Five University of Central Florida professors – tied for the most among Florida universities -- will travel abroad this year on Fulbright Scholar grants, the flagship cultural education exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

UCF is tied with the University of South Florida for having the most Fulbright Scholars of any university in Florida.

While abroad, UCF professors will work to enhance teacher education in Kenya, study near-earth asteroids in Spain, examine the impact of information technology on Austrian organizations and more. 

Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected based on their academic and professional achievements and leadership potential in their fields. Fulbright grants give scholars opportunities to observe other countries’ political, economic, educational and cultural institutions and to exchange ideas with scholars in those countries.

“The Fulbright Program’s recognition of five of our faculty and staff members, all from different colleges, is a testament to the outstanding teaching and research at UCF,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Terry Hickey. “The program provides our faculty and staff with exceptional opportunities to share their expertise with leaders in other countries and to return to UCF with new ideas that they can apply in their classrooms and labs.”

The awards are the latest of many top honors received this year by UCF faculty, who have earned eight prestigious National Science Foundation awards that recognize the nation’s most outstanding and promising young scientists and engineers, three of the highest awards bestowed by the world’s premier scientific society in optics and photonics and many more.

The Fulbright Program, which operates in 155 countries, is sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

UCF faculty and staff who are traveling abroad on Fulbright Scholar grants this year on behalf of the College of Sciences:

-- Humberto Campins, professor, Department of Physics; research in Tenerife, Spain; “Low Perihelion Near-Earth Asteroids.”

In addition, one faculty members from foreign universities were selected to conduct research at UCF this year under the Fulbright Scholar Program’s Visiting Grantee program.

-- Zeinab Sayed Ibrahim Mansour, assistant professor, Department of Mathematics, Cairo University, Egypt; “Q-Difference and Fractional Equations and Their Solutions.”

For more information on the Fulbright Scholar programs, go to www.fulbright.state.gov.