Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Grad Gazette, a new e-newsletter from the College of Sciences Graduate Studies team.

The Grad Gazette spotlights the COS graduate studies community and shares updates, deadlines and other relevant information.

Spring 2023 College of Sciences Ph.D. Graduates

The College of Sciences congratulates its 125 Spring 2023 graduate program graduates! We wish our 88 Master of Arts/Master of Science, 1 Master of Fine Arts, 27 doctoral and 9 certificate graduates all the best for their future endeavors. 

Go Knights!

College of Sciences graduate students are regularly recognized for outstanding accomplishments. Congratulations to our recent awardees who were selected for university awards:

Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching in 2022-23 - Federico Borghesi, Department of Physics

Outstanding Dissertation in 2022-23 - Sabin Regmi, Department of Physics

Click below for a list of awardees at the college and university level. Congratulations to all of our graduate student awardees!

Ph.D. student Anthony Mirabito turned his childhood pastime of exploring Iowa’s wetlands into pursuing a Ph.D. in Integrative and Conservation Biology. Learn what he’s doing to save wetlands.  

Camille Coffie has overcome multiple obstacles to get where she is today pursuing her Ph.D. in physics. She plans on using her degree to continue teaching others and mentoring Black women in her field.  

Dr. Tom Dolan, associate professor in the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, was recently recognized for his contributions to graduate studies and graduate student mentoring at the COS inaugural Recognizing Outstanding Instruction Celebration. He is also director of the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (ICCAE).

He shares some insights and advice here.

What are your words of encouragement for graduate students? 

You’re about to engage in an exciting journey that will take you to places you never expected. Give yourself permission to be curious, to have fun.  

How can graduate students prepare today for building a career after graduation? 

Personal career success, in both the short and long term, will come more easily if you understand your field’s values and make wise decisions in light of those values.   

Looking for more advice? Read Dr. Dolan’s full interview here.  

Nicholson School of Communication and Media graduate Jennifer Fickley-Baker ‘04 M.A., ‘12 Ph.D. is using her Master of Arts in Mass Communications to give back to the next generation of communications professionals. She is currently the director of Global Editorial Content at Hilton and also teaches at Valencia College.  

The College of Graduate Studies regularly revises policies regarding graduate education. Here are some recently updated or new policies:

Transfer of Credit  

Big Data Analytics trains researchers with a statistics background to analyze massive, structured or unstructured data to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations and other useful information that can be used to make better decisions.

The program provides a strong foundation in the major methodologies associated with Big Data Analytics including predictive analytics, data mining, text analytics and statistical analysis with an interdisciplinary component that combines the strength of statistics and computer science. 

Pegasus Professor Kerstin Hamann

Dr. Hamann serves as associate dean in the College of Sciences, where her responsibilities include overseeing graduate studies. Prior to joining the Office of the Dean, she served as the director of the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs. 

kerstin.hamann@ucf.edu

Academic Program Coordinator II Tonya Walker

Tonya Walker provides logistical support for graduate student operations in the College of Sciences. She has served at UCF since 2005. 

tonya.walker@ucf.edu

Questions? Concerns? We look forward to serving you:

cosgrad@ucf.edu

UCF College of Sciences | sciences.ucf.edu | cosmarketing@ucf.edu