Her leave of absence started this summer. The area she oversees includes studies and grants in the area of: population dynamics of individual species, demography, fundamental ecological interactions affecting populations, communities, their environments, mechanisms of coexistence and the maintenance of species diversity, and conservation and restoration among others.

Von Holle’s primary responsibilities include interacting with investigators, facilitating merit-review panels, and recommending funding decisions.

“I’m very excited to be here at NSF,” Von Holle said. “I am able to see what the cutting-edge science is in ecology and am excited about facilitating the progress of science. Washington, D.C., is also an exciting place to be, where science, policy, and culture intersect in a very vibrant city.”

She said she is benefitting from the opportunity to work with other top investigators in her field as well as getting a broad look at a variety of research that is impacting ecology.

Von Holle joined UCF in 2007 after working at the Smithsonian’s Environmental Research Center, Harvard University and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has a bachelor’s of science in ecology, behavior and evolution from the University of California at San Diego and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She has received multiple awards and grants from many institutions including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Her leave of absence concludes in a year at which time she plans to return to UCF to continue her own research.

Two other UCF faculty members are currently working at NSF:  Debra Reinhart, assistant vice president for Research and Commercialization, and Ruey-Hung Chen, a professor in the college of Engineering and Computer Science.

The result of the team’s work appears in today’s online edition of Nature.

Peijun Zhang, an associate professor in the department of Structural Biology at the University of Pittsburgh led the team. Others are: Gongpu Zhao, Xin Meng, Jiying Nig, Jinwoo Ahn and Angela Gronenborn also from the University of Pittsburgh;  Juan R. Perilla and Klaus Schulten from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Ernest L. Yufenyuy and Christopher Aiken from Vanderbilt University and UCF physics professor Bo Chen.

Zhang has been working with cryo-electron microscopy to figure out how the HIV-1 virus creates its capsid, the protective armor around the viral genome materials, which corrupt a host cells DNA and turns them against the body.

The integrity of capsids is critical to viral infection and propagation, but their structure has remained elusive because of how different each capsid can be, said UCF’s Chen. That complexity is compounded because the assembly process necessary to create large protective shells includes thousands of individual proteins joining together in assembly, all of which only takes a few seconds to minutes to complete.

“The speed makes it difficult to track and analyze experimentally, and even more challenging to simulate theoretically, because it involves a large amount of molecules and extends the time scale far too long for current computation resources,” Chen said.  He came up with an advanced simulation model that captures the overall structure of the capsid protein that forms the shell without slowing down the speed, and can simulate how hundreds of capsid proteins assemble at the same time. It doesn’t capture the whole system, but it is a big leap in the right direction, he said.

Chen has been able to create simulations based on the general information understood by researcher to date. Compared to many other models, his simulation model is able to capture the structure information of the molecule to high fidelity without sacrificing the simulation speed. By working with Peijun, he was able to use the detailed structural information of HIV-1 she has discovered.

“The mechanism is challenging to study and simulate,” said Chen, who specializes in complex biomolecular computer simulations also known as multiscale theory and coarse-grained model simulation. “It involves hundreds and in some cases thousands of molecules working at the same time to assemble and construct new structures. And with our technology we’ve had limited success previously. But the cryoEM structure model from Dr. Zhang’s group developed has greatly inspired our simulation work.”

The simulation gives Zhang a picture of how the process works, adding a new perspective as she tries to uncover how individual capsid proteins come together to form the large protective shell.

Unlike sci-fi computers that simulate and predict how complicated organisms will react to any given stimulus in seconds, today’s technology isn’t quite there yet.

“Even with the world’s biggest supercomputers, we can’t do a simulation that keeps pace with the complexities involved in self assembly for more than a few microseconds,” Chen said. One microsecond is one millionth of a second. “And most of these processes take up to several seconds to minutes. In time, I think we’ll get there, but right now, we’re limited by our current technology. Even so, our advances are helping scientists understand how it all works.

Chen isn’t a patient researcher, which is why he switched from more fundamental condensed physics to applied physics in the area of biomedical sciences, in hope of seeing quicker impacts of his research to society.  Despite hardware limitations, he said progress in this area of research is likely to produce benefits to mankind in his lifetime.

“I wanted to see my work impact people,” he said. “I’m hoping the use of my simulations will help us learn about the processes and to predict outcomes as a way to help prevent adverse health issues. While my work is focused on HIV-1 at the moment, we can apply this model to other proteins that are keys to other diseases. There’s still work to do, but there is good promise here.”

Chen joined UCF in 2011. Previously he was a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health for four years. In 2013 he was awarded the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award. Previously, his work has been reported in journals such as Nature Physics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Biochemistry, among others. Chen has a Ph.D. in physics from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Beijing University. He is the father of two young children is a strong advocate of teaching science to youth. He has several graduate and undergraduate students in his lab and he mentors children at an elementary school.

“I set out on a mission to make this program a track and field superpower,” Smith Gilbert said. “We were in the top five, both indoor and outdoor, this year. So I think the program is definitely headed in the right direction. I want to thank Todd Stansbury, Jessica Reo, Keith Tribble and so many others for the opportunity, the help and all the assistance they gave us to get us to this point. President Hitt is very supportive of the team and everybody at UCF embraced us. We made major strides in this program.

“Orlando is a great place. UCF is a great place,” Smith Gilbert continued. “It’s going to be very sad. I’m excited about embarking on a new adventure. But it is going to be very hard for me to leave. We grew as a family, so they’re more than just my athletes. They’re like my little sisters and daughters. I taught them everything I could.”

In her new role at USC, Smith Gilbert will be responsible for all aspects of the Trojans’ men’s and women’s track and field programs.

During her UCF tenure, the Knights won six Conference USA outdoor and indoor crowns. Her athletes were named All-America more than 100 times and set more than 100 school records. In the classroom, her team’s GPA exceeded 3.0 nearly every term during her tenure.

“Caryl Smith Gilbert and our student-athletes are responsible for our women’s track and field program being recognized among the best in the nation,” said UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury. “She is an amazing coach and an amazing person. We certainly understand that when you have a coach who has accomplished the sort of things Coach Caryl has, that she will be presented with other opportunities. We thank her for everything she has done at UCF and wish her and her family nothing but the best in the future.”

In 2013, UCF’s fifth-place showing at the NCAA outdoor meet was the best finish by a non-BCS school since 2000 and its 35 points more than doubled the previous program best. Smith Gilbert was named the USTFCCA South Region Coach of the Year for a fifth time in 2013 as she guided UCF to its first-ever Top-10 outdoor ranking in the USTFCCCA poll. She was the only coach to have three 100-meter runners ranked among the Top 10-seeded qualifiers at the NCAA meet. Twelve school records were broken during the 2013 outdoor season while the team won its fourth-straight C-USA title, a feat unmatched by any other women’s track and field program in C-USA history. Octavious Freeman was the C-USA Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.

UCF also finished fifth at the 2013 NCAA indoor meet, as Aurieyall Scott won the 60-meter dash to become the school’s first NCAA champion in any sport. Scott was also the C-USA Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

UCF’s eighth-place finish at the 2012 NCAA indoor meet was the program’s best at the time. UCF won the C-USA outdoor title and capped the season by sending four Knights to compete at the USA Olympic Trials. In 2011, UCF swept the indoor and outdoor C-USA titles as Jackie Coward was named C-USA Track Athlete of the Year and UCF’s first two-time All-America first-teamer. Smith Gilbert was C-USA’s outdoor and indoor Coach of the Year. She led the 2010 Knights to the C-USA Outdoor championship. Coward became UCF’s first NCAA Outdoor All-American, finishing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles.

In Smith Gilbert’s first two seasons at UCF, 2008 and 2009, her athletes broke 30 of the school’s indoor and outdoor school records. She also served as the jumps and multi-events coach of Team USA at the 2009 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Berlin.

Smith Gilbert came to UCF after five seasons (2003-07) as an assistant coach at Tennessee, where she was responsible for coaching sprints, hurdles and jumps. Smith Gilbert was an assistant coach at Alabama for three years (2000-02) and held similar responsibilities as an assistant at Penn State for two seasons (1998-99). Prior to becoming a collegiate coach, Smith Gilbert was the head coach for four seasons (1994-97) at her prep alma mater, George Washington High in Denver.

Eduardo Salas, Pegasus and Trustee Chair professor of psychology and scientist with the Institute for Simulation and Training, will lead the research that supports NASA’s objectives to ensure the health of space flight crews, especially as they venture beyond the Earth’s orbit for extended periods of time.

NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute announced a total of 23 awards valued at approximately $17 million.  Salas is the only researcher to receive two awards in the peer-reviewed competition and only two other universities received more than one award.

Salas is an internationally recognized expert on teams and training.  His projects will help NASA safely and efficiently divide tasks between humans and automation, and assess the cognitive and emotional states of individuals and teams, both of which are priorities of the space agency.

The first project will focus on methods to detect and mitigate cognitive performance deficits, stress, fatigue, anxiety and depression for the operational setting of spaceflight from ongoing team member communications, either spoken or written.

Using software and analytic tools the researchers will quantify word choice and patterns in real-time, which may be used to alert them to any changes or potential risk factors.

The effort is critical to keeping teams in space for months and perhaps years, Salas said.

“During long-term spaceflight team members will talk a lot, both during mission critical operations and their down time.  By analyzing spontaneous verbal output in real-time communication, we can develop tools to predict problems before they arise,” he said.

The second project will develop a framework for measuring the safety and efficiency of interactions between human team members and the automation required to sustain long-term flight.

The awards come less than two weeks after UCF became the first Florida university selected to lead a NASA project.  Physicist Richard Eastes, from the Florida Space Institute, is leading that $55 million project to develop an imaging instrument to study Earth’s upper atmosphere.

“NASA is one of our earliest research partners and we are pleased, in our 50^th anniversary year, to be granted these awards, in complimentary disciplines, which highlight the increasing breadth of our research strength,” said MJ Soileau, vice president for research & commercialization at UCF.

Freeman ended the NCAA Championships as a USTFCCCAA All-American in the women’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. The sprint specialist collected a pair of silver medals. She placed second in the 100m with the third-fastest time in NCAA Outdoor Championship history and the eighth-best time in collegiate history of 11.00. The mark also set the school record and is the world’s third-fastest time of 2013 (11.00).

The 4×100 relay team crossed in 43.36 for runner-up honors. Freeman concluded the national meet with a seventh-place time of 22.92 in the 200m as the team placed a program and C-USA best fifth overall. It marked the best finish by non-BCS school in 13 years.

After winning two gold medals (100m/4x100m) and a silver medal (200m) at the C-USA Championships, Freeman appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd.

Freeman’s 2013 campaign is far from over. She will represent the United States at the upcoming World University Games in Russia.

Her C-USA honor marks the third-straight year that a Knight has been recognized as the league’s best athlete. Jackie Coward won the award in 2011.

When he’s not writing about exercise performance, teaching sports nutrition, or overseeing research as director of UCF’s Human Performance Lab, Stout practices judo—he’s a black belt. But Stout says his most important role of all is doting dad to Nicole, 16, and Jeff, 13.

When did you first know that the science of fitness was your calling?

I have been interested in sports and conditioning for as long as I can remember. However, when I was a pre-med undergraduate student at Concordia University in Nebraska, I read a brochure describing a master’s and doctorate program in exercise physiology. I knew on that day—August 10, 1988—that I was going to get my Ph.D. and become a professor someday.

How are proper nutrition and training tied to athletic performance?

You can’t have one without the other. The latest science tells us that proper sports nutrition can enhance performance and training adaptations. For example, training to become bigger, faster and/or stronger is enhanced with proper sports nutrition.

What kind of research is done in UCF’s Human Performance Lab?

We’ve been focusing on healthy aging, elite athletic development and nutritional methods to enhance recovery from intense exercise. Recently, 14 of our students presented their research at the American College of Sports Medicine. In addition, four of our students received awards for their research at the UCF Graduate Research Forum.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I enjoy mentoring graduate students. There is no better feeling than seeing your students’ expression when they get their first publication. In addition, I enjoy providing guidance to former students who have gone on to successful roles in academia, industry and clinical settings.

When did you earn your black belt?

I received my black belt six years ago. The only reason I started judo was to see if my son Jeff would enjoy it.  I fell in love with the Olympic sport and continued to practice and compete.  In addition, it was a great way to spend a lot of time with my kids, who are the No. 1 priority in my life.

How did Nicole become involved with Judo?

Nicole was an elite rhythmic gymnast who competed in Europe and trained at the Russian Olympic training center. When we moved from Oklahoma to Florida in 2008, it became difficult for her to continue rhythmic. So I asked her, “What sport would you like to try?” She had been watching her daddy and brother practice for four years, so she said she wanted to “play” judo. My first reaction was “No, you don’t want to do that.”

Since then, she has been rated in the top 5 in the country for the past three years and won the bronze at the Australian Youth Olympics this past January.

What advice would you give to other parents who want their kids to be active and healthy?

Make exercise fun! Also, be a role model. If your kids see you working out and enjoying it, then they will appreciate it, too. Be active with your kids. Play catch, shoot hoops, hike or bike with your kids instead of watching TV. Eat well, but not perfectly. No one is perfect, and those who are, are usually no fun. For example, we try to have healthy meals most of the time, but we will have some ice cream, popcorn or candy every once in a while.  That’s OK.

Any plans for Father’s Day?

Dinner and a movie with my family. We’re going to see Man of Steel.

Sheldon visited the institute’s location in south Orlando after speaking at the 15th annual International Fatherhood Conference at the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios.

“Assistant Secretary Sheldon listened to some pretty powerful stories today shared by men who had been incarcerated for years and then reconnected with their families,” said Andrew Daire, who co-founded the institute. “It was hard to fight back the tears.”

Sheldon asked the institute to arrange the meeting between men who had benefited from programs funded through the federal agency. Sheldon, who grew up in Plant City, served as the secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families before heading to Washington, D.C.

Family is important to Sheldon. At the federal level he has championed the cause of early-childhood development among low-income families, worked to expand the use of trauma-informed care and practices in the foster-care system, and pushed for better prescribing and monitoring practices within the foster-care system.

Daire and other community partners that have received federal funding organized the roundtable. Daire said it was important to have these kinds of conversations with officials so they can see the impact good programs can have on families.

Daire leads Project T.O.G.E.T.H.E.R., a healthy-marriage initiative in Florida to receive funding from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Family Assistance.

Project T.O.G.E.T.H.E.R. (click here for video) provides free relationship education that focuses on preventing stress and conflict by teaching strategies for healthy and strong relationships. The project is geared toward low-  to moderate-income individuals and couples with or without children.

The institute is part of the College of Education and Human Performance’s graduate counseling program, which earlier this year was recognized in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools list. The institute offers a variety of free services and resources for couples and singles, including counseling, education workshops and research opportunities.

To learn more about the Marriage & Family Research Institute or Project T.O.G.E.T.H.E.R., visit http://mfri.ucf.edu.

Blacks are more likely than both Hispanics and whites to believe race was a factor in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager. And blacks also are more likely than whites to follow the court case closely. Hispanics are less likely than all groups to follow the case closely.

These are among the conclusions found in the study published in the Journal of Crime and Justice, just as the criminal case against Zimmerman begins.

University of Central Florida associate professor Kareem Jordan and Penn State professor Shaun L. Gabbidon conducted the study with data from a 2012 USA Today/Gallup Poll. They analyzed the data to address three questions: Did you perceive that race played a role in the shooting? Had the victim been white, do you perceive the suspect would have been arrested sooner? And how closely will you be following the case?

“The study shows that the racial divide in public opinion is alive and well,” Jordan said. “Blacks continue to feel the greatest sense of criminal injustice, followed by Hispanics and whites. But in certain instances, the views of blacks and Hispanics can be different. Some things we found we anticipated, but others were a bit surprising.”

Jordan studies crime and race — specifically the African-American community’s perception of race in the juvenile justice system. He began this particular study in April 2012, two months after Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, and before Zimmerman was arrested.

Zimmerman is accused of fatally shooting 17-year-old Martin while Zimmerman was patrolling a Sanford neighborhood as a member of his neighborhood watch. Zimmerman was not immediately arrested, and protests followed. The case has drawn international media attention, and courthouse grounds have been crowded with news trucks as jury selection continues.

“Blacks believe there is racial injustice at the hands of the criminal justice system based on centuries of history,” Jordan said. “This is a reason why some blacks are suspicious of situations that involve crime and justice. In this case, blacks immediately viewed the shooting as further evidence of ongoing racial injustice.”

Unlike some previous studies examining crime and race, Hispanics didn’t overwhelmingly perceive that race played a role in the shooting. Their perceptions were more in line with whites.

As for why Hispanics differed when past studies have indicated they tend to align more with perceptions of blacks, Jordan wasn’t sure.

“It certainly is an area ripe for more research,” Jordan said. “The current immigration crisis may add to the perception of criminal injustice. Over time, that may lead to a decreased sense of procedural justice. If this happens, it is likely that Hispanic perceptions on killings such as Martin’s will become closer to the views of blacks. Only time will tell.”

According to the data, the more educated respondents, regardless of their ethnicity, perceived that race played a role in the shooting and subsequent arrest. Wealthier respondents were less likely to believe that race was involved at all.

Ryan Garrett, a 2011 social science education graduate, and Derek Jensen, a 2010 science education alum, were awarded the middle and high school honors, respectively. Rookie teachers were recommended by their principals and colleagues for their dedication, hard work and goals set for student success.

Garrett is a civics teacher at Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo, where he interned prior to completing his studies at UCF. Garrett said outstanding teachers embrace changes in education and evolve their skills to do what’s best for their students.

Jensen is a biology teacher at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in Sanford. Jensen leads his classroom digitally: His class is paperless, and students complete and submit assignments on their laptops, tablets and smart phones.

With 35 points, the Knights earned the best finish by a non-BCS team since 2000 (BYU, 4th place). They more than doubled their previous program-best point total (16 points, 2011) at an NCAA Outdoor Championship meet to take fifth place behind perennial powers national champion Kansas, Texas A&M, Oregon and LSU.

“This is the best finish in UCF history so I’m very excited about it,” UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “It was a big year. It was an exciting year. It was a year full of surprises. More than the finishes, the records and the championships – all of the things and injuries we overcame is (an even bigger deal) to me. Everyone stepped up and pulled through. Everyone on the team started believing that we could make things happen.”

UCF entered the final day of competition with three scoring opportunities up for grabs in the 4×100 relay and 200 meters.

Alexis Faulknor, Aurieyall Scott, Afia Charles and Octavious Freeman finished runner-up to SEC Champion Texas A&M in the relay with their time of 43.36. Freeman blitzed down the final stretch, blowing by the field while hunting down the Aggies to give the Knights their best relay finish at the meet in school history, first team All-America status and eight points toward the team standings.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Freeman and Scott were at the blocks again ready to challenge LSU’s Kimberlyn Duncan – the two-time defending champion – in the 200-meter finals. Although Duncan successfully repeated, Scott earned her best finish in an individual outdoor championship final with her third-place, all-conditions personal-best of 22.48 (+3.5).

The NCAA indoor 60-meter national champion collected three first team All-American honors at this year’s meet, bringing her career total to an unparalleled 14 distinctions.

Freeman finished seventh in the race in 22.92, also picking up her third first team All-American honor of the meet. She now boasts nine career awards.

Throughout the four-day meet, the Knights brought in four medalist performances from Jen Clayton (long jump), Scott (200M), Freeman (100M) and the 4×100 relay in front of a combined attendance of 40,446.

Several Knights will set their sights on the Junior and Senior USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, held June 20-23.