Pegasus Magazine Fall 2021

The Magazine of the University of Central Florida

SPRING 2021

IN THE SPOTLIGHT This is your big moment. To celebrate years of hard work, of sleepless nights, of study sessions and all you’ve achieved. To walk across the stage, hear your name called and soak up the applause and cheers from family and friends. To proudly turn your tassel. A global pandemic made it challenging for commencement to take place in an arena full of classmates and loved ones, but we wouldn’t miss this opportunity. UCF began offering Grad Walk in the Pegasus Ballroom this fall because it’s still your time to shine.

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PEGASUS

VO L U M E 2 7 • I S S U E 2 • S P R I N G 2 0 2 1

AVP FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Patrick Burt ’08MA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Laura J. Cole

THANKS FOR THE PEGASUS FALL 2020 ISSUE. I rarely see myself in these publications, and this issue made me proud to be a Knight!

» JASMINE JONES ’07 ’09MA

“THE TRUTH LAID BARE” (FALL 2020) WAS A POWERFUL READ, particularly as I grew up near Ocoee in neighboring Pine Hills. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know this. I’m passing this around to ensure it won’t be erased or forgotten again.

» CAPT. CHAD NEILSEN ’06

I AM CONCERNED THAT EVERY ONE OF THESE [ARTICLES] IS DEEPLY POLITICAL AND RACIAL, and they are all hyperfocused on issues of the left with the partial exception of the cancel culture article (“Is Cancel Culture Effective?,” Fall 2020). With your drive toward radical inclusivity, you have left many people and many perspectives out in the cold.

I challenge you, instead of constantly bringing up racial oppression and our past failures as a nation, to highlight a major achievement of the United States (that has nothing to do with race): Theodore Roosevelt and the ending of the Russo-Japanese War, the mission to the moon, the invention of the lightbulb, John D. Rockefeller’s foundation wiping out hookworm in the South, Charles Lindbergh’s legendary flight across the Atlantic, the heroism of the lost battalion trapped in the Argonne Forest, George Washington crossing the Delaware. We have a good country with a good history, and I am tired of seeing you and other publications only write negative things about it.

When you give people never-ending reminders of how their ancestors were oppressed, do you not think you are fostering a deep bitterness and resentment? Do you not think you are contributing to our country’s racial divide?

Is there not a better way to move forward?

I challenge you to ask yourselves whether you have any double standards.

» MATTHEW HOLMAN ’17

I THINK PEGASUS HAS REALLY GONE DOWNHILL OVER THE YEARS. It has a long way to go to regain its past glory. Sections of Pegasus should be past, present and future, each representing UCF where it has been, where it is now and what it could be. Have photo essays pertaining to those three areas along with some true journalism articles that reflect Knight Nation.

» MICHAEL ARGENTO ’71

DISAPPOINTING. Looking at the Pegasus distribution, who is the “underrepresented” group? White males (not one). Instead of focusing on diversity and placing students in niche groups (Black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) to separate us, how about promoting unity? Dividing us into defined groups to me is the very essence of “systemic racism.” I want my university to be color and gender blind; success measured should be based on merit, scholarship and effort. Let’s Charge On toward education, harmony and understanding. We are much more alike than we are different.

» ROBERT CHAPMAN JR. ’79

I CAME ACROSS THIS ARTICLE (“CAMPUS WILDLIFE,” FALL 2012) after spotting a wild hog to see if it would confirm my suspicions of it being a wild hog, and it did. However, the article said that they were “gone but not forgotten,” so it’s just crazy to me how I just saw one.

» RICHARD BERNARD, UCF STUDENT

Editor’s Response: There were indeed a few reports of wild hogs on campus this fall, including a video UCF Arboretum posted to their Facebook page. It appears that while COVID-19 has caused large numbers of people to stay away from campus, it has allowed at least one species to return.

I JUST WANTED TO COMPLIMENT THE WORK YOU ARE DOING. I encourage you to keep the very important dialogue going. People need to know how Black lives have been affected over the course of time and how the recent events continue to perpetuate history. I hope that the recent publications are not “trending” and continue in every issue — it is very important. I also appreciate the visualization of the stories represented, such as the Ocoee massacre. Furthermore, including students’ faces and short stories is a great addition.

» KRISTAL (WALKER) JOHNSON ’15 ’17MA

IN RESPONSE TO “FAIR PLAY” (FALL 2020), the good work of Richard Lapchick regarding gender and racial equity is appreciated, but let’s not forget the many women athletes and coaches who participated [at UCF] prior to 1992. These women represented UCF with extremely limited staff, scholarships and overall budgets. As a UCF athlete (1982–84) and later head coach of UCF women’s basketball (1987–91), I had the privilege of playing and working with many of them. I rejoice to see how far we have come along the path toward equity and want to give a shout-out to all those UCF student-athletes and coaches who led the way to better days!

» BEV KNIGHT ’84 ’86MED

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY HYESU LEE

Pegasus is published by UCF Marketing in partnership with the UCF Foundation, Inc. and UCF Alumni.

Opinions expressed in Pegasus are not necessarily those shared by the University of Central Florida.

4 | SPRING 2021

Email:

pegasus@ucf.edu

Mail: UCF Marketing P.O. Box 160090 Orlando, FL 32816-0090 Phone: 407.823.2621

©2021 University of Central Florida. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Pegasus is a registered trademark of UCF Alumni.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ron Boucher ’92 ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lauren (Haar) Waters ’06 STAFF WRITERS Bree (Adamson) Watson ’04 Nicole Dudenhoefer ’17 Gene Kruckemyer ’73 Jenna Marina Lee ART DIRECTOR Steve Webb DESIGNERS Mario Carrillo Janeza Dino COPY EDITOR Peg Martin MULTIMEDIA Thomas Bell ’08 Nick Leyva ’15 Rhiana Raymundo ’19 PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandy Pouliot WEB Jim Barnes RJ Bruneel ’97 Jo (Greybill) Dickson ’11 Kim Spencer ’11 Cadie Stockman Roger Wolf ’07MFA CONTRIBUTORS Camille Dolan ’98 Ann Gleig Margaret Kimball Conor Kvatek Hyesu Lee Mike McQuade Angelo Merendino Sarah (Levinson) Moriarty ’01 UCF CONTENT ADVISORY BOARD Edwanna Andrews ’99 ’05MA ’17PhD Sonia Arellano Keenan Ball ’19 Rick Brunson ’84 S. Kent Butler Reshawna Chapple Ruth Colombe ’12 Zoe Colon Shayla (Hogan) Cannady ’07 Amy Maciel Harshita Panuganty Linda I. Rosa-Lugo Tiffany Sanders ’99 Colton Tapoler ’12 ’17EdD Natalia Toro ’18 Stephanie Wheeler

INBOX SUBMISSIONS Emails to the editor should be sent with the writer’s name, graduation year, address and daytime phone number to pegasus@ucf.edu.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. Due to volume, we regret that we cannot reply to every letter.

MOVED RECENTLY? NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INFO? Update your contact information: ucfalumni.com/contactupdates

Contents 6 In Focus

18 Higher Potential

26 How to Ace the Test of Time

42 Weddings & Births

12 Briefs

19 Pandemic Pivot?

30 The Pope’s Meteor Man

46 Why I Fight for Hostages

14 Body Check

20 Lighting the Way

34 Course Correction

15 The Feed

22 What Is White Privilege?

38 To Protect and Serve

16 Knights Do That

24 Deep Dive

40 Class Notes

W ELL A N D G OOD Nearly 200 UCF nursing students, including Julie Bender (pictured here), are gaining valuable real-world experience while helping the local community stay safe. As part of a nationwide effort led by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, UCF students and faculty are helping administer COVID-19 vaccines and educate citizens at sites across the community.

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In Focus HEALTHCARE HUB HCA Healthcare and UCF officially have a new hospital.

From birthing suites to rooms created for geriatric patients, the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center is an acute-care teaching hospital designed with client comfort, efficiency and expansion in mind. Built in partnership with HCA Healthcare’s North Florida Division, the facility opened on March 1 and features plenty of natural light, state-of-the art-technology, and a layout that best supports quality care and patient safety. UCF medical students will also benefit from the residency-training program and clerkship-training opportunities conveniently available at the new 204,709-square-foot hospital.

“The grand opening of UCF Lake Nona Medical Center is the realization of a vision that will impact the community for years to come.”

— Wendy H. Brandon, chief executive officer for the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center

$175 million

Cost to build the hospital

$1.4 million

Estimated annual economic impact in local and state taxes — in addition to $13.8 million in charity care, uninsured discounts, and other uncompensated care

17,000+

Patients expected to be served in the first year

350

New jobs created by the hospital, including more than 250 physicians

64

Inpatient beds with the ability to expand to 80 beds in the current space. Future expansion will allow up to 500 beds.

6

Classrooms — two on each of the three floors — to facilitate learning opportunities for students

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In Focus MOVEMENT MATTERS Nearly six years ago, Ava Brown drove her first UCF Go Baby Go! car, and she is still racking up miles.

These days, however, she is walking — something her family never thought would happen.

Ava’s mother died before Ava was born, temporarily cutting off oxygen to her brain. Doctors weren’t sure how the damage would impact her long term.

Ava spent five weeks at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa before going home to begin her long journey of healing, supported by a dedicated team of medical professionals.

Through a magazine article, Ava’s grandmother, Kay Bowman, learned about Go Baby Go!, an innovative program available at UCF that offers low-cost mobility solutions for children with disabilities.

Ava, now 7, was the first child to receive an adaptive car from UCF’s chapter, led by Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Jennifer Tucker. She has since received several cars and therapy using the Go Baby Go! harness that helped her learn to walk unassisted.

“In the beginning, Ava could do nothing,” Bowman says. “What we see today with Ava is all because of UCF. It’s been a blessing.”

Now, UCF and St. Joe’s are partnering to help more children like Ava. A portable harness play structure has been installed in the hospital’s clinic, and UCF will help build customized cars for kids who are receiving rehab.

Tucker will host a series of workshops for therapists about affordable mobility solutions for children.

Lauren Rosen, the program coordinator for the Motion Analysis Center at St. Joe’s, has collaborated with UCF on Go Baby Go! for many years.

“I’m very excited about this partnership,” Rosen says.

“Through it, we will be able to provide more cars and more opportunities to play for our children.”

“Ava has no fear. Zero fear.”

— Jeremy Brown, Ava’s father

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In Focus BUILT BY UCF When the Orlando Utilities Commission posed a challenge in 2018 to conceptualize a sculpture that doubles as a source of clean energy for Exploria Stadium — the home of Orlando City and Orlando Pride soccer teams, UCF students answered the call. Art and engineering students in an Advanced Design Lab course collaborated on the winning sculpture, named Gyration, which was installed in November. For nearly two decades, the course has provided students with real-life experience working on projects for big-name companies, including Starbucks, Universal Orlando Resort and Guitar Center. Gyration’s four solar panels harvest enough energy during the day to not only power its LED lights at night but also infuse energy back into the city’s power grid.

“We wanted to showcase that artists and engineers can benefit each other. After working on it for so long in a tiny bubble and then seeing it in person towering over you, it’s a surreal feeling.

I love the fact that it will be there for so long.”

— Kealey Keepers ’18

1,264

Kilowatt-hours produced annually, more than enough to offset an electric-vehicle charging station

53.5

Wattage the sculpture’s LED lights use daily

20

Year lifespan for each of the four solar panels before replacement is needed

14.5

Feet tall and 9.5 feet in diameter

11

Students with majors in studio art and mechanical and electrical engineering who worked on the project

0

Carbon output Gyration yields

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 1

Briefs RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

SOLAR POWERHOUSE The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office awarded UCF researchers $9.64 million for four solar projects — the most of any university in 2020. The projects range from securing our nation’s power grids to optimizing solar energy. UCF is increasing its leadership in solar research, having received 14 awards from the DOE since 2011 to pursue solar research and development.

“We are committed to advancing the rapid transition to a sustainable energy economy and collaborating with key partners. UCF ‘walks the talk’ by the university’s commitment to being climate neutral by 2050.”

— James Fenton, director of the FSEC Energy Research Center

Awarded to UCF from the National Science Foundation to provide cybersecurity scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students. UCF was one of six universities nationwide to receive a grant and will join NSF’s 78 current CyberCorps Scholarship for Service universities.

Moon dust poses a unique danger both to astronauts and their equipment during lunar missions, by coating and clinging to everything. A team of UCF students, led by Professor of Chemistry Lei Zhai, was one of seven teams from universities across the nation selected to help tackle this dirty problem as winners of NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge. Collaborating with Morphotonics, the team will design a new type of material that will cover the exterior of spacesuits, thus making it easier to remove and prevent moon dust from entering lunar habitats.

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Lithium-ion batteries power everything from cell phones to electric cars but are fire-prone and contain toxic materials that can leak and contaminate soil and groundwater. To combat this, UCF researchers partnered with researchers from the University of Houston, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oregon State University and Argonne National Laboratory to develop a new battery using seawater that’s safer for both humans and the environment.

“That’s what big data analytics can solve. If you dig deeper through seemingly messy data, you can find some truths.”

— Shunpu Zhang, professor and chair of statistics and data science, on helping to develop data-driven AI systems to predict COVID-19 infection rates and prescribe intervention plans. He is part of one of two UCF teams that advanced to Phase 2 of the Pandemic Response Challenge and are competing against 48 other teams from 17 countries.

PEGASUS

LEARNING HUB

SHINING BRIGHT UCF was named a top producer of Fulbright students, according to the annual list compiled

by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Twelve UCF graduates were selected to participate in the program abroad this year to work on research projects or teach English. Out of 600 higher-education institutions that participate in the Fulbright program, 58 made the list of top producers and UCF was the only public university in Florida on the list.

UCF partnered with the University of Kansas and the Center for Applied Special Technology to launch a national technical support hub for university professors who are teaching remotely. The Center for Innovation, Design and Digital Learning launched late last year with a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

#

NEW LEADERS

2

Cyberdefense competitor in the nation.

Graduate student Michael Roberts ’19 beat more than 450 students in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2020 Cyberforce Competition.

12

#

Best online graduate criminal justice programs (U.S. News & World Report)

14

#

Best undergraduate online programs in the nation (U.S. News & World Report)

20

# MATTHEW HALL

GERALD HECTOR

GUS MALZAHN

TERRY MOHAJIR

Vice President for Information Technology and CIO

Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance

Head Football Coach

Vice President and Director of Athletics

Best online bachelor’s programs for veterans (U.S. News & World Report)

25

NEW TRUSTEES

Years UCF has been teaching online

TIFFANY ALTIZER ’90MS Shareholder and Senior Tax Manager, Keith Altizer and Company

BILL CHRISTY ’86

JEFF CONDELLO

CEO, Cognitive Kinetics

President and CEO, Randall

UCF Board of Trustees Chair Bev Seay was named 2021 Businesswoman of the Year by Orlando Business Journal.

26 27 #

Consecutive semesters studentathletes have posted a 3.0 GPA or better

Best online master’s in nursing programs (U.S. News & World Report)

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 3

Artifact

BODY CHECK This machine can scan your body in under five minutes and provide your precise body fat percentage. Here’s how UCF students and researchers are using it to help everyone from athletes to the elderly.

BY JENNA MARINA LEE We all want to be stronger and healthier. What if you could scan your body to determine the most efficient way to turn those desires into reality?

It’s easy to see how athletes benefit from understanding their body composition. The data from the Bod Pod — a tool utilized in both UCF’s kinesiology and physical therapy programs — can be used to create nutrition and exercise programs tailored to achieve optimal performance.

But the average individual can benefit too. Checking body composition is critical because it can be related to many comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease or Type 2 diabetes.

“Monitoring how much muscle we lose over time is important because it is a predictor of lower physical function, poor quality of life and mortality,” says Jeff Stout, UCF professor and director for the School of Kinesiology and Physical Therapy. “In less than five minutes, this machine can measure your percentage of body fat and fat-free mass, which provides us the information needed to help people understand their current state of health.”

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HOW IT WORKS Individuals put on a skullcap and bathing suit before their height and weight are measured, since hair and clothes will affect the reading. The participant then sits in the device, and the Bod Pod calculates the amount of air volume displaced, so body fat and fat-free mass can be determined. The results are instant and the data output can be analyzed by the team on the spot.

UNIQUE EQUATIONS The software is frequently updated as equations are developed to account for factors such as race, gender or even the specific sport an athlete competes in. Stout explains, for instance, that Black males’ lean body mass is slightly denser than their white counterparts. “If you use the equation that was developed on Caucasians, it’s not going to estimate the body composition correctly, which means we can’t give [Black participants] the right advice,” says Stout, who oversees the exercise physiology doctoral program that was ranked No. 1 in the state and ninth in the nation by the National Academy of Kinesiology.

ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS In collaboration with faculty from the College of Nursing and College of Engineering and Computer Science, Stout is examining the relationships between muscle mass, balance and function in older adults in underserved communities to lower their risk for falls. “If we have a better understanding of how these areas affect their risk for falls, then perhaps we could put them on an exercise program designed to improve body composition and balance, thus reducing the risk of falls, which can lead to health complications and sometimes death,” Stout says.

GOLD STANDARD The Bod Pod uses a similar technique to the one Archimedes discovered more than 2,000 years ago after King Hieron II tasked the Greek scientist to find out if his crown was made of pure gold. According to the legend, Archimedes, unable to simply melt the king’s headpiece, instead weighed the crown before submerging it in water. Next, he captured and measured the water that spilled out of the container, which didn’t equal the crown’s predicted volume and density — revealing the crown was not made of pure gold. “The Bod Pod uses the same principle to estimate body composition, only with air displacement [instead of water],” Stout says.

Find more

@ucf.edu/news

The Feed @UCF

@University of Central Florida

Dedicated Service

After 27 years of serving students at UCF, Maribeth Ehasz retired as vice president for Student Development and Enrollment Services. bit.ly/ ucf-dedicatedservice

Planet Particles

A UCF satellite — geared to capture particles to study how planets form — was successfully launched into space from Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket. bit.ly/ucf-planet-particles

Unity Call Bionic Armor

Watch the UCF Gospel & Cultural Choir’s powerful rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as they celebrate more than 40 years of adding soul to campus culture. bit.ly/ucf-gospel-choir

Meet the Cartwrights

Limbitless Solutions has partnered with Ubisoft to create designs for 3D-printed prosthetic arms inspired by Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. bit.ly/ucf-bionic-armor

Get to know UCF President Alexander and first lady Melinda Cartwright through a three-part video series. bit.ly/ucf-meet-the-cartwrights

WHAT’S TRENDING ON...

UCF TODAY Best Boss

A UCF study shows supervisors who feel appreciated are more optimistic and have higher energy at work. bit.ly/ucf-best-boss

TWITTER Feb 25 @UCF When you see photos from Mars and see red hues, you have @UCFPhysics Professor Dan Britt to thank. He designed and developed a chip that detects color

FACEBOOK University of Central Florida January 20, 2021

to 1978 with us when the new president of the United States was the commencement speaker to the graduating class

#InaugurationDay

calibration targets onboard one of the cameras on the Mars Curiosity Rover in 2012. #UCFinSpace Jan 7 @UCFAcademics Honoring a #UCF leading light in lasers.

Alternative Fuel

UCF researchers have developed a model to determine whether certain biofuels can replace fuel for vehicles. bit.ly/ucf-alternative-fuel

Aunt Appreciation

Assistant Professor J. Richelle Joe shares her gratitude for aunts — both biological and not — and their special support. bit.ly/ucf-aunt-appreciation

Props to Physics Prof Martin Richardson, founding director of @UCF’s CREOL Townes Laser Institute, for becoming a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

#ChargeOn

Dec 31 @ParksAstro Looking back on this year, I am SO grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work for @FSI_Orlando, @ExolithLab and @CLASS_UCF! I have the most amazing coworkers, and it has truly been a lifechanging experience. Can’t wait to get

4.3k reactions

711 comments 592 shares

Kathie Kunkel Holland I was there receiving my bachelor’s degree.

Cristina Cervetti Coleman What a great picture! Thank you for sharing this fantastic memory on such a historic day!

Jc Perez Always proud to be a Knight! Love the history!

back to working there in 2021! Ad Astra

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 5

Innovative faculty research. Powerful student achievements.

Exciting alumni accomplishments. From the interesting and heartwarming to the groundbreaking and life-changing, Knights do it all. Here are just a few ways we are making a positive impact on our community, our nation and the world.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY HYESU LEE

BY BREE (ADAMSON) WATSON ’04

PEGASUS

Our professors help sample an asteroid 200 million miles away.

As a member of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission team, UCF Professor of Physics Humberto Campins helped map the sample site on the asteroid Bennu. In October 2020, the spacecraft successfully completed a touch-and-go maneuver that collected pebbles and dust from the asteroid. The precious, primordial cargo is scheduled to return to Earth in 2023.

Our faculty replicate fish scales to revolutionize aerospace materials.

Inspired by elements in nature, researchers in the Complex Structures and Mechanics of Solids Laboratory seek to discover, design and develop the next frontier of materials. Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Ranajay Ghosh and his team study the strength, weight and geometry of fish scales, armadillo armor, butterfly wings and more, and translate their findings into soft robotic structures, wearable technology and aerospace materials that can withstand extreme temperatures and vibrations.

Our alumni advocate for low-cost, high-tech prosthetics.

Our scientists protect coral reefs from harmful chemicals.

Limbitless Solutions, the UCF-based nonprofit that is the first company to go to clinical trial for 3D-printed prosthetics for children, has added international advocate to its achievements. In December 2020 — for the fourth time in three years — a Limbitless Solutions representative spoke at the United Nations about the power of technology to create a more inclusive world. In the recent virtual event, Albert Manero ’12 ’14MS ’16PhD, president and co-founder of Limbitless Solutions, addressed the global audience about technology’s role in improving access and inclusivity in sports.

After discovering that common ingredients in sunscreen act like poison to coral reefs and harm the delicate ecosystems they support, Associate Professor of Biology John Fauth and an international team of researchers helped spur legislative action to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. The Western Pacific nation of Palau was the first to prohibit these reef-toxic ingredients, and a ban is now in effect in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Our students go from gamers to game designers.

Our researchers build armies of cancer-killing cells.

Inside labs and classrooms at UCF’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), students learn the tools and techniques to be artists, programmers and producers in the gaming industry. Electronic Arts, one of the biggest video game companies in the world, employs more than 100 FIEA graduates and plans to relocate all of its Florida operations next to FIEA’s classrooms in downtown Orlando’s Creative Village.

The human body produces natural killer cells to guard against viruses and infections. Associate Professor of Medicine Alicja Copik and her team developed a way to stimulate and strengthen natural cancer-killing cells as a means of cancer treatment. The nanoparticle technology headed to clinical trials in May 2020.

Our graduates develop vaccines at warp speed.

Using his degrees in biology, molecular biology and biomedical sciences, Darin Edwards ’97 ’10MS ’11PhD is helping to protect us from COVID-19.

He led the research and development of Moderna’s vaccine, which received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2020. In clinical studies, Moderna’s vaccine has proven 94% effective in preventing COVID-19 and 100% effective in preventing severe cases of the disease.

Our vision creates a greater path for potential and partnership.

UCF Downtown, in partnership with Valencia College, brings more than 7,000 students to live, learn and work in downtown Orlando, creating a game-changing campus in the heart of our hometown. Opened in August 2019, this transformational project increases access for students, provides pathways into high-demand career fields, fosters collaboration with our neighbors in meaningful ways and improves countless lives through the power of education. UCF Downtown was recently honored with a Downtown Orlando Partnership’s Golden Brick Award of Excellence, which recognized the campus as setting a new standard for partnership in the community.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 7

How one UCF alumna is advocating for a more inclusive education system.

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17

s a child of a school counselor, Raven K. Cokley ’13 knew from an early age the tremendous difference counseling can make in students’ lives — and she knew she wanted to help others too.

When the Sarasota, Florida, native enrolled at UCF, she studied psychology and planned to become a counseling psychologist, but she ultimately found that, for her, helping others would come in the form of teaching and research. Now a counselor educator at Johns Hopkins University, she helps train future mental health counselors how best to care for students, especially those of color and young Black girls.

“Being at a university and in the school system as a school-based mental health counseling educator allows me to do what my mother has done,” she says, “to show up for students and be a safe space for them on campus.”

Cokley says she always loved school, but she didn’t realize that working in higher education was where she wanted to be until she became involved with the McNair Scholars Program, a federal initiative that prepares first-generation and underrepresented undergraduate students for doctoral studies.

“McNair changed my life — that is where my passion for academia came from,” Cokley says. “I knew that I wanted to go to grad school, but I didn’t necessarily think that I could do academia forever, and I didn’t realize I could be the professor I was hoping I would see in my classes.

McNair helped me to see that it could be me.”

As an undergraduate, the Order of Pegasus recipient says her involvement with McNair — along with other organizations such as the President’s Leadership Council, LEAD Scholars, Burnett Honors College, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Black Female Development Circle — helped her build a network of support at UCF and a circle of 18 | SPRING 2021

mentors who pushed her to excel beyond her imagination.

While pursuing her master’s degree in community counseling and a doctorate in counseling and student personnel services at the University of Georgia, Cokley found herself lacking the strong sense of community she once was able to lean on.

So she joined forces with fellow Ph.D. students Lamesha Brown and Jason Wallace to co-found @FirstGenDocs, an online community that helps first-generation students pursuing doctorates navigate the process. Using their insight as successful doctoral graduates, the trio provides guidance on topics — such as writing personal statements, choosing an advisor and a dissertation topic, and building community within doctoral programs — to over 9,000 followers on Twitter.

“For anybody who wants to get any type of doctorate — not just a Ph.D. — there’s this perception that you’re just supposed to know everything, but that’s not the case,” Cokley says. “@FirstGenDocs allows us that safe space, that community to ask those questions, to share those resources and support each other.”

Broadening her vision to serve students, Cokley is also building two nonprofits, Brilliant Black Girl and Counselors for Black Lives, which aim to support and uplift students who are often overlooked both in their potential and needs.

“I dream of an educational system where Black students — Black girls in particular — get to show up as unapologetically Black and brilliant, and where people get to experience the fullness of who we are as people, thinkers and leaders,” Cokley says.

“And I think we have so much work to do before that happens.”

PEGASUS

Pandemic Pivot?

Now may be the time to change careers.

BY GENE KRUCKEMYER ’73

J

ob uncertainty and frustrations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced many adaptions in our life and work.

Today’s workforce is going through an unprecedented test as many employers struggle to keep their employees or redefine the skills they need.

The stress of worrying about job security, wondering if your employment situation will change or trying to figure out your next move can affect your health, well-being and job performance.

Now may be the time to reevaluate your future and take action.

“Don’t take it personally,” says Ghada Baz, an associate instructor

Some tips from Baz and Lavendol:

of integrated business and a doctoral candidate in the industrial and organizational psychology program.

“At times of change, it is easy to feel defeated and engage in self-doubt.

Don’t! This is a difficult time, and any loss you may experience right now may have nothing to do with your skills and abilities.”

Baz urges employees to stop fixating on their job and start thinking about their career.

“Invest in yourself beyond the requirements of your current job,” Baz says. “Consider the jobs you would like to have in the future, and create a checklist of skills to learn based on them.”

1 2 3 4 5

Vicki Lavendol, associate instructor of professionalism and leadership at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, adds that if you do make a job switch “you will be asked what you did during the pandemic — so use this time wisely.”

For the past few months of the pandemic, Lavendol has helped with a Rosen webinar series called Research, Recovery and Reskill to help alumni explore new careers, learn how to be stronger candidates in their field, and develop as professionals.

“Pivoting during a pandemic requires creativity and hard work, but it can pay off,” Lavendol says.

“Pivoting during a pandemic requires creativity and hard work, but it can pay off.”

Identify your goals. Write your purpose statement if you have not already done so. It can provide guideposts for decision-making in the days ahead.

Let go of what you think your limitations are. Seek diverse opportunities, and do it with confidence because your dream job might be waiting for you, and the only way to get it is to throw your hat in the ring.

Market your skills to other professions where you can make valuable contributions. If furloughed, volunteer your time to serve or mentor others. Those volunteer positions may lead to full-time roles after you demonstrate how you can support and lead others in new roles.

Get certified. There are many reputable professional certifications that can boost your career by demonstrating your interest and proficiency.

Acquiring the correct certification can position you as an expert, help you learn related terminology, and give you access to communities of knowledge and professional networks.

Build your brand. Take the time to think about your personal values, and practice an elevator pitch of who you are, what you do and what your interests are. While you’re at it, build a strong online presence using professional platforms, and make sure the information available about you on the internet is aligned with your brand.

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BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17 hen Peter Delfyett first fell in love with science during elementary school, he imagined he would grow up to be a paleontologist. Instead, the Pegasus Professor of optics and photonics has spent his career developing futuristic technology.

From lasers that are used to cut Gorilla Glass for Samsung phones to fiber optic cable technology that allows the internet to operate more efficiently, Delfyett’s work has been making waves for more than three decades.

And now he’s received one of the highest honors in the scientific community as one of 106 engineers elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) this year.

“Professor Delfyett, through his amazing work, has proven that he is one of the very best laser and photonics researchers in the world,” UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright says. “This recognition honors his many contributions to society throughout his career and his leadership that has helped develop UCF’s culture of innovation and discovery.”

Established in 1964, the NAE’s network of more than 2,300 members work together to advance the United States’ global reputation by providing guidance to policymakers and government institutions on decisions related to engineering and technology.

UCF has eight faculty members who are a part of the NAE, but Delfyett has the honor of being the first to be elected while a current faculty member at the university.

Delfyett’s induction, which will take place during NAE’s annual meeting in October, means other current UCF faculty could be joining this rank in the near future.

“This is very special to me, not only because it is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a scientist or engineer, but because all of the work that is being

20 | SPRING 2021

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recognized has been done here at UCF with graduate students,” says Delfyett, who leads CREOL’s Ultrafast Photonics Group. “I know this is something UCF has been wanting to grow toward, which is a really difficult task, and I’m honored to help the university fulfill this part of its vision.”

Delfyett’s personal contributions to the base of scientific knowledge include 44 patents that apply directly to the advancement of everyday life. Many of these discoveries use lasers for precision timing, fiber optics communication and signal processing, which help information move faster on the internet and in devices such as cell phones, laptops, tablets and autonomous vehicles.

Another major group of his patents is related to the generation and amplification of very short pulses of light using semiconductor lasers that help build smartphones, medical stents for surgical procedures and microprecision holes to make car engines more fuel efficient.

“Photonics is an enabling technology — it’s not just powering the internet but influencing the whole spectrum of scientific discovery and advancement,” Delfyett says.

“To know that I am contributing in my own special way to the area of optics and photonics is very rewarding to me.”

Becoming an NAE member is a challenging accomplishment in part

because of how difficult it is to be elected into the organization. New members must be nominated by current members and are evaluated on a range of criteria, including scientific and real-world impact, involvement with professional societies and major awards.

For M.J. Soileau, a distinguished professor of optics and photonics and former director of CREOL, it’s as easy to see why Delfyett was elected as it was to make the decision to hire him 27 years ago.

“With Peter, it’s a monumental task [to summarize his impact] because you take any dimension of what a faculty member is supposed to be and he has excelled at it,” says Soileau, the former vice president for research at UCF for 17 years. “I think anyone who encounters Professor Delfyett would have the same impression and that is one of enthusiasm and boundless energy in the pursuit of science and engineering — and he is just a really nice guy.”

Through the years, Delfyett has been awarded numerous honors, but his most recent accolades include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ 2020 William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award and the 2021 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science from the American Physical Society. He is also a fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics and the Optical Society of America.

While prestigious awards and fellowships are certainly appreciated, Delfyett says the real honor lies in molding students into scientists. To that end, he tries to instill enthusiasm and ambition in them. And the students who work closely with him recognize the benefits of his guidance.

Ricardo Bustos-Ramirez ’18MS, one of Delfyett’s current doctoral students, says Delfyett is an enormous resource because of his more than 30 years of knowledge in the field and his infectious excitement for research.

“I really do love having him as my advisor,” Bustos-Ramirez says. “Whether it’s been a failed experiment or something really personal, he has always been there.

He cares a lot about his students and their futures.”

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It’s not about you as an individual, even if you benefit from it. But recognizing and challenging structural “whiteness” is the key to equity — and excellence.

BY ANN GLEIG s an associate professor of cultural studies, I find that teaching terms such as “white privilege” and “white supremacy” often provoke defensive reactions — what author Robin DiAngelo calls “white fragility” — in white people.

Some students from blue-collar backgrounds can find it hard to emotionally connect with the notion that they are privileged when they have struggled financially. Others from more comfortable middle-class backgrounds can feel that their family success is being undermined or that they haven’t worked as hard as others to achieve their success. And some students complain that such concepts are merely tools to “shame white people.”

One of the major stumbling blocks here is that such students reduce both racism and white privilege to certain individuals. As the epigraph to Peggy McIntosh’s foundational 1989 article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” states, “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” Just as systemic racism

is reduced to individual bad actors, privilege is misunderstood as something individual rather than a system in which white people as a collective are centered and prioritized.

McIntosh explains, “As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.” She then lists 26 ways in which white privilege manifests itself. These include: • I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

• I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

• I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

• I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

white supremacy with groups such as the torch-carrying white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. For sociologists, however, the term white supremacy denotes, as DiAngelo writes, a “socio-political system of domination based on racial categories that benefits those defined and perceived as white. This system of structural power privileges, centralizes and elevates white people as a group.”

Even though according to 2019 Census data, 60.1% of the U.S. population was white, she draws on data from 2016–17, giving examples of this supremacy, including: • Ten richest Americans: 100% white • U.S. Congress: 90% white • People who decide which TV shows we see: 93% white • People who decide which news is covered: 85% white • Teachers: 82% white To better grasp the concepts of white privilege and white supremacy, we have to move beyond individual experiences to understand the structural conditions and the wider historical and social context in which all individuals are

shaped. How have legal and social systems in the U.S. functioned to produce and maintain white privilege?

And what is the cost of such white privilege to Black Americans?

One good example is the legacy of redlining, a state-sponsored practice by which the government maintained segregation between white and Black populations. Neighborhood risk assessment maps developed for more than 200 cities during the 1930s shaped federal government housing policies in the United States. City planners literally drew red lines across the city to establish white suburban housing areas that were separated by highways from Black and immigrant neighborhoods.

Often confined to densely packed and more polluted urban centers, Black Americans were more likely to be denied mortgages or only offered mortgages with high interest rates.

While these practices were made illegal through the 1968 Fair Housing Act and the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, many of them continued in new, less overt forms. Before the 2008 recession, for instance, there was an increase on risky loans for low-income borrowers. Afterward, many Black

i h W What Is Extending the work of McIntosh, DiAngelo notes in her book White Fragility that many Americans equate

RESOURCES An open-source resource for white people wanting to dismantle white supremacy. Available at bit.ly/antiracismresources

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The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor Layla F. Saad

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“

Americans lost their homes, and property values decreased in minority neighborhoods.

The legacy of redlining is present in wealth inequities today. A report by the Federal Reserve stated that white families have nearly eight times the net worth of Black families and more than five times that of Hispanic families. As explained in the Mapping Inequality Project, “Redlining directed both public and private capital to native-born white families and away from African American and immigrant families. As homeownership was arguably the most significant means of intergenerational wealth building in the United States in the 20th century, these redlining practices from eight decades ago had long-term effects in creating wealth inequalities that we still see today.”

Another legacy of redlining is health inequities between white and Black Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans are more likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes and strokes at a younger age than their Peggy McIntosh white counterparts and to die at earlier “White Privilege: Unpacking the ages from all causes. And Black children Invisible Knapsack” are about twice as likely to have asthma than white children.

As a white person,

I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a

disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white

privilege, which puts

“

me at an advantage.

A major factor in determining health and life expectancy is where you live.

A study comparing housing districts in Southeast Washington, D.C., with Bethesda, Maryland, revealed that the average life expectancy was 10 years lower in the predominantly Black neighborhood than the affluent white neighborhood, even though they’re only about 10 miles apart. This is because where we live determines our access to education, employment, fresh food and outdoor space — all factors that contribute to health.

Through specific examples such as redlining, my students are able to see how white privilege and white supremacy are structural phenomena rooted in historical legal and social processes. This offers them an opportunity to move beyond individual defensiveness and to develop empathy and solidarity with Black Americans.

One of my current students, for example, shared that during high school she was struck by the massive differences in resources between the predominately Black urban school she attended and the predominantly white suburban school her brother attended.

She discovered that her school was in a former redlined neighborhood, which had been denied the same resources and opportunities as white neighborhoods. Understanding her experience in a wider social and historical context made her commit to tackling racism in her own family and community.

While individual white people are not to blame for policies that began before they were born, we are still benefiting from them at the — often grave — expense of Black Americans.

We must challenge rather than comply with white supremacy and work toward creating a country that is more livable for everyone. What are some specific ways white people can recognize and take responsibility for white supremacy?

Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race Debbie Irving

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race Beverly Daniel Tatum

• Educate ourselves on systemic racism and white supremacy.

• Participate in anti-racist training programs.

• Commit to having difficult conversations with white family and friends about systemic racism.

• Join multiracial organizations such as Showing Up for Racial Justice.

• Partner with Black organizations.

• Support Black-owned businesses.

As constitutional law scholar Bruce Ledewitz states, “Since white racism is the problem, it is the responsibility of white people to end it.” What are we waiting for?

itePrivilege?

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander

So You Want to Talk About Race?

Ijeoma Oluo

Ann Gleig is an associate professor of religion and cultural studies

who has taught about racism and white supremacy since earning a

Ph.D. in religious studies from Rice University in 2010.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 3

are hoping to change that. From the bacteria that

bacteria that live in both salt and fresh waters and cause cholera and sepsis. Found in contaminated waterways, cholera is a severe diarrheal disease that affects up to 4 million people and accounts for up to 143,000 deaths every year. Often contracted through an open wound or by eating raw or undercooked oysters, the species Vibrio vulnificus is a flesh-eating bacteria endemic to Florida that causes potentially deadly sepsis, a life-threatening illness caused by the body’s response to infection. While significantly fewer people will get sepsis than cholera, 1 in 5 people who contract it die, often within a day or two of becoming ill.

VIBRIONACEAE are a family of

THE DISEASES:

just a few.

VIBRIONACEAE

PLASMODIUM

Using a multidisciplinary approach, Almagro-Moreno and his team examine how harmless bacteria in our waterways can evolve to become dangerous to humans.

“We study which genetic and ecological factors make [bacteria] become harmful to humans, emerge from an environmental population, and how they acquire the traits to be able to colonize us,” Almagro-Moreno says.

His lab aims to identify emergent strains and develop safe, affordable treatments against them.

FALCIPARUM

For more than 10 years, Chakrabarti and his team have explored antimalarial compounds found on land and under the sea to combat PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM, the deadliest species of malaria.

They were able to successfully stop the growth of a drugresistant strain and cure malaria in mice using dragmacidin G, an alkaloid compound found in some species of sponges.

“Partnering with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, we screened close to 5,000 marine samples to identify their chemical structures,” Chakrabarti says.

“As a result, we identified about eight novel structures that have treatment potential, won two National Institutes of Health grants, were awarded a patent, and hope to move to preclinical studies in the future.”

Debopam Chakrabarti, professor and head of molecular microbiology

Salvador Almagro-Moreno, assistant professor of medicine and member of the Sustainable Coastal Systems and Genomics and Bioinformatics faculty clusters

THE WORK:

THE WORK:

THE RESEARCHER:

Transmitted by infected mosquitoes, Plasmodium is a parasite that causes malaria.

In 2019 alone, there were an estimated 229 million cases of malaria worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths.

THE DISEASE:

THE RESEARCHER:

seas in search of answers to what ails us. Here are

to heal us, UCF researchers are searching the high

cause us harm to the molecules that could be used

I

we do about our own oceans. UCF researchers

t is often said that we know more about space than

BY LAURA J. COLE

better known as C. diff, is a bacterium that causes colitis and is most commonly contracted in hospitals or long-term care facilities.

Every year it infects nearly half a million Americans with inflammation of the colon and deadly diarrhea and accounts for an estimated 15,000 deaths.

CLOSTRIDIOIDES DIFFICILE,

THE DISEASE:

Self and his team earned a patent for successfully using puupehenone, a compound found in some species of sponges and coral, to kill C. diff in test tubes. The team still has to successfully treat colitis in animal and human clinical trials before a pharmaceutical can be approved from this patent.

“We need to find new therapies because there will always be growing resistance to the current drugs,” Self says.

THE WORK:

William Self, associate director of undergraduate affairs and professor of medicine

THE RESEARCHER:

DIFFICILE

CLOSTRIDIOIDES

TUBERCULOSIS

MYCOBACTERIUM

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis was the deadliest infectious disease on the planet.

According to the World Health Organization, globally more than 10 million people contract the airborne pulmonary disease, and 1.5 million die from it every year.

THE DISEASE:

Using an engineered luminescent strain of MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS — the bacterium that causes tuberculosis — to mimic an infection, Rohde and his team screened a collection of marine natural products and discovered that puupehenone is able to kill dormant TB bacteria. “We found a chemical compound that was actually 10 times more effective in killing the hard-to-kill bacteria, which is very unusual,” Rohde says.

As a result, their research has earned NIH funding, and he is working with Steven Sucheck, a professor of chemistry at the University of Toledo in Ohio, to recreate puupehenone as a synthetic compound. Using this synthetic compound, they will work to understand how it selectively kills dormant TB.

DISCOVERY:

Kyle Rohde, associate professor of medicine

RESEARCHERS:

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Learn what is essential to graceful aging — no matter how old you are.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARGARET KIMBALL

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17 “When do we start aging?”

This is the question Nicole Dawson, UCF assistant professor of physical therapy, asks at the start of her Geriatric Physical Therapy course.

She says students often struggle to respond to the question, but the answer is simpler than expected.

“We start aging from the moment we are conceived,” says Dawson, who has been working with elderly patients for more than 15 years.

While aging is often viewed societally as a condition that needs to be staved off and affects people close to their 60s, it’s a natural process of life that everyone goes through daily — whether 18 or 80.

“In our modern media everything related to aging is anti-aging, so I think the biggest misconception is that aging is a negative thing,” Dawson says. “But there are so many positive things to aging, and most of the literature shows aging successfully is really just a balance between our gains and losses.”

Dawson and other researchers at UCF have found striking the right balance boils down to three interconnected areas: cognitive health, physical health and social health. And the sooner you start to care for each of these areas, the better your chances of living a longer, healthier life.

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’ 17

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Train your brain.

One of the most common issues associated with aging is dementia, which is a range of conditions that affects thinking, reasoning and memory skills, impacting behavioral abilities.

The leading cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is progressive and has no cure.

However, research has shown that a combination of positive lifestyle choices, such as a healthy diet, not smoking, regular exercise and cognitive stimulation, can reduce the risk for the disease by up to 60% — and may even counteract genetic risk for it, according to a study released by the Alzheimer’s Association.

Attending college, taking a continuing education course, pursuing a career that requires creative thinking, and engaging in activities that challenge you to use multiple brain functions are some ways to keep your mind sharp throughout your lifetime.

But what happens once someone has already started to show symptoms of dementia?

“There are a lot of barriers that healthcare professionals — specifically physical, occupational and speech therapists — have in caring for patients with dementia,” says Dawson, co-director of UCF’s Innovative Mobility Initiative Lab. “We don’t get taught a lot about geriatrics in general, let alone dementia. So when someone is diagnosed with dementia,

28 | SPRING 2021

what often happens is they’re sat in a chair in a corner and told not to do anything anymore — and that’s the worst thing we can do for that patient population.”

In 2019, Dawson published a paper with Cleveland State University psychology Professor Kathy Judge and Ashleigh Trapuzzano ’15 ’19DPT, then a UCF physical therapy doctoral student, that outlines how healthcare professionals can help patients with dementia maintain a better quality of life. They called it the LEAD framework — Leveraging Existing Abilities in Dementia — which focuses on coping methods for the emotions associated with the disease, communication strategies and cognitive rehabilitation methods.

The methods include validating the feelings of the individual with dementia; using short, simple directions to help them complete tasks; and providing Montessoribased activities, such as puzzles and walking, that emphasize independence and natural development, among many other evidence-based methods.

“We’ve luckily been successful with helping therapists become more confident and learn how to practice these strategies to help patients with dementia,” Dawson says.

Step up your strength.

As the Alzheimer’s Association has suggested, Dawson also notes that brain function can get a boost not just from mental exercises that keep you engaged but physical ones too.

“There’s a huge relationship between cognitive decline and physical decline,” Dawson says. “The two cognitive processes that seem most important are executive function,

which is kind of our higher-level thinking, and processing speed. But what’s interesting is we know the relationship exists; we just don’t understand it.”

Which is why Dawson is studying this relationship in collaboration with Matt Stock, an associate professor of physical therapy and director of UCF’s Neuromuscular Plasticity Laboratory. Muscle weakness — particularly sarcopenia, which is the loss of muscle mass and strength that begins around 40 and accelerates after 70 — is a prominent issue related to physical health. Stock and other members of the scientific community are investigating the nervous system’s role in healthy muscle function.

“The brain and the spinal cord’s ability to control muscles really plays an equal role — and potentially even larger role — than the muscles themselves,” Stock says. “The cause of sarcopenia is not only related to muscles getting smaller. It’s also because oftentimes [due to] inactivity you lose the connectivity of the nervous system that controls the muscles.”

While the UCF duo doesn’t entirely know why this happens, Stock says mental imagery, such as envisioning oneself contracting muscles or watching someone else perform motor functions shows promise to combat connectivity issues. But above all, he suggests that strength training is the greatest preventative measure against all aging-related issues.

“Getting yourself on a strengthtraining program and maintaining it throughout your life is one of the most important things you can do for your health and well-being,” Stock says.

“And you’re never too old to start. The principles of strength training for older adults are the same as younger adults. They just need to be tailored to each individual.”

Over eight years, a study of more than 80,000 participants from ages 30 to 81 found individuals

who engaged in moderate-intensity strength training twice a week reduced their risk for dying from any health-related cause by 23% and from cancer by 31%, according to the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The study also pointed to the potential for higher volumes of weekly weightlifting to reduce those risks even further, while emphasizing that these benefits aren’t as impactful with just aerobic exercise.

While total body conditioning is important, Stock says squatting and exercises that promote handgrip strength are especially beneficial since they support physical function across a range of activities. Many studies have shown that poor handgrip strength in particular is a strong indicator of mortality.

“The key component that oftentimes gets forgotten is progressive overload,” he says. “The finer details of the exercise program you do are less important than making sure you’re constantly making it more and more

“The brain and the spinal cord’s ability to control muscles really plays an equal role — and potentially even larger role — than the muscles themselves.” difficult over time. If you just keep doing the same thing, you’re not going to make any further progress. If you did 10 repetitions of an exercise last week, try 12 this week. Physiological stress drives adaptation. You have to push yourself to do a little bit more every time.”

And that push doesn’t just relate to physical function.

“Strength training changes older people’s ability to perform activities of daily living. They become less fearful,

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and it gives them a new sense of confidence and independence. They start trying new things that are totally unrelated,” Stock says.

Stay socially active.

Continuing to experience new things, and living without the fear of doing so, is vital to aging gracefully and supports the ability to continue living a fulfilling life.

“As we get older, a lot of the roles that we occupy disappear or change,” says Michael Loree, a UCF sociology instructor who researches aging.

“A lot of what the research shows on aging successfully is this idea of activity theory, or maintaining social interactions, which is supported by replacing the roles that are lost with new ones.”

For some people this can take the form of volunteering, becoming more involved with a religious group, traveling, hanging out with friends frequently or being an active member in a senior life care community— such as Legacy Pointe at UCF, which offers independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care residences and will open in Seminole County later this year.

But the impact of social ties starts from the time we’re teenagers and

continues to make a difference through old age. The more diverse social relationships people have at an early age, the better their well-being is at the beginning and end of their lives, according to a 2016 study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But during middle adulthood, the study found that it’s not so much how many friends you have, as much as the quality of your friendships.

“When it comes to retirement, just sitting on the couch in front of the television for the next 20 years of your life is not going to be very rewarding or healthy,” Loree says. “Those who embrace old age as a meaningful time in their life to do the things they want — those folks tend to do a little bit better.”

In about 1,100 seniors without dementia, the rate of cognitive decline was reduced by an average of 70% in those who were frequently socially active — with several outings each month — when compared to individuals who only went out once a year or less, according to a study conducted by the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago. Another study found frequent levels of social activity also helped maintain lower disability levels in older people, allowing them to live independently longer.

Assistant Professor Ladda Thiamwong, who has 15 years of experience in gerontological nursing education, has developed a model for healthy aging that includes a theme focused on social health. Beyond remaining socially active and helping others, she also emphasizes that having dignity and being respected are major components to healthy aging.

“Respect is the foundation of healthy relationships — even the one with yourself — as it builds feelings of trust, security and happiness,” Thiamwong says. “We must treat older adults with respect because their time, experience and wisdom to navigate life can serve as valuable lessons for everyone.”

“Those who embrace old age as a meaningful time in their life to do the things they want — those folks tend to do a little bit better.”

In American society, youthfulness is valued over aging, Loree says, and societal attitudes toward aging have an impact on the experience. To combat negative stereotypes, Dawson encourages everyone to embrace the journey that comes with age and to remember: “Aging is not a disease that needs to be cured. It is an opportunity that needs to be seized.”

Lifetime Learners With about 700 current members, The Learning Institute for Elders — LIFE at UCF — has been providing meaningful engagement opportunities for those 50+ since 1991. From partnering with faculty for research to participating in custom lectures that cover the spectrum of academia, LIFE members are some of the most active members of the campus community.

And when the coronavirus began to alter university operations in March 2020, the group was among the most heavily affected organizations at UCF. Since Fall 2020, LIFE has transitioned to virtual discussions via Zoom and has ramped up offerings this spring.

“It has been an extremely rewarding, educational and terrific aspect of our social lives to gather with this group — and I miss it very much right now,” says Todd Bowers ’77, president of LIFE. “Even though we’ve resumed some activities online right now, it’s not quite the same.”

In an effort to regain some of the connectivity to other Knights, the organization recently launched the LIFE Coaches program, which pairs a handful of members who have completed training with 50 undergraduate juniors and seniors.

Mentors will provide guidance on academic support and enhancement opportunities, graduate school and careers. The concept was created by Theodorea Regina Berry, vice provost for Student Learning and Academic Success and dean of the College of Undergraduate Studies.

Teresa Riedel is one of the most recent LIFE members who has completed training and is in the process of being paired up with mentees.

“This is a brilliant partnership that connects individuals,” says Riedel, a former Seminole County school teacher. “It is all about supporting students, and that is critical — especially right now. All of the LIFE Coaches going through the training are excited for the opportunity to give back to the UCF community.”

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As curator of the Vatican’s meteorite collection, Robert Macke ’10PhD combines science and faith to explore age-old questions of how and why we are here.

BY JENNA MARINA LEE

s Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the moon July 20, 1969, Pope Paul VI watched the historic moment from the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

Shortly after touchdown, the pope transmitted a blessing to the American astronauts: “Honor, greetings and blessings to you, conquerors of the moon, pale lamp of our nights and our dreams! Bring to her, with your living presence, the voice of the spirit, a hymn to God, our Creator and our Father. We are close to you, with our good wishes and with our prayers.”

The moon landing epitomized the limitless potential of mankind, inspired our insatiable pursuit of knowledge, and furthered our awe and wonder with the universe. And in some ways, the moon landing was like coming home.

For the moon, the sun, the Earth, even humans — we are all connected by the very thing that made us: stardust.

“There is a tendency for us to see the mundane — which is literally the stuff of the Earth — and then there’s the stuff out there in space,” says Brother Robert Macke ’10PhD, a UCF physics alum who serves as the curator of the Vatican’s meteorite collection. “But the stuff out there and the mundane are really connected. We are part of the same universe. That’s one reason to understand and learn about it. It’s not just out there. It’s here [within us] too.” efore COVID, the question I got most often from people when they learned I worked at the Vatican was, ‘When can I visit?’ ” Macke says with a laugh from his office at the observatory, located one floor below his residence.

While the general public may be surprised to learn the Vatican has an observatory, secular astronomers and scientists are very much aware of Catholics’ contributions to the field.

More than 30 craters on the moon and several asteroids are named after Jesuit scientists. The Gregorian calendar — which is nearly universal today — was developed by Jesuit priest Christopher Clavius. The originator of the Big Bang theory, Monsignor Georges Lemaître, was a priest as well.

“The origin of the universe is still shrouded in mystery, and the Vatican Observatory is a world-class operation employing some of the best people in the world who try to deal with these questions on a daily basis in a scientific way,” says Dan Britt, Pegasus Professor of astronomy and planetary sciences. “The better you understand reality, the better you can deal with the world and the universe — and the better you know your limitations but also your possibilities. What the scientists at the Vatican Observatory are interested in doing is increasing the human race’s possibilities.”

And yet, it isn’t just science alone that contributes to that quest. Inherent within scientific research and discovery are elements of awe and wonder; elements that are also inherent within faith and our connection to the universe.

Every phenomenon in the world can be subjected to a slew of scientific and rigorous questions that result in a pretty complete answer rooted in fact and reason.

But those conclusions still do not always give us the full picture, says Bruce Janz, a UCF philosophy professor with a background in religious studies.

“You can know everything about childbirth in terms of the biology and medical practice, and that still doesn’t explain the wonder of it all,” Janz says. “It is possible to assign the causal questions to science and the questions of meaning to other domains. Philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to do something like that — he made a distinction between questions we can know scientifically, like the Earth revolving around the sun, and questions we can’t know scientifically but we can still think about, like what makes art beautiful? In other words, while scientific reason is crucial for everything, it might not be sufficient to reflect all human experience.”

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Astronauts have been known to experience this dichotomy in space.

It’s referred to as the overview effect. Through personal journal entries and interviews, astronauts of various nationalities and religious backgrounds have described the astonishment felt while gazing upon the Earth from above.

Inspired by this concept, Janz and a team of UCF researchers conducted a two-year study in 2011 to better understand the awe and wonder astronauts experienced.

religious,” Janz says. “It just means it has something to do with the structures of our brains. … Awe is about a set of new possibilities. Once you’ve exhausted your way of thinking about the world, awe suggests there’s a much bigger, much different and maybe exciting new way to look at the world.”

The study further explains that awe motivates wonder, and wonder has the potential to change one’s life.

For instance, Janz asks, as we work toward making long-term space

“The better you understand reality, the better you can deal with the world and the universe — and the better you know your limitations but also your possibilities.”

Using an approach that combines psychological, neuroscientific and philosophical methods, they found that it was indeed possible to elicit experiences of the two emotions in a deliberate simulation. Their findings appear to show that awe and wonder are not necessarily just a transcendental experience, but a natural one, which means it is able to be studied.

“If they’re a natural experience, it doesn’t mean they’re not potentially

32 | SPRING 2021

travel possible — such as a mission to Mars — how could studies on awe and wonder help astronauts stave off their negative counterpart, dread?

“The beauty of science is that every time that we get answers, we end up with more questions,” Britt says. “All of us are working on little pieces of this puzzle. Some of us sometimes get a big chunk of that puzzle, but most of us just chip away — some successfully, some not so successfully — at these little pieces. I think the more we know

doesn’t take away from the magic because there’s an infinite amount of awe and wonder about what’s going on around us.” acke chips away at the unknown one small step at a time through his research with meteorites. His work is inspired by a Latin phrase that serves as the motto of the Vatican Observatory: Deum creatorem venite adoremus. Come, let us adore God the Creator.

“By doing science, we are appreciating the God that created this universe,” Macke says. “For us, science is a form of worship.”

Pope Leo XIII formalized the Vatican Observatory on a hillside behind the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in 1891 — more than 250 years after the Catholic Church’s condemnation and imprisonment of astronomer Galileo Galilei for his belief that the Earth revolves around the sun. While the church eventually cleared Galileo’s name of heresy,

people remember the rift rather than the resolution.

The observatory, Macke says, has existed all these years as a sign to the world that the church does indeed support and commit itself to science.

“What we’re interested in doing here is science, and we want to do good science,” Macke says. “And what we have learned scientifically helps inform our perspective on the universe as a whole and the grandness of creation.”

The observatory has since moved to Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles outside of Rome, where the skies are

not as affected by the city’s light.

Forty years ago, the observatory established a second center, the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona.

Jesuits have run the observatory since 1907. Started by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the 1500s, the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, is a religious order within the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis became the first Jesuit named as the church’s leader when he assumed the role in 2013.

Jesuits most commonly work as university professors, pastors, high school teachers and chaplains but have even been Broadway actors, doctors, lawyers and of course, astronomers.

Macke entered the Jesuits in 2001 as a brother. He has taken the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, but he has not pursued the path to priesthood.

“The way that I see it, there’s the call to religious life, which is the call to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience within the life of the Jesuit community, and then there’s a separate call, the call to sacramental ministry of priesthood, to say Mass and do baptisms and perform those duties,” he says. “I felt the one call but not the other.”

As for his other call, his deep interest in space and science — just like his faith — has been ingrained in him from a young age. His father, who served in the Air Force and was a trained geologist, had a fascination with planetary sciences and hooked Macke’s interest with books, photographs and slides from the Voyager and Viking missions.

Despite these two powerful passions in his life, Macke didn’t initially set his sights on working at the Vatican. It’s as if the stars aligned to get him there.

He fell into working with meteorites after being plucked by Brother Guy Consolmagno, now the director of the Vatican Observatory, to work with him at the Vatican in 2004. The two first met in 1995 at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Tucson. Consolmagno and UCF’s Britt have been longtime friends and collaborators, so when a graduate student position opened in Britt’s research lab in 2007, Consolmagno suggested to Macke that he apply for it.

Macke completed his doctorate in 2010 and finished his theology studies at Boston College in 2013.

Soon after, he moved to Italy to start his new role.

“They knew I was a capable scientist, and a Jesuit who is a capable scientist quickly gets on the Vatican Observatory’s radar,” Macke says.

Macke’s day-to-day responsibilities include cataloging and maintaining the observatory’s meteorite collection, which includes more than 1,100 specimens representing all meteorite types. The collection started in the early 1900s after Adrien-Charles de Mauroy, a French

marquis and devout Catholic, donated his private collection of roughly 1,000 meteorites, hoping that the Vatican would start a natural history museum.

The museum never happened, but the observatory did, and it has offered up its collection to scientists globally for research purposes. By studying meteorites, scientists are able to understand more about the origins of our solar system.

“Because the planets are big and geologically active, they’re constantly making new stuff,” Macke says. “So if you want to understand the really early days of the solar system, you need something that preserves the data, and that’s what we have in meteorites. They’re sort of like time capsules.”

In October, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, for which UCF Professor of Physics Humberto Campins is a co-investigator, successfully retrieved an asteroid sample in space. The sample from the asteroid Bennu is expected to be delivered to Earth in 2023, and Macke’s previous research on the thermal properties of meteorites will likely be an asset for the OSIRIS-REx team. “[Macke’s] work allows lots of other scientists to basically stand on his shoulders and go in a lot of different directions,” Britt says.

“The work that Bob has done is going to be critical in how they look at that sample and how they analyze the structure of Bennu.”

Despite the observatory’s long history and contributions to science, many Americans believe faith and science are generally at odds with each other.

“For us, science is a form of worship.”

According to a 2015 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, “the least religiously observant Americans are most likely to perceive conflict between religion and science. More than 70% of adults who seldom or never attend religious services viewed science and religion to conflict often, while half of adults who attend religious services at least weekly reported the same.”

“In our world today, there is an idea that you have to choose between faith and science — do one and exclude the other,” Macke says.

“We are here to say no, you can do both. You can be a person of faith and a person of science.”

And that relationship just might provide a more complete understanding of our connection with the universe — and why both scientists and people of faith continue to ask questions about our origins, our existence and our purpose.

“There’s a Babylon 5 quote: ‘Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one,’ ” Macke says. “It’s not that the one is affecting the other per se. Science is a wonderful tool, but it’s a tool that is useful for understanding a certain aspect of reality, which is the way the physical world operates. Faith is a way of connecting with God and with others, but it is not something that tells us much about the physical world. So between the two of them, you help to develop a more complete picture of reality that one by itself just cannot provide.”

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COURSE

CORRECTION UCF researchers are working to make driving safer, smarter and more sustainable for everyone on the road.

BY LAURA J. COLE

I

t’s safe to say that driving is an integral part of most of our lives.

We drive to work, to get groceries, to take the kids to soccer practice, to travel to new places and to spend time with friends and family.

In fact, prior to the pandemic, Americans spent an average of 11 hours per week in their cars — accounting for 70 billion hours collectively spent behind the wheel during the course of a year. And that’s not taking into consideration the people on the road who are not driving, including ride-share passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists and those using mass transit.

But driving — whether a car, truck or motorcycle — is by far the deadliest form of transportation and among the biggest contributors to air pollution.

While eliminating risks and pollution entirely may not be feasible,

34 | SPRING 2021

UCF researchers are working to reduce both. Projects include leveraging computer vision to assess roadways, bridges and railways and using social media data to better inform transportation decisions.

The breadth and depth of this research is one reason why UCF was ranked No. 5 in the United States and No. 29 in the world for transportation science and technology by ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020. But the ranking only tells part of the story of the work being done in UCF’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering.

Here are just a handful of the projects researchers are working on that will have an impact on our lives behind the wheel — and beyond.

PEGASUS

Leveraging Big Data to Prevent Accidents Nearly 20 years ago, Pegasus Professor of Civil Engineering Mohamed Abdel-Aty and his students were talking and a seemingly simple question arose: What if we could use readily available data to predict crashes before they happen?

At the time, Abdel-Aty says, no one was doing this. He and his team started simply enough by using information collected by vehicle detection devices, such as loop detectors, which collect data every 30 seconds. Abdel-Aty and his team used this data to identify patterns in traffic flow and predict where and when accidents were more likely to occur.

As the technology to detect vehicles became more sophisticated, so did the team’s research. Rather than simply predict accidents, they also wanted to prevent them. Convinced they could do more with the data, they proposed projects to and earned funding from the Florida, Colorado and U.S. departments of transportation to research how traffic patterns could be interpreted and put to immediate use. This includes adding more digital speed signs to adjust speed limits in real time and installing ramp meters, which indicate when you’re free to merge onto the highway.

“We have tools that we can use to influence or control what’s happening on the road to reduce abnormal or risky conditions on the freeway,” Abdel-Aty says. “This was extensive research that took multiple projects, many years, and the help of at least eight Ph.D. students to move from proving the concepts to determining specifically what causes different types of crashes.”

Recently, those years of research paid off. The Smart and Safe Transportation (SST) team, led

by Abdel-Aty, beat out more than 50 other competitors — including Ford and Uber — to win the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Solving for Safety Visualization Challenge. Their entry builds upon their earlier research by using information such as real-time traffic data and weather as well as history of past accidents and violations to predict the likelihood of an accident occurring. The predictions are shared with transportation operators along with maps of current traffic flow, so they can make faster, more reliable decisions, such as reducing speeds or pushing out updated messages that warn drivers of the perilous conditions ahead.

“Every year in the United States, we have between 30,000 and 40,000 [driving] fatalities and more than 2 million injuries, but we are still using the same rigid methods we were in 2010,” Abdel-Aty says. “The number of fatalities has decreased, but we are still not close to zero, right? Which is unacceptable. We need new data, new technology, new

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“We have tools that we can use to influence or control what’s happening on the road to reduce abnormal or risky conditions on the freeway.”

— Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Pegasus Professor of civil engineering

methods and new ways of thinking.”

As the means of collecting information have changed over the years, so have the types of data available to Abdel-Aty and his team at the UCF Smart and Safe Transportation Lab. We now live in what Abdel-Aty calls a “connected vehicle world,” and the question has evolved slightly: How can we use smart devices to prevent and predict crashes?

The SST team is currently using GPS data from nearly 300 local Lynx buses, microwave vehicle detection,

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machine learning, computer vision, multi-driver connected simulators, Bluetooth detectors, closed-circuit TV cameras and drones to evaluate and update potential risks. Where it would have taken several years to collect and analyze all this data, Abdel-Aty and the SST team have developed an algorithm that can process the information and provide solutions and safety evaluations within weeks.

They hope to use the findings to develop apps for smart devices and vehicles that can provide warnings tailored to each driver — and hopefully even pedestrians and bicyclists. By delivering info in real time, drivers, for example, can know — rather than guess — if they’ll actually make it through that yellow light. Pedestrians can get warnings about cars driving too fast that may SST TEAM not stop at an intersection. And cyclists can spot a car coming up from a blind spot.

“We are interested in several people driving at the same time, being connected and sharing information between vehicles, so that ultimately, we make the traffic better and safer for everyone on — and off — the road,” Abdel-Aty says.

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UCF Smart and Safe Transportation Lab

SST TEAM

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SST TEAM

Preventing Crashes from Wrong-way Driving Wrong-way driving may only account for 3% of crashes on high-speed highways, but according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Florida has the third-highest number of fatalities from wrong-way driving crashes — behind only Texas and California.

Professor of Civil Engineering Haitham Al-Deek is working to change that.

“Our goal is to achieve zero wrongway driving deaths,” Al-Deek says.

Since 2012, Al-Deek has worked with the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) to identify wrong-way driving hot spots and develop and implement technology to help put drivers on the right path — whether they’re intentionally trying to avoid tolls, are under the influence, or can’t see clearly as a result of poor lighting, heavy fog or inclement weather.

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36 | SPRING 2021

The simplest solution is to place red wrong-way signs at strategic locations, and the only countermeasure currently approved in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which sets the national standard, is to incorporate red LEDs on those signs.

Al-Deek takes this approach one step further. He developed an alert system in collaboration with CFX that places wrong-way signs on both sides of the road, uses sensors to set off flashing red lights — known as rectangular flash beacons or RFBs — as a driver approaches, and incorporates cameras to capture and immediately dispatch pictures of vehicles to traffic management officials if the driver keeps going.

The results are promising. Since installing the first system in 2015 on State Road 528, the team has received three patents, one trademark and eight awards. In the first 18 months of having this system in place in a dozen locations across Central Florida, there were zero citations, zero 911 calls and zero crashes from wrong-way driving. The cameras also captured 24 drivers turning around.

WRONG WAY

The installations have since been expanded to 35 locations along the CFX toll road system, which includes state roads 408, 417 and 528, and Al-Deek has worked with Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) to evaluate and install similar RFBs at 18 exit ramps along 417.

As of December 2020 on the CFX system alone, the team has documented 756 wrong-way drivers with 649 of them turning around, resulting in an 86% success rate.

Not only have the RFBs saved nearly

an estimated $20 million in terms of reduced injuries and fatalities, they have also proven to be four times more powerful in getting the attention of wrong-way drivers than the existing LED system.

Evaluation results of the FTE system demonstrated a similar success.

“We’re not alone in finding that RFBs are better than LEDs,” Al-Deek says. “FSU and USF evaluated RFBs along with several other technologies — different flashing mechanisms — and they also found the RFBs are

PEGASUS

“We can help the agencies by finding the most dangerous exits. That is UCF’s contribution and methodology: to find hot spots in the region.”

— Haitham Al-Deek, professor of civil engineering

better than other technology, so it is the No. 1 choice based on research findings in the state.”

The results are promising but not without challenges. From a financial standpoint, these more robust systems do cost more than just a sign.

“One of the challenges is basically finding where to put these systems because they can be expensive,” Al-Deek says. “We can help the agencies by finding the most dangerous exits. That is UCF’s contribution and methodology: to find hot spots in the region.”

It may not be financially feasible to include this system at every entrance and exit ramp. To help decision-makers get the biggest bang for taxpayers’ bucks, Al-Deek and his team developed an algorithm to help identify not only hot spots but also what they call “lone wolf exits,” which may or may not be near any other hot spots but are dangerous based on collected observations and design characteristics.

They also did a cost-benefit analysis and found that the benefit of using the system far outweighs the cost.

“The benefit-cost ratio is 7.5, so for every dollar you spend, you save $7.50 in return from this investment,” Al-Deek says.

The UCF team is now working to make the RFB system the national standard.

Making Engine Exhaust Cleaner Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering Fudong Liu is creating a solution so buyers don’t have to sacrifice the environment to buy a car they can afford.

With nearly 15 years of experience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and BASF, Liu has been exploring how to make exhaust from gas and diesel engines much cleaner.

“My long-existing interest has been using my chemical engineering knowledge to solve important environmental problems,” Liu says.

“This area is important, and I feel like I have the responsibility to solve this problem, for my personal interest but also for posterity.”

Part of his research in this area is focused on catalytic converters, which have been used to reduce exhaust emissions since they were first produced in the 1970s. These converters, which are used in both gas and diesel engines, help reduce toxins from entering the environment, but they rely on precious metals — such as platinum, palladium and rhodium — to function properly.

Through the years, the price of those resources, which are finite, has gone up while car companies have pushed manufacturers to keep the price down.

For one project, led by Pegasus Professor of Physics Talat Rahman and which received funding from the National Science Foundation, Liu is helping to figure out how to leverage

single atoms from these metals. If it works, the same catalytic converters could function with a high level of reliability requiring only a tenth of the current precious metals needed — reducing both costs and the strain on finite resources.

“We want to use every atom at actual size for the chemical reaction, so our technology is taking the benefit of using the single-atom concept to make sure that we are using the minimum amount of the precious metal — saving a lot of cost — while

“Electric cars and fuel-cell cars are developing very fast, but I don’t think all of these traditional engines can be replaced by those new technologies within 10 to 20 years.”

— Fudong Liu, assistant professor of environmental engineering

still ensuring high stability and a robust chemical reaction,” Liu says.

Liu and his team have also developed new technologies that speed up the chemical reactions that occur in converters, helping to remove more than 90% of pollutants from engine exhaust at lower temperatures.

For this work, he received the 2020 TechConnect Defense Innovation Award and three patents are pending,

Pt

Pd

Rh

including one filed jointly by UCF and BASF. When asked why his work is focused on gas and diesel engines rather than electric or solar options, Liu responds, “Electric cars and fuel-cell cars are developing very fast, but I don’t think all of these traditional engines can be replaced by those new technologies within 10 to 20 years. Even if it’s possible for cars, we still have locomotives, power plants and construction machines that require combustion engines.

They’re not going away for a while.”

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3 7

AlumKnights How a UCF graduate and former police officer is advocating for public service reform.

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17 hile some people say that there are bad apples in every profession, Charmin Leon ’04 says that in law enforcement there are often bad bushels — despite the belief that those who carry a gun and a badge should be held to a higher standard.

Leon says she never thought she’d become a police officer, but after working in public service as an advocate for male domestic violence survivors, her perception changed — leading her to join the force in 2008.

“I worked closely with a lot of wonderful officers, and that is what changed my mind to understand how much of a help policing can be,” says Leon, who majored in interdisciplinary studies and minored in legal studies. “When you think about the firepower that [criminals] … have, we have to have something in place to counter that.”

For five years, she served as a patrol officer for the Cleveland Division of Police before moving up to investigate allegations of misconduct for its Office of Professional Standards. Last year, she joined the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), as an implementation specialist for its COMPSTAT for Justice initiative. The Yale-based nonprofit has partnered with more than 45 police departments across the nation to leverage data in addressing racial disparities, and Leon is charged with helping agencies make their findings public while partnering with communities to create a true public safety plan — a first-of-its-kind initiative.

“I guess I always have been interested in justice — real justice for folks,” Leon says. “Just in the process of getting onto the police force, I was already aware of a lot of the issues as to why it’s so hard to transform and reform the police. But owning our mistakes and doing the hard work is necessary. Our margin of error should be as close to zero as we can get it.”

38 | SPRING 2021

Defund the Police?

When it comes to calls to action, like the phrase “defund the police” — which advocates restructuring how funding for police departments is allocated — Leon says that’s exactly what departments need to implement real change.

“When you realize you’re not getting through to administrators in police departments and city government personnel, then you hit them in the pockets and with legislation,” Leon says. “I believe in reallocation — less than 10% of polices’ time is spent on violent crimes, so why are police departments so large? It’s because they’re supplementing social service entities that they shouldn’t be — so social ills end up being criminalized. Why not redistribute some of police departments’ budgets to other community services and departments?”

Next Steps

CPE recently developed guidelines to help police determine how departments can modify their procedures in the best interest of their communities and to decrease negative impacts on Black and minority members. The process includes determining how departments can reduce their presence in communities, what resources might replace their services and where they are most needed, measuring the response to these changes, and how to respond to violence with a lighter law enforcement footprint.

“We are susceptible to causing great harm if we do not adequately hold ourselves to account and respond to the communities who say [police actions] are harming them, believe them, work with them to identify those [issues] and address them,” she says.

Owning our mistakes and doing the hard work is necessary.

Our margin of error should be as close to zero as we can get it.

PEGASUS

Change Hiring and Recruitment Practices

Part of the problem in terms of over policing and police brutality may relate to the types of personalities that are attracted to what they perceive to be a high-action profession.

“When you highlight SWAT and chasing after the bad guys in your recruitment videos and then people get on the job and realize the majority of what you do is conflict resolution, there can be a tendency to make situations what you want them to be — with a lot higher adrenaline drive and engagement,” Leon says.

Advocating for Officers

Just treatment for Black and minority individuals is not only an external issue for police departments but an internal one as well. To help address this inequality, Leon is a member of The Black Shield Police Association, a group formed in 1946 to advocate for the fair and equal treatment of Black police officers that now serves the Greater Cleveland area. It is the third-oldest Black police officer organization in the U.S. She also serves as a representative for this group on the Cleveland Community Police Commission as of this year.

“I want people to know that you have some really amazing men and women in law enforcement, and they are being asked to work in a toxic environment that is not fair to them,” Leon says. “I hope those who love the community and want to serve honorably and nobly get the real honor, accolades and appreciation they deserve.”

PHOTO BY ANGELO MERENDINO

Making All Public Agencies Exceptional

Before joining CPE, Leon created and led the public safety recruitment team for Cleveland’s police, fire and emergency medical services divisions.

This experience and her career in public service inspires her vision for all public service agencies to reform necessary practices to prioritize hiring and retaining only the most upstanding people to serve in the lines of duty.

“I want agencies to [attract] the best and brightest,” Leon says. “I want it to get to the point that when you see someone in a uniform, you don’t even need to question it. You know they are an exceptional individual.”

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3 9

Class Notes 1975

1988

2000

2003

Joe DeSalvo retired after 43 years in the newspaper business, including 28 years at The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.

Timothy Priebe is a product support manager for the U.S. Army.

Eileen (Marin) Coombes is a service operations lead and trainer for Delegate Solutions.

1976

Shari (Ellis) Kazmerchak is an assistant professor of nursing at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.

Robert Truckenmiller ’05MBA is senior vice president, head of market access and customer solutions, and head of fertility and endocrinology at EMD Serono, a biopharmaceutical company.

Nancy (Hughes) Kaplan ’89MBA retired after 43 years, including 33 years at Lockheed Martin and 10 years in public accounting. She will continue working part time for Design Decorating of Orlando.

1977 Ingrid (Smith) Geissler ’93MS retired after more than 35 years in the healthcare field, including designing a laboratory and opening two hospital laboratories. She also worked in public relations in the Czech Republic and taught English as a second language in Germany.

1986

1989

1994 Mark Bennett is the development services director for the city of Lake Wales, FL.

1995 Jason Eichenholz ’98PhD was named business leader of the year for industry by I4 Business magazine. He is the chief technology officer for Luminary’s Technologies, which went public in 2020.

1997

Michael Marzec retired after 33 years in the aerospace industry.

Diana (Imanuel) Gardner is the president of property management for the Solomon Organization.

2001 Alex Martins was recognized as the business leader of the year for economic development by I4 Business magazine. He is the CEO of the Orlando Magic and a recent vice chair for the UCF Board of Trustees.

2002 Adam Eaton ’03MS recently celebrated the 100th episode of the podcast Sons of UCF, which he started with college roommate Mike Espinosa.

Alxis Ratkevich co-wrote and codirected the short comedy film, A Girl from a Box.

2004 Paul Kennedy is a client portfolio manager at NWQ Investment Management in Chicago.

Robert Thompson is president of Growing Bolder.

2005 Luiz Bravim received the University of Chicago’s Outstanding Educator Award in 2020. He teaches AP world and European history at the Archdiocese of Miami.

Michael Latulippe is the registered qualifying patient advisor to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.

Charlie Moss flew his 55th type of aircraft. Over the years, he has logged airplane, seaplane, helicopter, glider and zeppelin flight time.

Jeff Sharon is the public address announcer for UCF football and men’s basketball.

2006 Nayef Mubarak was named among 40 Under 40 by the Orlando Business Journal. He is the founding partner of Mubarak Law.

2009 Jorge Altamirano is a partner at Iorio Altamirano, a securitiesarbitration law firm in New York.

2010 Dana (Bakich) Snyder is the founder and CEO of Positive Equation and herdesk.

Rebecca Naragon ’17 is an economic development director for the United South and Eastern Tribes, a nonprofit organization that supports 33 tribal nations and is working to raise their visibility. She is a citizen of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Read more about Rebecca and her work at bit.ly/ucf-rebecca-naragon.

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2011 Monica Branom is a laboratory supervisor for Orlando Health.

Rashmy Delva is the owner of the online boutique Classé Closet.

Jessica White is a correctional probation and parole officer with the Florida Department of Corrections. She is pursuing a JD at Stetson University.

PEGASUS

2012 Shaenor (Harding) Ishmael ’13MSW is the founder of the Inspired Counseling Center.

Jessica Sirianni is an associate specializing in commercial real estate at ShuffieldLowman.

2016

Alexxe (Lopez) Kirshenbaum is an account manager at Bateman, Gordon & Sands.

Hayley Rae Carter-Fredrickson is a speech therapist for Leon County Schools.

David Mariutto served as the senior mail analyst for the Biden-Harris presidential campaign.

William Keeler is a facilities engineer at NAVAIR.

Kristina Merritt received the 2020 UCF Young Alumni Award. She is the manager of legal services at Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, a UCF social media ambassador and the philanthropy chair for the UCF Alumni Tampa Bay chapter, and serves as chair-elect for the Junior League of Tampa’s Kids in the Kitchen program.

Lacy (Page) Martin is a financial analyst for Flagler County Board of County Commissioners.

Kristen Kessler is the rooms division manager at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX.

2017

Joshua Denadel is a realtor with Keller Williams in Oviedo, FL.

Terri L. Bischke teaches fifth grade math and science for Orange County Public Schools.

Joey Nelson is the social and digital content manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and covered the team’s Super Bowl win.

Rod Harley ’95 wrote Thirty Days of Inspiration: Thirty Original Quotes and Insights to Transform Your Life.

Bart Leahy ’02MA wrote Heroic Technical Writing: Making a Difference in the Workplace and Your Life.

2019

2020

Nicole Hamm earned her master’s degree in nursing from South University.

Daniel M. Bruder ’89 ’95MBA wrote The Blendification System: Activating Potential by Connecting Culture, Strategy, and Execution.

Karyanned Ramirez is a financial representative at Northwestern Mutual.

2014

2015

Valerie M. D’Ortona ’81MEd wrote Isabel Visits Beaches, Meow Months: A Whimsical Travel Adventure in Isabel’s World and You and Me Embrace Diversity: A Whimsical Adventure in Isabel’s World.

2018

Malik Brown is the owner of Daydreams Catering.

Monica Rodriguez is a family support worker for Families First of Palm Beach County.

Lenore Hart ’77 wrote The Night Bazaar: Venice.

Justin Coton is a financial advisor at Edward Jones.

William Teague is vice president of operations at Optum.

Matthew Goodison-Orr is an assistant vice president at Truist.

ALUMNI AUTHORS

Jordan Bubar received the 2020 UCF Distinguished Student Award.

While majoring in marketing at UCF, he served as a College of Business ambassador, a student success peer mentor and was a member of the President’s Leadership Council, LEAD Scholarship Academy and the Student Development and Enrollment Services Advisory Council.

Marsha Jackson Montgomery ’02 wrote and illustrated the children’s book Every Bunny Danced.

Jessica Baker ’09, under the pen name Elizabeth J. Rekab, wrote the young adult novels Everhaven and Hawnt.

James Fenton ’09 ’14MBA wrote the poetry collection Atoms and Tension and Temples Tire.

Holly Noon ’11 ’16MS co-wrote It’s Not About You So Please Understand: The social textbook to understanding concepts related to racism and people of color.

Lisette Diaz ’15 wrote La Viejita Ramonita: A Bilingual Tale.

Shayanne Rivera is a pharmacy technician for CVS Health.

SHARE YOUR NEWS

John Bros ’13 wrote The Personal Wellness Principles: Simple Steps to Create a Happy, Healthy, and Fulfilling Life.

Nickalus Rupert ’15MFA wrote Bosses of Light and Sound.

WEB

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E M A I L knights@ucfalumni.com P H O N E 407.823.2586

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Submissions are included as space permits. Class notes may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium.

MAIL

Pegasus Class Notes P.O. Box 160046 Orlando, FL 32816-0046 U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 4 1

Weddings & Births

1

Jamie Dellorfano ’00 married Frank Rizzuto ’04 on May 23, 2020.

17 Jennifer (Benton) ’10 and Steven Harrison ’11 welcomed Lucas Robert on May 22, 2020.

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Keith Lackey ’01 and wife Emily welcomed Maisie on May 26, 2020.

18 Brad Friedman ’10 and wife Stephanie welcomed Claire Elizabeth on August 31, 2020.

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Dorian Fiallos ’05 and wife Mariela welcomed Mia Celeste on June 27, 2020.

asey Hodges ’10 ’15MBA and wife Michaela 19 C welcomed River James on July 11, 2020.

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Christine (Dellert) Mullon ’06 ’15MA and husband Lee welcomed Coraline Grace on October 31, 2020.

Vanessa (Rivera) ’10MS and Randall 20 Dutcher ’11 ’12MS welcomed Dominic on August 15, 2020.

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eagan Pape ’06 married Allison MacCumbee on R September 22, 2020.

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Megan (Ries) ’07 and Rene Blanco ’06 welcomed Rylan Quinn on July 24, 2020.

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Jessica Tojo ’07 ’11MA and John Raible ’05 ’07MA welcomed Bradley on July 30, 2020.

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Whitney (Glassberg) Rodriguez ’08 and husband Dominguez welcomed Capri Nancy on September 21, 2020.

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Bernie Rosario ’08 ’19MS and wife Nikki welcomed Natalie on June 29, 2020.

10 Cristina (Simone) Cimmino ’08 and husband Mike welcomed Stella Rea on November 12, 2020.

Chelsea (Vandemark) ’10 ’15MS and Michael 21 Govea ’12 welcomed Anthony Donald on September 3, 2020.

22 Lisa (Bonadonna) ’11 and Jason D’Amico ’08 welcomed Abigail Lorraine on May 9, 2020.

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23 Monica Branom ’11 married William Sellers on January 3, 2020.

24 Kassidy (Isselbacher) ’11 and Nicholas Marino ’10 welcomed Killian on May 5, 2020.

25 Heather (Vance) Bohach ’11 and husband Zach welcomed Zoe Rae on September 24, 2020.

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26 Paige (Weinstein) ’11 and Jeff Ginsberg ’10 welcomed Olivia Raddix on September 21, 2020.

Christiana (Luciano) Lowder ’09 ’11MEd and 11 husband Lewis welcomed Astrid Vincenza on October 9, 2020.

27 Alexandria Earl ’12 married John Cuomo on April 2, 2020.

12 Samantha (Schaefer) ’09 and Scott Mahler ’09 welcomed Nathan on June 27, 2020.

28 Olga Grenet ’12 married Juan Ortega ’14 on September 26, 2020.

13 Lesley (Siwek) ’09 ’11MBA and Jason Hellriegel ’10 welcomed Jace on April 29, 2020.

29 Lauren (Henley) ’12 and Justin Schmidt ’15 welcomed Aubrey Brooke on November 2, 2020.

14 Abigail (Van Arsdale) Yandek ’09 and husband Randy welcomed Logan on May 9, 2020.

30 Chelsea Meaton ’12 married Jon Hooks on October 1, 2020.

15 Ashley (Vance) ’09 ’11MA and Collier Faubion ’10 welcomed Begley Astor on July 17, 2020.

31 Lacy (Page) Martin ’12 and husband Jay welcomed Everett Martin on July 7, 2020.

16 Dana Bakich ’10 married Daniel Snyder ’14 on October 9, 2020.

32 Kelly (Brulé) ’13 and Chris Slaven ’13 welcomed Kate Alison on October 2, 2020.

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Heather (Fulkman) ’13 and Steven Kepich ’14 welcomed Connor Bruce on May 19, 2020.

33 Zachary Pitts ’13 and wife Amanda welcomed Cameryn Nicole on June 24, 2020.

34 Andrea (Portillo) ’13 and Timothy Medeiros ’12 welcomed William and Amelia on October 12, 2020.

35 Caitlyn (Szczukowski) ’13 and Benetton Lapuz ’18 welcomed Harrison Bennett on September 21, 2020.

Amanda (Szylin) ’13 ’19MA and Ryan 36 Sellers ’14 ’16MS welcomed Emma on October 31, 2020.

37 Manny Urra ’14 married Claire Spellman on September 12, 2020.

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38 Nour Zikra ’14 married Michael Aoun ’20 on August 29, 2020.

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39 Michael Courant ’15 married Carmen Van Wert on July 10, 2020.

40 Rachel Gonzalez ’15 married Jonathan Hammock ’07 on August 24, 2020.

Nicole Hamm ’15 married Cole Walters on November 14, 2020.

41 Hayley Rae Carter-Fredrickson ’16 married Jordan Ross ’16 on December 28, 2019.

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ianny (Hernandez) ’16 and Laurenzo 42 L Richardson ’17 welcomed Lucas on October 14, 2020.

43 Kristen Lenny ’16 married Brandon Weppner ’16 on October 25, 2020.

44 Olivia Ciliberti ’17 married Maxwell Mindermann ’17 ’18MS on March 3, 2020.

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45 Christopher Hearon ’17 married Kayleigh Larson on November 21, 2020.

46 John Matlock ’17 married Hannah Priest on August 1, 2020.

47 Stephanie Ruwell ’17 married Kyle Williams on February 7, 2020.

48 Elena Dissen ’20MA and husband Josh welcomed Astrid Leigh on August 26, 2020.

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PEGASUS

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R O F Y D A E GET R 38

TOGETHER WE MAKE THE GREATEST IMPACT During UCF Day of Giving, your gift will make a lasting impact on our students, our faculty and our mission. Find the fund that fits you at ucf.edu/dayofgiving.

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In Memoriam

Irina (Zvorykin) Briggs ’72 died September 26, 2020.

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Joyce DeGennaro ’03 ’09BSN ’13MS died November 29, 2020. Joyce was a nursing instructor at UCF, a faculty consultant for the Student Nurses’ Association chapter at UCF, and a faculty liaison for the Alumni Chapter Board. Hired at UCF in 2013 and diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, DeGennaro began regularly incorporating aspects of her cancer treatments into her coursework to provide nursing students with rare learning opportunities. To continue her legacy, gifts can be made in Joyce’s name to the College of Nursing Memorial Scholarships fund.

Brian Peele ’14 died November 21, 2020.

Libby (Gersbach) Reams ’14 died August 2020.

Solaria Kovak ’16 died January 28, 2019.

Allen Trovillion died December 8, 2020. A former president of the UCF Foundation, Allen was instrumental in the original planning and construction of the Student Union and served as an advisor for every UCF president from Charles Millican through John Hitt.

Gene McDowell died January 26, 2021. Gene led the Knights football team from 1985–97, winning more games than any other UCF head football coach. He holds the title for longest-tenured individual in that role and also served as the Knights’ athletic director for seven years.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 4 5

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ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE MCQUADE

PEGASUS

Why I fight for hostages. _____________________

BY SARAH (LEVINSON) MORIARTY ’01 I remember the night as if it was yesterday.

I was getting ready to spend the evening with some friends when I heard the phone ring, not expecting that when I answered, my life would be forever changed.

My father, Bob Levinson, was missing in Iran.

In March 2007, he was taken — kidnapped by the Iranian regime as a bargaining chip with the United States.

After almost 14 years without him home, he is believed to be the longest held hostage in U.S. history. Last year, my family was informed that he is presumed dead.

Anyone who ever met Bob would tell you what a wonderful man, father and friend he was. He lived for his family and his country, loyally serving the U.S. government for 28 years in both the FBI and DEA. Over three presidential administrations, my family and I navigated international politics, delicate diplomatic conversations, and the constant balance of demanding action while practicing patience and faith to somehow get him home. For the better part of those long years, we did not know whom we could trust and had to chart our own territory and learn from our mistakes.

We were repeatedly told by the U.S. government that things were happening, but we never saw any action or results. Even after we received our first and only proof of life video and photographs in 2010 and 2011, nothing happened. We often felt like no one cared about my father’s suffering. We did not know what to do.

This is the case for far too many hostages, and why I felt compelled to use my experience to fight for others in similar situations.

According to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, at least 45 Americans are currently held abroad in 11 countries, including Siamak and Baquer Namazi, Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, Paul Overby, Mark Frerichs, Jeffery Woodke, Kai Li, Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed, Walid Fitaihi, Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Pereira, among others.

Sadly, these names are not well known, nor are they spoken often enough.

From 1979–81, during the Iran hostage crisis (when 52 Americans were taken against their will in the U.S. embassy in Tehran), TV news anchor Walter Cronkite added a count of how many days hostages had been held to his daily signoff. America’s outrage was so powerful that

it was enough to derail an incumbent president’s reelection campaign. Today, hostage cases are barely a blip of coverage in a 24-hour news cycle.

The American public needs to demand more to ensure that innocent Americans aren’t forgotten and left to die alone, thousands of miles from everyone they love. They need to demand that families are not broken apart simply for geopolitical gain.

In December, we learned that my father likely passed away sometime during his captivity. This information came largely thanks to the Trump administration, which found new and compelling ways to hold Iran accountable, including sanctioning two Iranian officials directly involved in his abduction. Unfortunately, my father’s remains are still not yet home.

After learning of my father’s death, I wanted to use the knowledge and relationships I gained to help others. I was contacted by Diane Foley, whose son James Foley, a conflict journalist, was brutally murdered by the Islamic State group in Syria after being held hostage for almost two years. Diane asked me to continue my advocacy by joining the board for the foundation she began in her son’s honor, which promotes journalists’ safety and advocates for the return of all Americans held hostage abroad. I knew that this would be an important part of honoring my father’s legacy.

The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and HostageTaking Accountability Act, just signed into law in December, is another way we honor his legacy, as it further strengthens procedures for handling cases of Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained.

Having met so many former hostages and hostage families throughout this ordeal, I share in their frustration and pain, and their hope. There is so much more work that can be done.

My amazing father left us with many significant lessons to use in these efforts: to always do the right thing, be patriotic, fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, not worry about who gets the credit so long as the work gets done, and to not give up just because something is hard.

I miss my father every single day. And I fight for hostages in his honor — until we bring them all home.

Sarah (Levinson) Moriarty ’01 is an executive at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and serves on the board of directors for the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 4 7

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THE LINEUP Did you know the 50-yard line at the Bounce House is on the same latitude as NASA’s historical Launch Complex 39A? That’s by design. This photo of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Nov. 15 — captured by UCF Athletics’ part-time photographer Conor Kvatek — illustrates our founding as a space university and commitment to space exploration. The view is so out of this world it was named one of the top 100 photos of 2020 by Time magazine. Learn more at ucf.edu/pegasus.