{"id":11768,"date":"2010-04-07T16:27:55","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T20:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=11768"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:53:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:53:51","slug":"founders-day-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/founders-day-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Founders&#8217; Day Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An engineer dedicated to helping students succeed in science and math, an educator who has trained and mentored future teachers for 25 years and an optics scientist whose invention allows millions to see cell phone and computer screens in sunlight have won UCF\u2019s most prestigious faculty award.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Georgiopoulos, Jennifer Platt, and S.T. Wu received their Pegasus Professor awards today during the annual Founders\u2019 Day ceremony. The award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the UCF community through teaching, research and service.<\/p>\n<p>The ceremony also featured awards for faculty members who excel in undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, professional service, academic advising and more. Five professors and Provost and Executive Vice President Terry Hickey were awarded emeritus status, honoring the major professional contributions and distinction that they achieved in their careers at the university.<\/p>\n<p>Deans presented Founders\u2019 Awards to students who have excelled in the classroom and dedicated their time and talents to helping our communities. Winners included a mom who is raising five kids while balancing a successful academic career and volunteer work and an aspiring aerospace engineer who has interned at Kennedy Space Center and now is leading a group of 75 students vying to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/space\/\">launch a rocket into space<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Click on the following links for more detailed coverage of Founders\u2019 Day:<\/p>\n<p>Three Join UCF\u2019s Pegasus Professor Elite<\/p>\n<p>UCF Honors Outstanding Faculty at Founders\u2019 Day<\/p>\n<p>Emeritus Awards: Lifetimes of Distinction<\/p>\n<p>Students Honored for Academics, Leadership and Service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An engineer dedicated to helping students succeed in science and math, an educator who has trained and mentored future teachers for 25 years and an optics scientist whose invention allows millions to see cell phone and computer screens in sunlight have won UCF\u2019s most prestigious faculty award. Michael Georgiopoulos, Jennifer Platt, and S.T. Wu received their Pegasus Professor awards today&hellip;","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8,1566,5390,3670],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-11768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-education","tag-engineering","tag-optics-and-photonics","tag-pegasus-professors"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Founders&#039; Day Stars | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An engineer dedicated to helping students succeed in science and math, an educator who has trained and mentored future teachers for 25 years and an optics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/founders-day-stars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Founders&#039; 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