The selected fellows — Vladimir Boginski, Nichole Lighthall and Dinender Singla — will develop and implement programs that can help improve faculty grant success and accelerate the growth of the research enterprise.

Topics the fellows will focus on include research infrastructure, proposal development and specific research awards.

The fellowship begins in Fall 2024 and will continue through Summer 2025.

Meet the new Research Faculty Fellows:

Vladimir Boginski

Professor of industrial engineering and management systems and co-director of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Applied Operations Research Laboratory

How does it feel to be selected as a faculty fellow?

I am honored to be selected by the Office of Research as one of the faculty fellows this academic year. I am looking forward to the opportunity to use my experience in conducting interdisciplinary research and participating in large multi principal investigator grants to help Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝Â reach its strategic goals in terms of research funding and expenditures.

How do you hope to use this fellowship to further your research?

I hope that my experience in this role will be beneficial to my own research program development. I view this fellowship as a “two-way” opportunity. On one hand, I will be happy to offer my experience with various aspects of large grants and use it to the benefit of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ achieving strategic funding goals. On the other hand, I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the high-level strategic and administrative aspects of sponsored research that the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Office of Research deals with. In addition, it would be very interesting to learn about Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ faculty research in various fields and potentially identify new opportunities for interdisciplinary research. Therefore, I believe that this fellowship would be beneficial both to my own academic research career and to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝.

What is your background in research and what does your work focus on?

My research background and interests are in the broad area of network science and engineering. Networks are everywhere in the modern world: application areas are abundant, spanning the domains of big data and physical/virtual complex systems. Examples of real-world networked systems include communication networks, interdependent infrastructure networks, social networks, biological networks, financial networks and many others. Because everything is connected in one way or another, my research spans a multitude of disciplines. Although specific details of my research may vary depending on the field, the underlying broad goals are often the same: to identify nodes and links that are critical for the integrity of a network, and to optimize the connections so that each system functions more efficiently.

What else should Knight Nation know about you?

Prior to joining Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, I was a faculty member at the University of Florida, and during my academic career I have served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on multiple grants for over $16 million. I have always valued the exposure to research disciplines different from my own background, and I was honored be nominated to participate in the Frontiers of Engineering program administered by the National Academy of Engineering, which connects and facilitates collaborations between engineers across different fields. In this fellowship role, I hope to participate in initiatives to promote interdisciplinary research collaborations between Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ faculty.

Nichole Lighthall

Associate professor of psychology, lab director of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Adult Development and Decision Lab and associate program director of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Human Factors and Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. Program

How does it feel to be selected as a faculty fellow?

I feel honored to be selected — and excited to have the opportunity to train in university leadership. The primary feeling has been joy over getting to work with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ faculty who want to gain more skills and success in grant development. I’ve already gotten involved in the Office of Research’s Grant Writing Academy and the faculty in that program are so motivated and excited about their research. It’s going to be very fulfilling to help them achieve their goals.

How do you hope to use this fellowship to further your research?

My primary goal for the fellowship is to enhance Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s success in securing funding from The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and generally expand its health-related research portfolio. As a cognitive neuroscientist working in cognitive aging, I depend on NIH funding to conduct my research. So, any success toward my fellowship goal will help my research program grow as well.

What is your background in research and what does your work focus on?

I have been studying cognitive aging since I was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley over 20 years ago. Over time, my research interest came to focus on how decision-making changes in healthy aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Most recently, my lab has been trying to understand risk factors for financial exploitation in older adults, and how we can better protect seniors from scams and fraud. To address these questions, we use behavioral and neuroimaging approaches, but also consider social and health factors that might make some seniors more vulnerable.

What else should Knight Nation know about you?If you want help with developing your own NIH grants or have ideas for initiatives that we should develop to support NIH-funded research at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ — please reach out to me. I’m here to help you!

Dinender Singla

Professor of medicine, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ cardiovascular division leader and Florida Hospital chair in cardiovascular science

How does it feel to be selected as a faculty fellow?

Being selected as a faculty fellow is an extraordinary accomplishment, and I am deeply grateful for this opportunity. I feel a profound sense of pride in this achievement and am eager to contribute to the institution and its faculty.

How do you hope to use this fellowship to further your research?

This fellowship will enhance my in-depth research knowledge as I meet different faculty members, unit chairs, and deans. I took this position primarily because I want to serve the faculty at large, and I am keen to see their growth. This role allows me to mentor and guide other unit faculty, inspiring them to reach their full potential. The faculty growth is essential and will positively impact the lives of countless postdoctoral fellows and students. These insights and expertise will be highly valuable and will carry weight in shaping the future direction of different colleges, and university, which will ultimately support our community.

What is your background in research and what does your work focus on?

I have over 25 years of research experience in basic and translational research in cardiovascular sciences. I have brought more than $12 million in NIH grant funding to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝. My major research area is stem cells and their derived exosomes for treating diabetes and anti-cancer drugs-induced cardiotoxicity. We have recently prepared specialized exosomes which can target tumors and kill them. Additionally, we have prepared exosomes to deliver drugs in the heart. This new research will lead to treat cancer patients more precisely. I am head of the Division of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Sciences in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, which is part of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s College of Medicine.

Fellow is the highest level of membership the society gives, and acknowledges continued excellence and dedication to the field of gerontology. Hou was one of 49 fellows named this year who will be recognized at the GSA’s annual Scientific Meeting in November in Tampa, Florida.

“I am truly grateful and humbled by this honor,” she says “and remain committed to making a meaningful impact in aging communities across the globe.”

Hou is a faculty member at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s College of Community Innovation and Education and founding director of its School of Global Health Management and Informatics. A Fulbright specialist, she has been invited to conduct research training workshops at multiple universities overseas.

As a public health researcher, she has published papers on Aging-in-Community models that allow older people to age while staying in their communities, cancer screening disparities, global healthcare management and HIV behavioral research. She is an expert in mixed methods research, program evaluation and community based participatory research.

She says gerontological research is crucial for gaining insights into the unique needs of older adults — especially as medical advances allow people to live longer.

“This research helps inform evidence-based clinical and community practice, policies and interventions to promote healthy aging and enhance the quality of life for older adults,” she says.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ aids students in completing their doctoral degrees and obtaining their goals by providing monetary support to assist them in their research endeavors. Support such as this allows students to streamline their focus and drives their research to be cutting-edge, which has helped make Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ No. 20 in innovation in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The College of Graduate Studies supports doctoral students with the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ . The fellowship aims to increase dissertation completion among Ph.D. students by providing a stipend of $10,000 for spring semesters, tuition support and health insurance. The award is for doctoral students in their final semester of graduate education and who have a realistic expectation of degree completion in the spring, allowing them to forgo their non-research-related employment obligations to concentrate on completing their dissertation.

The Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship recipients for the Spring 2023 semester are:

Fatema Ahmed ’14 ’17MHA
Ariege Bizanti ’16 ’18MS ’21MS
Sarah Burrows
Paula Campesino ’18 ’20MS
Sharmistha Chakrabarti ’18PhD
Devin Cowan ’15 ’16MS
Daryn Dever ’17 ’20MA
Lauren Doocy
Rebecca Entress
Md Faqrul Hasan ’19MS
En-Lin Hsiang
Jiheng Huang
Linh Le
Nicholas Leahy
Bingna Lin
Kathleen McIntyre
Abigail Moreshead ’11 ’17MA
Mrudul Nilangekar
Alexandria Orozco
Zackary Parsons
Justine Renziehausen ’19MS
Chinmay Shirpurkar ’21MS
Megan Wiedbusch ’20MA

Applications are due to the College of Graduate Studies by Nov. 15, and students should speak with their program director about the deadline to submit to their dean’s office for nomination consideration. Each college can nominate students based on their demonstrated ability to complete high-quality dissertation research under the assurance that the awarding of the fellowship will allow the students to complete their dissertations and graduate at the end of the term.

Daryn Dever ’17 ’20MA says receiving the award granted her the ability to prioritize her research without worrying about the cost. The modeling and simulation doctoral candidate is researching how different forms of data collection such as log files and eye tracking, can be used to understand how people learn to design new game-based learning environments.

“This fellowship has allowed me to ignore the usual financial pressures of being a graduate student in Orlando and focus on completing my dissertation and finishing the next steps in my professional career,” says Dever, who earned a bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in instructional design and technology.

In addition to alleviating financial stressors, the award is also fueling critical research and helping students produce their best work. Physics doctoral candidate and fellowship awardee Zackary Parsons is using the funds to further his goal of conserving the environment by creating new renewable energy technologies. His research uses scanning electrochemical microscopy to reveal structure-activity relationships for electrocatalytic materials, enabling the use of electricity from renewable sources to drive important chemical reactions.

“I feel that the quality of my dissertation is significantly higher than it might have been if I had needed to divert my time elsewhere,” Parsons says. He also says he feels that the fellowship ensured that he would graduate without delays.

The fellowship has empowered Nicholas Leahy, a kinesiology doctoral candidate, to pursue work that aims to ensure all individuals have access to the benefits of physical activity. In the future he plans to continue working in a university setting and focus on exercise science and getting involved with the public health sector to ensure proper funding and planning are available to all individuals in the community.

Each year, the College of Graduate Studies at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ awards over $2 million in fellowship funding to well-deserving students in acknowledgment of their impressive past achievements and anticipation of future successes at the university and beyond. Students may receive fellowships from the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ College of Graduate Studies, their college or department, or agencies or organizations outside of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝.

Graduate fellowship funds are awarded to enhance a fellow’s scholarly and educational endeavors, but there are no specific assignments associated with the award. Instead, fellows are expected to participate fully in their program and the intellectual community of the university, thereby enriching the experience of that community.

To learn more about fellowships at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, contact the College of Graduate Studies Fellowship Office (gradfellowship@ucf.edu or 407-823-2766) in Millican Hall 230. For more information about graduate study, visit .

Stephen Hopkins, assistant professor of English, argues that it’s because hell was a laboratory of the imagination, a space where people could imagine the limits of salvation and could rewrite the rules of who fit in and who did not.

Based on his research, the selected Hopkins to receive a year-long, $60,000 fellowship to finish his book, The Infernal Laboratory: Vernacular Theology and Hell in the Medieval North Sea.

The NEH awarded $28.1 million in grants for 204 humanities projects across the nation, the organization announced last week. The fellowship program supports advanced research in the humanities, and the recipients produce articles, books, digital materials or other scholarly resources.

According to the NEH website, the agency received an average of 1,100 applications per year for the past five rounds of competition. Hopkins is one of only 70 NEH fellowship recipients this year.

“I am honored to receive this fellowship from the NEH, and excited to be among a cohort of so many other captivating, ground-breaking and important humanities projects funded this year,” Hopkins says.

The Infernal Laboratory: Vernacular Theology and Hell in the Medieval North Sea, his current project funded by the NEH grant, investigates unusual local experiments with the concept of hell  in vernacular texts over the course of the Middle Ages. This malleable idea of hell emerged naturally from translations and experimentation with biblical and apocryphal literature in early Medieval England, Iceland, Wales and Ireland.

“My book project begins with a crucial question: how did medieval writers develop their remarkably vivid conception of hell?” Hopkins says. “Not from the Bible; the New Testament has surprisingly little to say about hell. Yet by the 14th century, hell had become a codified, stratified and complex space, able to be mapped out with precision in Dante’s Divine Comedy. My book tells the story of how hell was used in the Middle Ages as an experimental space in which vernacular writers determined locally meaningful formulations of cultural and theological placement.”

Before joining Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2019, Hopkins received a bachelor’s in anthropology and linguistics from Miami University in Ohio and completed a master’s and doctorate in English literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. At Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Hopkins teaches courses ranging from linguistics, early medieval literature and mythology. As a medievalist, his work focuses on early English literature in its North Sea context.

Though he loves teaching, Hopkins looks forward to the concentrated research and writing time the fellowship will grant him to finish his first manuscript of the book.

“This time away from the classroom will enable me to inhabit this project deeply, which is important given the ambition of the work, spanning half a dozen languages and a thousand years of literary history,” Hopkins says. “In addition to the invaluable deep time I will devote to reading, thinking and writing, this grant will allow me to visit archives to consult medieval manuscripts and early print books that will benefit my work immensely.”

Using Lasers to Enhance Drones

Second-year electrical engineering master’s student Patrick Borgman worked for the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana.

“I heard of some of my relatives’ stories of national service, especially my grandfather who was in World War II,” he says. “I used this fellowship as an opportunity to be like them with whatever abilities I have.”

Borgman was tasked with finding a way to deliver power to drones flying in inclement weather.

“This is important in a military combat situation, as you do not want to interrupt critical infrastructure such as communications and surveillance when the drone has to land and charge,” he says.

To simulate optical power beaming to the drones mid-flight, Borgman developed a MATLAB-based laser beam wireless energy simulator.

During the fellowship, Borgman had an opportunity to tour the facilities, see other research projects in development and network with the staff on the base. However, due to COVID-19 policies, Borgman completed his work virtually.

“I made sure to have a disciplined regimen: wake up at 4 a.m., work out, get coffee, get to work, and after eight hours, rest,” he says.

Borgman says he’s grateful to NSWC Crane for the experience and everyone who supported him along his journey so far, including his family, his undergraduate advisor from the University of North Florida, Hemani Kaushal, his volunteer supervisor Kalai Sankar, and his thesis advisor at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝.

Taking the Army Farther, Faster

Soldiers can travel long distances with loads of armor, weapons, ammo, and other necessities that weigh up to 150 pounds. This can lead to injuries of the lower back and limbs. Lebanoff used their expertise in mechanical and biomedical engineering to figure out how U.S. Army soldiers can carry these extremely heavy loads on their backs farther, faster and with fewer injuries.

Working under the U.S. Army’s Robotics Requirement Division, Lebanoff, assessed the service branch’s capability to implement an exoskeleton that can bear substantial weight.

“An exoskeleton system — think less fancy Iron Man — should reduce the likelihood of injuries while increasing a soldier’s ability to travel further and faster under a heavy load,” Lebanoff says. “Along with two other fellows, I was tasked with assessing the Army’s current path toward an exoskelton capability and revising the document listing the desired characteristics for an exoskeleton system.”

While some X-Force fellowships were conducted virtually due to the pandemic, Lebanoff’s was in held in person at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. They also had the chance to visit the U.S. Army Natick Solder Systems Center, a research and development lab in Boston that focuses on military food, clothing and shelter.

The biomedical engineering student, who earned their bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ as a student of the , says the experience gave them an inside look at the military’s science and technology ecosystems, which they just might be a part of one day.

“Personally, I’ve gained a renewed interest in working with and possibly joining the military,” Lebanoff says. “Whichever path I follow, I know I’ll have the support of my fellowship supervisors and connections made along the way who facilitated a summer experience of growth and impact.”

Using Light to Maximize Communications

Michael McMahon ’22, a master’s student in , spent his summer at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, home to the Missouri Institute of Defense and Energy (MIDE). A collaboration between MIDE and the Office of Naval Research, McMahon’s project focused on using light and a highly-specialized crystal — lithium niobate — to detect radiofrequency (RF) waves.

Unlike traditional X-Force teams that deliver a final functional product, McMahon’s team conducted fundamental research. He was the sole lead of the electro-optic project — the area of study which uses light in combination with electronics.

“My responsibilities included designing and setting up the experimental aspects of our research,” says McMahon, who earned a bachelor’s in photonics science and engineering from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝. “It was my responsibility to become an expert with the equipment we had and use it to its limits to gather data necessary to verify what we were looking for — evidence of electro-optic sensing with lithium niobate.”

Electromagnetic waves are used in all communications including cell phones, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Communications on the newest 5G standard have frequencies anywhere from 600 megahertz to around 50 gigahertz, or 600 million to 50 billion cycles (waves) per second. Light has a frequency of trillions of cycles per second making it a very attractive way to move information. Higher frequency = faster information.

Because of the limited availability of the circuits needed to convert the extremely high frequency waves of light to information that computers can process, it is not yet possible to use the technology McMahon was working on for communication. In the meantime, there is a practical use.

Lithium niobate crystals are much smaller and lighter than electronics currently used to measure RF waves. A “probe” can be made using the crystals to detect and intercept unknown signals around us.

“The military is interested in this kind of technology as reducing size, weight and power is a common goal,” McMahon says. “And because the probe uses light, tremendous amounts of information can be detected. Finally, light is immune to interference frequently seen in electromagnetic warfare, which makes it a secure communication method in times of war.”

Dhara Shah, a member of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s inaugural class of psychiatry residents, matched at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for a consultation-liaison fellowship, a subspecialty that focuses on the care of patients with comorbid psychiatric and general medical conditions. Akash Jaggi matched at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and Waqar Zuberi matched at USC in Los Angeles. Both are third-year residents going into child and adolescent psychiatry, a fellowship that accepts residents early during their four-year training.

“These are among the top psychiatry programs in the country and I am so happy and proud of these residents who will be spreading their wings and pursuing their dreams,” says Anuja Mehta, the residency’s program director.

The 2014 Florida Physician Workforce Analysis forecasts a 55% deficit of psychiatrists in Florida by 2025. A National Council for Behavioral Health report suggests that nearly one-in-five Americans have a mental health condition and the number of patients going to emergency rooms for psychiatric services is increasing nationwide. The need for psychiatrists is heightened with the nation’s substance abuse epidemic and as more people seek professional help to improve their mental health.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝-HCA began the psychiatry residency in 2018 to help address that need. Within days of its announcement, the new program received 1,700 applications for six available positions.

Psychiatry Program Chair Martin Klapheke, who was instrumental in getting the residency established, says he was thrilled with the fellowship matches and hopes many Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝-HCA physicians will return to Florida after their training. after completing further training.

“Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ is so fortunate that four years ago these individuals chose to come to our brand-new psychiatry residency,” he says. “Each of them has helped faculty and staff build the program and work toward continued excellence in clinical care, education and scholarly work. Their influence will be felt here for years to come, plus they will no doubt be wonderful ambassadors across the country as graduates of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s graduate medical education program. If we are lucky, one or more might find their way back to Central Florida in their future practice.”

“For more than 150 years, [the Royal Historical Society] has existed to promote the findings of historians to the wider world and advocate for the field — a bit like the National Geographic Society here in America did for geographic and scientific disciplines over the same timeframe,” Hardy says.

Based at University College London, the society supports academic publishing, events, research training, grants and awards, among other principal areas. It publishes its own academic journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, exclusively open to submissions from fellows of the Society. Perhaps most notably, the society’s Bibliography of British and Irish History offers a comprehensive guide of over 630,000 records for those researching and teaching the history of the region.

“More recently, it has become an advocate of the discipline of history in the United Kingdom; like the United States, the U.K. is seeing numerous debates about history and history education,” says Larson. “For example, the murder of George Floyd sparked protests in the U.K. and has intensified debate over the U.K.’s role in slavery and imperialism.”

Hardy became a fellow of the society in late 2019, and Larson was elected shortly after in the summer of 2020.To become fellows, they had to apply for election and demonstrate a record of scholarship in the field. A scholarly book or the equivalent is the minimum requirement, as well as sponsorship from a current fellow who can attest to the importance of the work. Hardy was elected for his contribution late medieval and early modern Central European history, while Larson was elected for his first book, Conflict and Compromise in the Late Medieval Countryside: Lords and Peasants in Durham, 1348 to 1400, and subsequent research.

As members of the society, Larson and Hardy have a responsibility to support the its mission of promoting history in all its forms. They also have the opportunity to vote in elections or run for office in various leadership roles. In return, their research benefits from access to the society’s network of outstanding scholars based in universities, libraries, archives and other scholarly settings around the world, offering a great way for historians to connect with others in the field.

“This is especially useful for us in North America, as many RHS members are based in Britain, and typically to become a member you have to have some kind of connection to the historical profession in the U.K.,” Hardy says. “I myself am British and studied then worked at British universities before moving to Florida, so the RHS is a great way to stay connected with people in my field.”

Having this access to the society’s network of scholars is a boon to historians like Hardy and Larson, whose work supports Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s mission to become a leading public metropolitan research university. Being a fellow is strong evidence of a historian’s credibility as a researcher, which can help open doors to U.K. archives that would otherwise require a letter of introduction for admittance. This allows fellows like Hardy and Larson access to rare or delicate records that would normally be difficult to engage with.

“Since it’s a U.K. institution, there are relatively few non-U.K. fellows, but many of those fellows tend to be at the top of the field and very involved or connected with history in the U.K.,” Larson says. “So, becoming a fellow demonstrates both what I’ve accomplished but also my dedication to British history and desire to stay connected and be involved.”