The fall is in full swing at the College of Sciences (COS) with inspiring stories from our Knights. From welcoming our new COS Student Ambassadors to the release of an educational video game that teaches biology to a new approach to Alzheimer’s Disease treatment; our COS community is unleashing their potential! Read on to learn more.

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The College of Sciences (COS) is the largest college at UCF and provides a world-class education in an environment where faculty, staff, and students thrive, research flourishes, and our community prospers. 

Read about some of the stories and successes from our COS community in our 2024-2025 annual report.

Two UCF biology graduate students are leading projects developing innovative solutions for conserving seagrass species in Florida, with support from Pegasus Professor of Biology Linda Walters and Assistant Professor of Biology and Genomics and Bioinformatics faculty cluster member Robert Fitak. Their projects are among eight selected for funding through the Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative. 

The initiative was created in 2023 by the Florida Legislature and governor through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium leading the effort. It aims to support restoration technologies and approaches that address seagrass loss and its widespread ecological and economic impacts on communities across Florida.  

Technology is a central part of this research effort. Perscky's work tests whether exposing seagrass to heat stress in a controlled environment can help plants adapt and pass resilience on to future generations. 

“We are using novel technologies, including molecular tools such as transcriptomics, which help identify biomarkers linked to stress memory,” Perscky says.  

During the next four years, students will help develop new space technologies, seek out cures for diseases and learn how to harness artificial intelligence technology, all alongside expert faculty and dedicated staff mentors. They will learn and grow at a university boldly daring to invent the future — in a city that offers them so many opportunities as one of the nation’s fastest-growing tech hubs.

A new planetary and space sciences doctoral program will prepare students to become leaders in the global planetary research and exploration community.

UCF is committed to helping the new class thrive and graduate on time. The university offers students support from academic success coaches who work with them one-on-one to plan the best path to achieve their goals. 

“It’s an exciting time to be a new or returning student at UCF,” Student Government President Luci Blanco says. “Welcome (back) to a university where you have the unique opportunity to discover new passions and turn skills into lifelong opportunities. I am so inspired by the many talented and driven students. Together we are the energy and possibility that makes UCF so special.” 

The College of Sciences (COS) is kicking off this academic year, and its newly selected student ambassadors are leading the way. The COS Faculty Fellow for Student Engagement who serves as faculty advisor for the ambassadors, Dr. Kari Mottarella, says she is looking forward to fostering new collaboration and creating a stronger community with all the departments and schools in UCF’s largest college.    

For the ambassadors, Mottarella hopes they will use this opportunity to strengthen their leadership skills, create collaborative opportunities, and set good examples while representing their fellow COS Knights.   

“The ambassadors are exceptionally strong and accomplished students,” Mottarella says. “Their time as an undergraduate student at UCF will rush by, and I encourage them to take moments to soak in, appreciate, and enjoy their experience as a Knight.”

When Knight Nation tunes into ESPN+ before a football game, they’re watching more than the countdown to kickoff. They’re watching students’ career ambitions unfold. Hitting the Field, UCF’s student-run sports broadcast network, has collaborated with ESPN to produce the Pregame Show — seven live shows before each home game on the field of the Acrisure Bounce House.

Senior film and media production student Kiersten Blaylock manages preproduced content and live directing. In these roles she helps plan the show each week by assigning students graphics to create while leading the production team while on air.

“To be able to say, ‘I’m the director,’ and know I helped make each show happen is huge,” she says, “I love sports as well as production and this lets me experience both.”

What is the connection between comics and mental health? For UCF doctoral student Jaylen Christie, the relationship came naturally. A longtime fan of comic book hero, The Flash, Christie was naturally drawn to themes in popular culture while pursuing his PhD in sociology at UCF’s College of Sciences.   

Christie served as a panelist at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con as part of a discussion entitled, “GeekEd: Mr. Stark, I Don’t Feel So Good.” The conversation — moderated by Dr. Alfred Day, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Support and Belonging at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) — focused on how trauma-informed practices, shaped by comic book storytelling, can help higher education professionals better support students navigating challenges in their lives and academic journeys. 

“As a kid, you may notice that many superheroes have a traumatic experience — such as the death of a family member, a tragic accident, or another difficult event,” says Christie. “I see the possibility of mental health education in those examples. If someone has experienced trauma and looks to superheroes and comic book culture, it could potentially provide an ideal space for discussion.” 

Additional panelists included Dr. Alison Cares, Associate Professor of Sociology at UCF (pictured above with Christie); Emilie Mitchell, a Counseling Intern at UC Berkeley; and Sabrina Van Zuiden, with the Counseling and Social Services department at University Health Services at UC Berkeley. 

Giovanna Scheraldi was inspired to pursue a career in higher education after her own educational journey in Brazil showed her the importance of support and encouragement. As a Graduate Admissions Coordinator I in the Department of Anthropology, she guides students through their time as Knights from admission to walking the stage at commencement. She was recognized for her work with a COS Staff Everyday Excellence Award this June.

“I truly enjoy having the opportunity to help students every single day. There’s no such thing as a small or unimportant question,” Scheraldi says. “Their needs, thoughts, and feelings matter. Being the person who’s there to listen, guide, and support students is one of my favorite parts of this role.” 

She says she has taken on duties outside her admissions work by helping manage the department's social media and assisting with creating the newsletter. Through these avenues, she has become a better admissions coordinator with stronger knowledge about anthropology.  

Outside of work she enjoys pottery, spending time with her family, and re-watching her favorite show every fall.  

“Lately, I’ve been rewatching Gilmore Girls for the 12th time, and there’s no shame. It’s my favorite show, and it’s even the theme for my baby’s nursery,” Scheraldi says. 

Maria Womack, a planetary scientist with the Department of Physics, is part of a team, including the Planetary Science Institute (PSI), that’s publishing the first-ever book entirely focused on one of the solar system’s most understudied inhabitants: Centaurs.  

The book, Centaurs, was co-edited with PSI researchers Kathryn Volk and Jordan Steckloff as part of the IOP Astronomy series in partnership with the American Astronomical Society, bringing together decades of research.  

“This book is the only reference book for studying Centaurs in-depth,” Womack says. “The writing is geared toward graduate students and well-prepared undergraduates who could use this to learn the basics of solar system formation, evolution, and how Centaurs contribute to that knowledge.” 

Tucked away in a quiet corner of Central Florida Research Park, a nondescript building might escape the notice of passersby. But for Jack Ballantyne, a chemistry professor and the interim director of UCF’s National Center for Forensic Science (NCFS), and his team, it’s anything but ordinary. 

UCF’s undergraduate forensic science program was established in 1974, making it one of the oldest forensic science programs in the country. The National Center for Forensic Science followed in 1997. 

“UCF decided to start a center for forensic science and initially concentrated on fire investigations, explosives and explosive analysis,” Ballantyne says. “We then expanded beyond fire and explosives and moved into digital evidence and DNA analysis.” 

Interdisciplinary research between the College of Sciences (COS) and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences is looking into a more effective way to fight against the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) by homing in on protein amyloid beta, which worsens the condition over time for the affected.   

The research team includes Professor of Physics Suren Tatulian from COS; Maria Zabala-Rodriguez, a graduate research assistant in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences; and Kenneth Teter, professor of medicine from the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. Their published research is supported by the Florida Department of Health, Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program Grant 21A06.  

“Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative pathology characterized by neuronal death and brain atrophy,” Tatulian says. “Two proteins have been identified that contribute to the disease: amyloid beta and tau proteins, which are naturally occurring in the brain. However, uncontrolled, aberrant aggregation of these proteins causes neuronal dysfunction leading to Alzheimer’s.” 

A new desktop game is turning parasitic wasps into unlikely heroes. Released Sept. 9, on the digital platform Steam, The Crawling Dead introduces players to biology topics and the crucial role of this insect species in controlling pests and benefiting the environment. 

Led by UCF Professor of Biology Barbara Sharanowski and developed by computer science undergraduate students, the new game blends research with interactive learning. 

“My work on parasitic wasps and their symbiotic viruses forms the foundation for the game and other outreach efforts designed to engage the public with biology in a fun and accessible way,” Sharanowski says. 

In the game, players take on the role of scientists tasked with protecting a national park by designing custom wasps to control invasive pests. 

“The goal as a scientist is to save the park by releasing specially designed wasps with beneficial features like paralytic venom, long ovipositors or even mind control, that make them more effective at targeting host species such as caterpillars, beetles and aphids,” she says.

Lovler: The women’s pages and not so soft news

As someone whose first reporting job in journalism was as a writer for the women’s pages at The San Juan Star, I was immediately drawn to Dr. Kimberly Voss’ recent talk at the Matheson History Museum on ‘Florida Women, Advice and Social Change’.

There are no longer women’s pages, or even women’s sections, in the media today, but they used to be a fixture in newspapers. They faded away in the 1970s to become Lifestyle sections, but how much did they matter in their day?

Quite a bit, according to Voss, a journalism professor at the University of Central Florida. Voss recently reviewed these vestiges of the mass media’s past in her presentation at the Matheson, part of the Florida Talks program sponsored by Florida Humanities.

Voss, who has been studying the women’s pages for decades, considers them “an unexplored part of American journalism history.

Click Orlando 

According to the map released by researchers with Climate Central, much of Florida’s coastal areas — particularly around the Everglades National Park and Florida Keys — could be largely submerged within the next 100 years. 

Of course, Central Florida wouldn’t be spared either in that case. According to the estimates, many low-lying areas bordering bodies of water like Lake Jesup and Lake Monroe would also be below flood levels. 

Last year, Professor Emeritus of Planetary Sciences Dr. Joseph Donoghue with the University of Central Florida told News 6 that sea levels are rising about 4 millimeters per year, though he expected that figure to increase quickly. 

“The global climate models — which are the only insight we have into future climate — all project that global sea level will continue to accelerate in the rate of rise and that sea levels by 2100, the end of this century, will be over one meter above present, so 3.1 feet, and could be much more if parts of West Antarctica collapse. That’s the worst-case scenario. If that happens, it could be 2 meters or more. Some of the worst-case projections say that it could be 2 meters by 2100 and certainly by another century.” 

World Today News 

Astronomers have detected a possible new moon orbiting the dwarf planet Quaoar, located‌ in the Kuiper Belt. The observation, made in June 2023, revealed a brief flash of light lasting just 1.23 seconds. Researchers believe this fleeting signal indicates the presence of a small ‌moon, rather than a previously unknown ring system around Quaoar. 

Quaoar was ‌first discovered in 2002 and takes 286 Earth years to complete ‍one orbit around the Sun. It resides approximately 43 Astronomical Units (AU) – roughly 6.4 billion kilometers – from the Sun within the Kuiper Belt. Quaoar is already ‌known to have one confirmed moon, Waywot. The existence of rings around such a small object presents a scientific puzzle, making the moon hypothesis more compelling. 

Benjamin Proudfoot, an astronomer at the ‌University of Central Florida and a participant in the research, supports the new moon description but stresses the need for further observation to ‍confirm the ‍revelation. The team hopes to utilize the ‍NASA James Webb Space Telescope for these follow-up studies. 

The Community Paper 

UCF Professor Rick Brunson teaches journalism at the University of Central Florida, and for him, rule No. 1 of education is “teach by example.” 

“I’ve always viewed my role here as being a player-coach,” Brunson said. With his recent success in producing a timely documentary, the Nicholson School of Communication and Media professor is hoping his students will follow his example. 

The film is called “Beneath the Same Sky,” and it chronicles a day in the life of Fidel Baca, a Border Patrol officer in El Paso, Texas, as he and his colleagues drive along the southern border of the United States into Mexico. Through the film, Officer Baca’s experience as an officer is recounted — alongside those of migrants crossing into the US, from their reasoning for coming to the efforts they go through to arrive.  

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