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		<title>Recent News</title>
		<link>http://www.cos.ucf.edu</link>
		<description>5 News Articles</description>
		<language>en-us</language>
		<copyright>Copyright 2009, Dean's Office</copyright>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:48:43 -0500</pubDate>
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		<category>Dean's Office</category>
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			<guid>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=244</guid>
			<link>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=244</link>
			<title>U. of Central Florida Professor Helps Launch New Space-Travel Industry</title>
			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:25:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ 
By Paul Basken
More than 40 years after man first set foot on the moon, space travel remains for its many fans a lifelong dream that is rarely realized.
Joshua E. Colwell, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Central Florida, is about to help change that.
In the past three months, Mr. Colwell and a few other university scientists have begun working with a group of small companies that are close to launching a new generation of privately built spacecraft that would let human passengers routinely travel beyond Earth's atmosphere to the beginning of outer space.
The companies bear such names as Space Adventures, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Orbital Outfitters. They expect their flights, at about $200,000 a ticket, to cater mostly to wealthy tourists, at least at first.
"This isn't pie in the sky," Mr. Colwell, who is 45, says with the enthusiasm of one who grew up near the space center in Florida just as NASA was firing off its moon missions. "It actually exists."
Or, at least, it's close to existing. Five years ago, the privately financed SpaceShipOne claimed the $10-million Ansari X Prize by completing two manned flights into low Earth orbit. Hopes were high that companies might soon build a series of such spacecraft.
But they met technical and financial hurdles. Three workers died in a July 2007 explosion while testing propellants for SpaceShipTwo, a successor vehicle backed by Virgin Galactic. NASA hasn't yet made clear whether or how it plans to use private-sector launch capabilities. And the global recession has made raising money difficult.
That's where Mr. Colwell comes in. In August he was one of 10 experts, mostly from research universities, chosen by the companies to advise them on ways their space vehicles&mdash;the first of which are expected to be launched within two years&mdash;could be used for research and educational purposes.
The panel of experts represents various academic disciplines, including space life sciences, atmospheric sciences, and aerospace engineering.
Mr. Colwell's specialty is microgravity physics, with an emphasis on the forces present at the early stages of planetary formation. Many of his colleagues in the field are using low-gravitational-force environments to improve the design and production of vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and materials ranging from tiny electronics to jet-engine turbines.
For such researchers, riding on a new space rocket in low Earth orbit could mean a lot, both professionally and personally. Right now, when Mr. Colwell wants to test how particles behave with little or no gravitational force, his options aren't good.
One choice is to prepare a boxed experiment to take aboard the space shuttle or space station. But those opportunities are rare and expensive, and he can't come along to oversee the study.
Another is to fly on a specially equipped research aircraft, such as NASA's Houston-based C-9B jet, which flies up and down in a series of sweeping parabolic paths to give its passengers a simulated weightless environment on each downward plummet.
But the C-9B's gravity-free plunges last only about 25 seconds at a time. Worse, it is known as the "vomit comet." Mr. Colwell has spent a lot of time on the C-9B, and says "it lived up to its nickname as far as I was concerned.".
On the planned private spacecraft, however, researchers can expect as much as five uninterrupted minutes of low gravitational force as the vehicles briefly reach the edge of Earth's atmosphere before heading back.
And the researchers and their sponsors may not need to buy a full-price ticket, if they only need a small compartment for their experiment to travel as cargo, Mr. Colwell said. Some projects needing only minor or unskilled human interaction might make use of a cooperative passenger, he said.
Accommodating such educational and scientific needs is now a key element "of any private company's business plan," said John W. Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the fledgling industry's lobby group.
Mr. Colwell and his fellow members of the advisory committee, formed by the spaceflight federation, "are now in discussions with universities, government agencies, and other institutions to use these new capabilities in a big way," Mr. Gedmark said.
It's a fun sales job for Mr. Colwell, a fan of Star Trek and science-fiction books, who traces his interest in space to the time his mom went to see an Apollo launch while pregnant with him.
The expected availability of such flights has "come up very quickly, and a lot of people don't know about it," Mr. Colwell said. "What we're saying is, 'Hey, here's a great opportunity for doing a new form of science.'"
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			<guid>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=243</guid>
			<link>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=243</link>
			<title>UCF Conference Tackled Climate Change and National Security</title>
			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:23:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Military experts, public policy researchers and environmental scholars came together at the University of Central Florida Thursday to discuss the implications of climate change on national and global security.  Rather than exclusively focusing on ecological changes, the event, titled "Climate Change and National/Global Security,&rdquo; discussed the long-term impacts of climate change from a security point of view. The conference hosted speakers with expertise in a wide range of fields dealing with the issue.   About 250 students, faculty and staff, as well as community members, attended the event, which was a co-curricular component of the UCF General Education Program Unifying Theme: &ldquo;The Environment and Global Climate Change,&rdquo; and also a feature of the 2009-2010 Global Perspectives theme of &ldquo;The Environment, Energy and National/Global Security.&rdquo;  The morning keynote speaker was retired Vice Adm. Lee Gunn, president of the American Security Project. Gunn spoke on the &ldquo;National Security Implications of Climate Change,&rdquo; offering expertise from his 35 years serving in the U.S. Navy.   Gunn stressed to the audience that climate change is not just an environmental concern, but also a formidable threat to the country&rsquo;s security. He described the possible implications of a global climate crisis from a defense perspective. Gunn detailed a situation of mass migration to the United States, overextension of military resources and the weakening of alliances made in more stable times. He explained that the challenges &ldquo;are not insurmountable but will be extremely costly.&rdquo;  The next speaker, Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College, discussed &ldquo;Climate Change and Human Security.&rdquo; Johnson-Freese detailed the human suffering that is likely to occur in the event of natural disasters driven by climate change. She explained how extreme weather events become disasters by acting on vulnerable populations. Johnson-Freese echoed Gunn in warning that these events might lead to mass migration, and also discussed the possibility of widespread social instability.   The third speaker, Janet Larsen, is the director of research at the Earth Policy Institute, an independent environmental research organization. Larsen&rsquo;s discussion titled, &ldquo;Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization,&rdquo; focused on the effects wide-spread food shortages may have on global security. She detailed the necessary steps in order to save civilization and stressed that &ldquo;food security is really about human security.&rdquo;   Next, James J. Carafano, Deputy Director, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, offered a counter- perspective on the issue in his presentation titled, &ldquo;Questioning the Concept: Rethinking the Climate/Security Paradigm.&rdquo;  Carafano asserted that climate change and national security are part of a very complex system being affected by many variables, and that we have to carefully examine the causality between security issues and the effects of climate change. He said that predicting the relationship between humans and the environment in the long term is nearly impossible. Carafano stressed that he is not in the &ldquo;do-nothing crowd,&rdquo; but that more research needs to be done to explain the intricate relationship between climate change and national security.   During a question-and-answer period with speakers, audience members asked if the rising cost of food is tied to alternative fuels, such as ethanol, which is typically made in the United States from corn. Another audience member asked about U.S. hesitancy in making a firm commitment to the impending United Nations meeting on climate change in Copenhagen.   The conference&rsquo;s luncheon keynote speaker was William Powers, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and author of &ldquo;Whispering in the Giant&rsquo;s Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia&rsquo;s War on Globalization.&rdquo; Powers gave a human face to the issues that had been discussed all day, citing his personal experiences helping local populations with climate and deforestation issues in Liberia and Bolivia.  Powers shared success stories in curbing carbon emissions and increasing sustainable ways of living in the third world, ending the day&rsquo;s discussions on a hopeful note.   &ldquo;We can change in partnership with the developing world,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We can re-imagine development. And we can achieve climate justice. It&rsquo;s not that any of these things are easy to do, but they have been done, and we can achieve them too.&rdquo;  Sponsors of the conference included UCF&rsquo;s Global Perspectives Office, the National Conference of Editorial Writers, UCF&rsquo;s Student Government Association, Office of Undergraduate Studies, Nicholson School of Communication, Diplomacy Program, Terrorism Studies Program, Political Science Department, International Services Center, The India Program at UCF, UCF LIFE, C.T. Hsu International (Group) Co., Lawrence J. Chastang and The Chastang Foundation, The Anil and Chitra Deshpande Foundation, C.T. Hsu International (Group) Co., OCI Associates Inc. and the Global Connections Foundation.  Laura Stockbridge contributed to this report. ]]></description>
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			<guid>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=242</guid>
			<link>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=242</link>
			<title>Congratulations to Luis Ono and Jason Croy!</title>
			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:42:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Luis Ono and Jason Croy were finalist for two AVS student awards&nbsp;that were given last week at the AVS Meeting in San Jose. Jason Croy&nbsp;was for the Mort Traum Award and Luis Ono for the AVS Nanometer&nbsp;Scale Science and Technology Division (NSTD) Student Award. The&nbsp;selection as finalist is already quite prestigious, and it included&nbsp;a small monetary recognition. Both Luis and Jason work under the&nbsp;supervision of Professor Roldan.
The Morton M. Traum Surface Science Student Award is given to the&nbsp;best student paper presented in any session sponsored or jointly&nbsp;sponsored by the Surface Science (SS) Division at the AVS&nbsp;International Symposia. This is the oldest student award in AVS,&nbsp;presented since 1981. A candidate for the award must be either a&nbsp;current graduate student or have received the Ph.D. degree in the&nbsp;year of the Symposium. Up to a maximum of five finalists are&nbsp;selected to compete. Although they are judged based only on their&nbsp;poster presentations, they may also present orally during the&nbsp;meeting, since that decision is independent of the competition. The&nbsp;main selection criteria include both scientific content and&nbsp;presentation skill.
The Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division Award was&nbsp;established in 1998 to bring recognition to outstanding dissertation&nbsp;work by students giving oral presentations in NSTD sessions at AVS&nbsp;International Symposia. Finalists are selected by the Awards&nbsp;Committee and must present a short talk at the Best Student Paper&nbsp;Lunch on Tuesday of the symposium. The winner is selected based on&nbsp;the quality of the talk, the responses to questions, and the level&nbsp;of the research.
More details may be found at&nbsp;http://www.avs.org/inside.awards.aspx
Great job Luis and Jason!
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			<guid>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=241</guid>
			<link>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=241</link>
			<title>Biology Newsletter Annoucements</title>
			<pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:21:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ To Our Students, As you prepare to spend the Thanksgiving period celebrating with friends andfamily the Department of Biology wants to wish you an enjoyable holiday. Thanksgiving is often considered to be a turning point in the semester signaling that the end is near. When you return you will be preparing for finals exams, lab practicals, and term papers. Take this time to relax and recharge yourselves. That is important.
&nbsp;
Special Topics Courses: 

When an Upper Division Restricted Elective course is offered as a special topic the regular rules apply as to how it is used towards graduation. Since only Biology special topics can be used for the Biology degree, all count for residency. Depending on the nature of the class it may count for the plant requirement (ex; Medical Botany) or animal requirement (ex; Mammalogy). It can also be used towards one of the three categories of Upper Division Restricted Electives (ex; Invasion Biology works for the &ldquo;environmental&rdquo; category). You should check with your advisor, or the Biology Office, if you are unsure how a class will apply to your degree.

&nbsp;
Job and Research Opportunities:

Job Opportunities are posted on the corkboard outside of BL 301 as they come in. You should check it on a regular basis if you are looking for employment in Biology.
Office of Undergraduate Research is an extremely helpful department that is able to assist you with research opportunities. They can be reached at www.OUR.ucf.edu.
Research Opportunities are posted throughout the Biology Building, particularly around BL 301. Some of these positions are paying or may be taken for course credit as an independent study.

&nbsp;
Undergraduate Research Grant Opportunities are posted on the corkboard outside of BL 301 as they come in.
(1) 2010 Academic Year EPA Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships for Undergraduate Environmental StudyURL: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2010/2010_gro_undergrad.htmlOpen Date: 09/15/2009 - Close Date: 12/10/2009

Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) invites applications for the Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowships for undergraduate environmentally related study for bachelor&rsquo;s level students. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 10, 2009. Subject to availability of funding, the Agency plans to
award approximately 30 new fellowships by July 30, 2010. The fellowship provides up to $19,250 per year of academic support and $8,000 for internship support for a combined total of up to $46,500 over the life of the fellowship. The GRO program enhances and supports quality environmental education for undergraduates, and thereby encourages them to continue their education beyond the baccalaureate level, and pursue careers in environmentally related fields. The actual amount awarded per year will vary depending on the amount of tuition and fees and the number of months the stipend is required. This fellowship is intended to help defray costs associated with environmentally oriented study leading to a bachelor&rsquo;s degree.

(2) St. Johns River Water Management District &ndash; Palatka, Florida: College InternThe Division of Water Supply Management is seeking a college student to perform the following diverse tasks:

Assist with data entry regarding the Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) database development and query existing MFLs data sources.
Assist MFLs staff with field data collection for the determination of MFLs.
Assist staff by reducing data, calculating descriptive statistics for vegetation communities, and generating data summaries and report graphics associated with MFLs determinations.

A college/university student currently enrolled in biology, soils, ecology, orenvironmental engineering degree program. Selected candidate must have strongcomputer skills in Microsoft Office. Experience with ArcMap (GIS) is preferred. If you are looking for a great place to intern, please visit our web site for additional information and to complete the on-line application process at www.sjrwmd.com.(3) Community Service/Volunteering Opportunities

AMSA-AP Biology Mentoring Program: Premedical-AMSA is involved in a program tutoring AP Biology Students in Orange County High Schools. This is a great way to help out the community. It also is a great way to prepare for the MCAT by reviewing biology (you learn more as a teacher than you ever do as a student.) If you are interested you should contact Premedical-AMSA at http://www.premedamsa.com 

(4) UCF's Office of Career Services

Biology majors are encouraged to utilize the extensive career resources offered by UCF's Career Services office. They are located in Ferrell Commons, Building 7F, and open from 8-5; walk ins available 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Career Services helps students with their career exploration, gaining real world experience, and helping students with finding full time employment or graduate school after college. Individual career assistance is available, as are a variety of workshops, programs. For those planning on attending professional school after graduation, UCF's office of pre-professional advising meets individually with students (Ferrell Commons, 215C), Please visit www.career.ucf.edu for help planning your career.

(5) International Medical Outreach is having a Princeton/Kaplan Course Auction taking place at 6 pm on November 23rd at the UCF Campus (HEC 101). This event is a charity drive to provide medical mission trips for underserved areas in Haiti, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. There will be an auction for test prep courses for MCAT, PCAT, DAT, and GRE exams.
Prehealth Professional Students1) Prehealth Professional Advisement

Office of Pre-Professional Advising (OPPA): The website can be found at http://www.oppa.ucf.edu/. They will be adding information to the website on a regular basis throughout the year so please check it often.They are located in: Ferrell Commons, Building 7G Room 215C Tel.: 407-823-3033 Fax: 407-823-0175 Email: oppa@mail.ucf.edu They will meet with students mostly by appointment, but also on a walk-in basis when available.Pre-Health Professional Advisement Office (PPAO): The website can be found at http://www.biomed.ucf.edu/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=50&amp; Itemid=77. They are located in: HPA 1 Room 124 Tel: 407-823-2670 Fax: 407-823-6051 Email: galopez@mail.ucf.edu or syantz@mail.ucf.edu. They will meet with students typically on a walk-in basis but will set up appointments if requested.

There are a number of prehealth professional organizations on campus.These are student clubs that are dedicated to helping student to prepare for, and to apply into, a career in the health professions. They are a great way to learn what challenges await you and to prepare for them. Club events include visits to health professional programs, visits with faculty and students at professional schools, shadowing opportunities, and charity events. Some of the clubs are:

Premedical-AMSA for students interested in medical school: http://www.premedamsa.com/
Predental-ASDA for students interested in dentistry: http://pdasda.com/
UCF-Preveterinary Club for students interested in veterinary medicine: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~prevet/PreVetSite/The_University_of_Central_Florida.html
Pre-Professional Medical Society for students interested in a variety of health fields: http://ppmedsociety.org.

Preveterinary Shadowing Opportunity:

 Arrangements have been made with University Animal Hospital (9357 University Blvd, Orlando - (407) 657-7297) to allow UCF students to shadow with the veterinarians. Any student who is interested should meet with Frank Logiudice (BL 301c). Shadowing will occur in the mornings of mondays, thursdays, and fridays (when they typically conduct surgeries). UAH only wants one student per day. That way we can accommodate 3 students per week. Students will be rotated through for 4 shadowing days (4 weeks). At the end of the month 3 new students will be brought in. This way up to 12 students can shadow per term (based on interest level). Thank you to UAH for giving our students this wonderful opportunity!

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			<guid>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=240</guid>
			<link>http://www.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=240</link>
			<title>Important Announcements</title>
			<pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:16:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Student Evaluations of Faculty TeachingThis semester the university is switching to on-line teacher evaluations. An announcement will be made when the evaluation period begins and students will be directed to the evaluation website. It is very important that you take the time to fill out an evaluation for every class, every faculty member, and every GTA that you have. It is only through feedback from the entire class (or at least most of the class) that your instructors can really see what is going well or poorly with a class. Comments from only a handful of people often do not adequately reflect what is happening with a class. The faculty and GTAs need all of your comments to evaluate their teaching performances and their classes. Please take the time to do these evaluations.Fall 2009 Important Dates(a) Spring Graduation Application: October 19 &ndash; March 5(b) Withdrawal Deadline: October 16(c) Grade Forgiveness Deadline: October 16(d) Classes End: December 7(e) Final Exam Period: December 8-14(f) Grades Due: December 17(g) Fall Graduation: December 18Food Drive: &ldquo;UCF students affected by the economic hardships of the recession have anew outlet. Knights Helping Knights, a volunteer-based organization set up through Rick Falco&rsquo;s first year LEAD Scholars class, focuses on giving back through a food pantry and a yard sale at Memory Mall. Located on the third floor of the student union, the food pantry is run by shifts of volunteers and includes varieties of canned foods, bottled beverages, toiletries and supplies provided free of charge for students. The pantry will expand to include used electronics, clothing and any other donated goods for students. It is open Tuesday and Thursday from 11a.m.-2 p.m., but can be opened at anytime for students seeking assistance by calling 407.823.2256 or e-mailing smaton@mail.ucf.edu&rdquo; from UCF Today November 5thInternational Medical Outreach is having a Princeton/Kaplan Course Auction taking place at 6 pm on November 23rd at the UCF Campus (HEC 101). This event is a charity drive to provide medical mission trips for underserved areas in Haiti, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. There will be an auction for test prep courses for MCAT, PCAT, DAT, and GRE exams.Order of Pegasus AwardThe Order of Pegasus is a selective program that recognizes exemplary performance byboth undergraduate and graduate students.Undergraduate Students are recognized in areas of academic achievement, university involvement, leadership, and community service The college can nominate up to four undergraduates and two graduate students for consideration by the university selection committee. Students must submit an application that consists of narratives, specific information as requested by the application, letters of recommendation, a current resume. More information about the award and the application can be found online at http://www.orderofpegasus.sdes.ucf.eduComplete applications are due to the college (CSB 201) by Friday, November 20. Letters of recommendation must include the following: The authors of the letter of recommendation should write an in-depth letter of recommendation that addresses how the nominee for the Order of Pegasus has made a difference in one or more of the Five Core Values of UCF (The Creed): Integrity, Scholarship, Community, Creativity, and Excellence. ]]></description>
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