Faculty

The UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science has witnessed unprecedented faculty growth over the past few years and the spring 2025 semester is no exception. Eleven additional faculty members, including one with a joint appointment, will join the college this semester, after 17 new hires in fall 2024. The increase in faculty is part…

Assistant Professor Paria Gharavi is researching ways technology can be faster, more reliable and more durable through her work as a materials scientist and electron microscopist. Gharavi joined UCF in Fall 2023 as part of an infusion of new talent to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the College of Engineering. The department…

Associate Professor Kaitlyn Crawford has been elected a member-at-large by the American Chemical Society’s division of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering (ACS-PMSE). Members of ACS-PMSE select new members-at-large from a pool of candidates who volunteer to assist with the organization’s activities “My interest in becoming a PMSE volunteer stems from my strong drive to give…

The UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science is making an impact in areas such as hypersonic technology, nanomedicine and biomedical engineering, and robotics and autonomous systems – and has hired a new group of faculty who will enhance its reputation in these fields. Seventeen new faculty members will join four of the six departments…

UCF faculty members across the university, including several from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, achieved significant career milestones in earning promotions and tenure for the 2023-24 cycle. The 104 approved faculty — 63 for promotion, 40 for promotion and tenure and one for tenure — underwent a rigorous performance evaluation by peers, college…

Assistant Professor Kaitlyn Crawford has been named a 2024 Early Investigator Symposium Honoree by the American Chemical Society’s Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE). As a recipient of this distinction, Crawford will give a lecture during the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society. Crawford is one of 24 professionals and academics to…

Professor Jiyu Fang has been awarded the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) Scientist Medal for his contributions to the field of materials science and engineering. This award is given to researchers who have made an impact through their work over the past decade, and is one of the most prestigious honors bestowed from IAAM.…

UCF continues to be a top university in the world for producing patents, securing 57 patents in calendar year 2023 and ranking 53rd among public and private universities in the world and 21st in the nation among public universities. The worldwide rankings, released this month from the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), place UCF in a…

Leland Nordin’s educational and professional journey has taken him to almost every directional extreme in the contiguous United States. He grew up in the northern state of Minnesota before attending Grinnell College in nearby Iowa where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics. He moved south to the University of Texas in Austin where he…

Five new faculty members have joined the UCF Department of Materials Science and Engineering for the 2023-24 academic year. The faculty bring with them a wide range of experience and expertise in biosensors and biowearables, semiconductor materials, electron microscopy, machine learning and much more. The new faculty are: Paria Gharavi – Assistant Professor Leland Nordin…

One-hundred-forty-three UCF faculty members, including two from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, recently achieved significant career milestones in earning promotions and tenure for the 2022-23 cycle. The approved faculty­ — 93 for promotion, 49 for promotion and tenure and one for tenure — underwent a rigorous evaluation of their work and performance by…

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals. Election as a fellow is a lifetime honor and considered one of the most distinguished recognitions within the scientific community. UCF professors Peter Delfyett and Ronald DeMara…

Most people realize the climate impacts of carbon dioxide. Not many people, however, know that methane, the main component of natural gas, is much more potent than carbon dioxide. While methane doesn’t remain in the atmosphere as long as CO2 (which can linger for thousands of years), it is 84 times more potent at trapping heat…

A University of Central Florida researcher has developed technology that could prevent electric vehicle fires, like those caused by saltwater flooding from Hurricane Ian. The technology, an aqueous battery, replaces the volatile and highly flammable organic solvents found in electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries with saltwater to create a battery that is safer, faster charging, just…

Assistant Professor Lorraine Leon has been named a recipient of the 2022 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award. This honor is given to early career faculty in recognition for their outstanding research, experience and leadership in STEM. All recipients are nominated by 3M researchers and receive a discretionary award of $15,000 per year, for up to three…

The U.S. National Science Foundation has named eight UCF professors 2022 NSF CAREER award recipients. All of the recipients are engineers by training who are working on interdisciplinary projects that aim to improve health or to develop new technology that promises to improve our lives. The awardees represent the most promising junior researchers in the…

Eighty-nine UCF faculty received promotions and another 48 earned tenure for the 2021-22 cycle following a rigorous evaluation process. Four of these faculty are from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Consideration for promotion and tenure takes nearly an entire academic year as faculty are evaluated on three main areas: research, teaching and service. UCF’s…

Jim Fenton, the director of the Florida Solar Energy Center and a professor of materials science and engineering, has been elected the third vice president of The Electrochemical Society. Fenton has been a member of the industry organization for 40 years and previously held the title of ECS Secretary. In his candidacy statement, he said…

This year’s five Reach for the Stars honorees have two common traits – outside-the-box thinking and a relentless passion to make the world a better place. From creating resilient communities that can withstand natural disasters to educating the public through fiction that explains real science, this year’s honorees are using research to help create a…

Twenty-six students — including one affiliated with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering — have been named as 2021-22 recipients of the Order of Pegasus, UCF’s most prestigious student award for those who display incredible academic achievement, university involvement, leadership and community service. Chuck Didier, a biomedical science student who studies under Professor Swaminathan…

Innovation at UCF is not an exception; It is the expectation. In 2021, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Central Florida as the 15th most innovative university in the United States — of the top 30, it was also the youngest. The classification drew from a survey of top college administrators, asking them to nominate…

While working in nanoscience, Assistant Professor Yeongwoong Jung has made strides on a large scale. In the last five years he’s spent at UCF, his lab has investigated everything from electronic “tattoos” that monitor a person’s vital signs to supercapacitors considered invaluable for the future of sustainable energy. The Korean native chose to take a position here…

This year’s five UCF National Science Foundation CAREER grant recipients are finding innovative and bold new ways to solve challenges that could be game changers in healthcare and engineering. For example, one researcher is tracking down what triggers harmless microorganisms into going rogue and turning into deadly pathogens such as flesh-eating bacteria. Another faculty member is working…

UCF was selected to receive four awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, the most of any university this year. The awards total $9.64 million — $7 million from the DOE and $2.64 million in matches from UCF. “These awards amplify UCF’s national leadership in solar energy research since the establishment…

UCF leads the state and ranks sixth in the nation for the number of National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipients in 2019. As of July 22, UCF confirmed 12 awards. In Florida, a total of 41 awards have been given so far, including seven to University of Florida and five at Florida Atlantic University. Nationally,…

Engineering Professor Sudipta Seal has been named a 2020 Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). The organization, which began in 1968 when brick manufacturers got together to discuss the industry, has grown into one of the most influential groups shaping the way we think about materials science. It includes 11,000 scientists, engineers, researchers, manufacturers,…

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is turning to the University of Central Florida to develop new technology to help keep first responders safe during potentially toxic fires. It’s doing so with a new, $500,000 grant from the department’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will fund the development of a sensor that remotely detects fires and…

Sudipta Seal, an engineering professor and chair of UCF’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, one of the oldest chemical societies in the world. “Getting recognized by the Royal Society of Chemistry is not only a humbling experience but will also create a lot…

Sudipta Seal, an engineering professor and chair of UCF’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, will receive two international awards in the coming months for his contributions to materials science research. He will receive the prestigious Materials Research Society Fellow award at the end of April during the society’s spring meeting. Seal will be the first…

Xiaofeng Feng has been named a Sloan Research Fellow, the first for the University of Central Florida. The award recognizes early career scientists that demonstrate high promise. Past Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to do big things. Collectively they have received 47 Nobel Prizes, 17 Fields Medals in mathematics, 69 National Medals of Science…

UCF engineering professor Sudipta Seal is one of only four Americans and 20 scientists worldwide named to the World Academy of Ceramics for 2018. The academy will honor the scientists June 4 at its 14th annual meeting in Perugia, Italy, for their “renowned contributions to the advancement of this field.” Seal has certainly delivered throughout his remarkable…

UCF scientist Sudipta Seal, whose research has led to groundbreaking therapeutic applications in regenerative nanomedicine, has been chosen as a 2018 inductee into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Seal, who is a UCF Trustee Chair, Pegasus and University Distinguished Professor, is one of seven inventors who will be inducted in September at an annual ceremony…