2021 Founder's Day Honors Convocation Program

2021

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

FOUNDERS’ DAY HONORS CONVOCATION 2021

WELCOME The Founders’ Day Honors Convocation celebrates outstanding academic achievements of our faculty members and students. As we recognize these achievements, we remember the efforts of those women and men who made this university a reality, and we prepare for the accomplishments of the future.

Thank you for helping us honor the outstanding work being highlighted.

Table of Contents Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

1

Excellence in Graduate Teaching

3

Excellence in Research

5

Excellence in Mentoring Doctoral Students

7

Excellence in Faculty Academic Advising

9

Excellence in Librarianship

10

Excellence in Instructional Design

11

Excellence in Professional Service

12

Recognition of Service to the University

13

Emeritus and Emerita

16

Reach for the Stars

19

Pegasus Professor

21

Student Awards

27

Acknowledgments

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E XCEL L ENC E IN UNDER GR ADUATE TE ACHING

C OL L EGE AWAR DS College of Arts and Humanities Francisco Fernández-Rubiera Martha García Duncan Hardy Alla Kourova

College of Business Administration Dana Wallace

College of Community Innovation and Education Marc Consalo Nicole Damico Taylar Wenzel

College of Engineering and Computer Science Tian Tian

College of Health Professions and Sciences Eunkyung “Muriel” Lee Danielle Webster

1

College of Medicine Alicia Hawthorne

College of Nursing Erica Hoyt

College of Optics and Photonics Peter Delfyett

College of Sciences Edward González-Tennant Amanda Groff Tamra Legron-Rodriguez Tammy Muhs Grace White

Rosen College of Hospitality Management Ray Eddy

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Amanda Groff College of Sciences

2

E XC EL L ENC E IN G R ADUATE TEAC H ING

C OL L EGE AWAR DS College of Arts and Humanities Cheryl Briggs

College of Community Innovation and Education Danielle Atkins

College of Engineering and Computer Science Dingbao Wang

College of Graduate Studies Joseph Kider Jr.

College of Health Professions and Sciences Matt Stock

College of Medicine Kenneth Teter

College of Nursing Christopher Blackwell

3

College of Optics and Photonics Axel Schülzgen

College of Sciences Güneş Tezcür

Rosen College of Hospitality Management Xiaoxiao Fu

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Matt Stock College of Health Professions and Sciences

4

EXC EL L ENC E IN R ES EAR C H

C OL L EGE AWAR DS College of Arts and Humanities Duncan Hardy

College of Business Administration Marshall Schminke

College of Community Innovation and Education Sarah Bush

College of Engineering and Computer Science Hassan Foroosh

College of Graduate Studies Joseph Kider Jr.

College of Health Professions and Sciences Matt Stock

College of Medicine Debopam Chakrabarti

5

College of Nursing Ladda Thiamwong

College of Optics and Photonics Kathleen Richardson

College of Sciences Peter Hancock

Rosen College of Hospitality Management Wei Wei

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Kathleen Richardson College of Optics and Photonics

6

E XCE L L ENC E IN MENTOR ING DOC TOR AL ST UDE NTS

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Xin He College of Business Administration

7

E XCE L L ENC E IN MENTOR ING DOC TOR AL ST UDE NTS

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Luis Rabelo College of Engineering and Computer Science

8

E XCE L L ENC E IN FAC U LTY ACADEMIC ADVISING

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Amanda Groff College of Sciences

9

EXC EL L ENC E IN L IB R AR IANS HIP

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Peter Spyers-Duran UCF Libraries

10

E XCEL L ENC E IN INSTR U C TIONAL DESIGN

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Kathleen Bastedo Division of Digital Learning

11

E XCEL L ENC E IN P R OF ES S IONAL S ERVICE

UNIV ER S ITY AWAR D Keri Watson College of Arts and Humanities

12

R ECO GNITION OF S ER V IC E TO THE UNIVE RSIT Y 20 Y EAR S College of Arts and Humanities

Florencio Hernández

Sabatino Dibernardo

Eugene Paoline

Fon Gordon

Mark Winton

Anthony Grajeda

Randall Hewitt

Anna Maria Jones College of Engineering and Computer Science

Thomas “Rudy” McDaniel Chistopher Niess

Linan An

Tison Pugh

Issa Batarseh

Claudia Schippert

Suryanarayana Challapalli

Steven Spencer

Matthew Gerber Dan Marinescu

College of Business Administration

Sumanta Pattanaik

Tarek Buhagiar

Yongho Sohn

Mark Dickie

Rajan Vaidyanathan

Steven Hornik Richard Lapchick

College of Graduate Studies

Stefanie Mayfield Garcia

Shawn Burke

Benjamin Rockmore

College of Community Innovation

College of Health Professions and Sciences

and Education

Bari Hoffman

Laura “Junie” Albers-Biddle

13

College of Optics and Photonics Shin-Tson Wu

College of Sciences Steven Berman Walter Sotero Suren Tatulian Nizam Uddin Graham Worthy

Office of Research Mikhail Klimov Kirk Scammon

UCF Libraries Richard Harrison Terrie Sypolt

14

R ECO GNITION OF S ER V IC E TO THE UNIVE RSIT Y

30 Y EAR S College of Arts and Humanities

College of Nursing

David Brunner

Mary Lou Sole

Robert Rivers College of Sciences College of Engineering and

Robert Peale

Computer Science

Morgan Wang

Alain Kassab Office of Research

Mansooreh Mollaghasemi

Jeffrey Sonne

40 Y EAR S College of Engineering and

College of Sciences

Computer Science

Michael Hampton

Samuel Richie

15

EMERITUS AND EMERITA Stephen Berman Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine

David Brunner Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Humanities

Susan Chase Professor Emerita, College of Nursing

Steven Chicurel-Stein Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Humanities

Sophia Dziegielewski Professor Emerita, College of Health Professions and Sciences

Maribeth Ehasz Vice President Emerita, Student Development and Enrollment Services

Robert Folger Professor Emeritus, College of Business Administration

Walter Gaudnek Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Humanities

16

Robert Hoekstra Professor Emeritus, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Bernard Jensen Professor Emeritus, College of Sciences

Jeffrey Jones Vice Provost Emeritus, UCF Connect and UCF Global

Marcia Katz Professor Emerita, College of Medicine

Genaro Lopez Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine

Ronald Michaels Professor Emeritus, College of Business Administration

M.G. “Jim” Moharam Professor Emeritus, College of Optics and Photonics

David Nickerson Professor Emeritus, College of Sciences

Moshe Pelli Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Humanities 17

Richard Peppler Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine

Debra Reinhart Professor Emerita, College of Engineering and Computer Science

John “Jack” Ryalls Professor Emeritus, College of Health Professions and Sciences

Dawn Trouard Professor Emerita, College of Arts and Humanities

Lynn Unruh Professor Emerita, College of Community Innovation and Education

Parveen Wahid Professor Emerita, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Alvin Wang Professor Emeritus, College of Sciences

Bonnie Yegidis Professor Emerita, College of Health Professions and Sciences

18

REACH FOR THE STARS

19

REACH Helen Huang

Adrienne Dove College of Sciences

College of Engineering and Computer Science

F OR

T HE Amber Southwell College of Medicine

STARS Mel Stanfill College of Arts and Humanities

20

Thomas Wahl College of Engineering and Computer Science

PEGASUS PROFESSOR

PEGASUS PROFESSOR ‘21

“The sun illuminates our path to sustainable energy and an innovative future.”

ISSA BATARSEH came to UCF nearly 30 years ago. He began his research to discover how to take forms of energy and make them usable. He has created devices that allow us to use solar energy in our homes. His has created products that are cost-effective, safe and reliable.

He and his team were called on by NASA to help fix power issues on the International Space Station.

If there is one thing Batarseh loves more than his research, it’s his students. Many of them have gone on to lead companies and create lifechanging products.

“Being a faculty member is the greatest thing in the world for me,” he says. “It is an opportunity to impact the lives of thousands of students.”

WATCH VIDEO

PEGASUS PROFESSOR ‘21

“Research to cure diseases.”

CRISTINA FERNANDEZVALLE left Cuba as an infant and moved to Miami with her family who rebuilt their lives from the ground up. Her father went to law school again while working full time to support his family. The perseverance of her parents shaped her life.

“I had the example of hard work and that you can achieve anything,” Fernandez-Valle says.

“You can have everything taken from you, but you can never lose your education.”

She researches neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves and in the brain.

It’s painful and debilitating, and there is no cure. She is trying to find a therapy to stop tumors from growing. Recently, a drug that she has been working on began a clinical trial – which is “like going to the Super Bowl,” she says.

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WATCH VIDEO

PEGASUS PROFESSOR ‘21

“It’s a privilege to play with ideas and words to find truth.”

LUIS MARTÍNEZFERNÁNDEZ fell in love with history from listening to stories told to him by his grandmother, an immigrant who left Spain at the age of 15.

“My life has had historical complications,” he says. “I was born in Cuba, we fled to Peru in exile but then had to leave again after a military coup to Puerto Rico. So from an early age I have seen the power of history.”

It was his professors at the University of Puerto Rico that kept him in academia.

He says they were true role models, and he knew he would be a historian and pass on what he had learned to future generations. He says he loves the curiosity that students bring to the classroom.

24

WATCH VIDEO

PEGASUS PROFESSOR ‘21

“Authentic achievement requires authentic ethics.”

MARSHALL SCHMINKE is a proud first-generation college student. He and his wife, Maureen Ambrose (also a Pegasus Professor), came to UCF in 1999 to build the doctoral program in the College of Business Administration.

“When you can influence doctoral students, you’re shaping their professional life for the rest of their career,” he says. “You make sure when they leave, they are good researchers, good professionals, good mentors and that they care about students.”

His field of business ethics is making sense of what is right and wrong, and continuing to enforce what is right in the workplace.

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“Many people are smart but not eager to work towards something,” he says. “If you want to accomplish something meaningful, put your head down and work.”

WATCH VIDEO

PEGASUS PROFESSOR ‘21

“Without kinesiology we wouldn’t be able to move forward.”

JEFFREY STOUT had an expectant feeling twice in his life: when he first discovered the field of kinesiology, and when he was introduced to his wife.

In those instances, he knew what his career would be, and who his life partner would be.

Stout, a first-generation student, didn’t know what kinesiology was until he was an undergraduate and a professor told him about the field. He loves teaching, and he has served in various leadership roles.

“Being a first-generation student has made me more aware of the students who are like me,” he says.

“I was probably a little behind other students who had parents who went to college. So I look for them and try to mentor them.”

26

WATCH VIDEO

STUDENT AWAR DS F OU NDER S ’ AWAR DS College of Arts and Humanities

College of Medicine

Ryan Polk

Cathy Le

College of Business Administration

College of Nursing

Jaylen Brown

Chloe Fyre

College of Community Innovation and Education

College of Optics and Photonics Melissa Siver

Isabella Bustamante College of Sciences

College of Engineering and Computer Science

David Wright

Chloe Geller

College of Undergraduate Studies

College of Health Professions and Sciences

Victoria Alexander

Riley Shurack

Rosen College of Hospitality Management Elizabeth Hewitt

27

STU DENT AWAR DS HONOR S IN THE MAJOR College of Engineering and Computer Science Zachary Stein

College of Medicine Jacob Howard

College of Sciences Jenna Dovydaitis Sarah Swierz

OUTSTANDING MASTER ’S THESIS College of Engineering and Computer Science Daniela Diaz

College of Sciences America Edwards

O U TSTANDING DOC TOR AL DIS S ER TAT ION Department of Arts and Humanities

Materials Science and Engineering

Jasara Hines

Lin Hu 28

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Our sincere appreciation to the following groups and department personnel for their assistance: Commencements, Convocations, and Recognitions Committee Faculty Excellence Faculty Excellence Awards Committees Founders’ Day Committee Office of University Events and Engagements

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The University of Central Florida adopted the Pegasus as the university’s official symbol to reflect the institution’s purpose. The Pegasus represents the harmony between the humanities and the sciences and also the efforts of UCF, its students, staff, faculty, and alumni to Reach for the Stars.