. Coffey has been elected to represent the College of Engineering and Computer Science in the UCF Faculty Senate. He was selected by his faculty peers within the college. Coffey is a Professor in UCF’s Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) as well as the Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC).

Zhao Wang is the winner of the 2011-2012 University Award for the Outstanding Master’s Thesis. Wang is a Ph.D. student with Dr. Aman Behal’s research group. His thesis is titled, “Lyapunov-Based Control Design for Uncertain MIMO Systems.” Wang’s thesis was selected by the University of Central Florida Graduate Council from a group of finalists. This…

Qun Huo has been named one of sixteen finalists for the 2012 Cade Museum Prize. Open to all Florida residents, the Cade Museum Prize is designed to encourage innovation and invention by providing an incentive for early-stage companies to move ideas and products closer to marketplace viability. Huo’s entry is titled “Nanoparticle-Enabled Bioanalytical Technology.” She…

For the first time ever, stem cells from umbilical cords have been converted into other types of cells, which may eventually lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, among other nervous system diseases. “This is the first time this has been done with non-embryonic stem cells,” says James Hickman, a…