CAS Chronicles
2024 Stories
Two University of South Florida faculty members named NAI fellows
The USF researchers are being recognized for their groundbreaking discoveries and innovations in chemical engineering to treat cancer and other challenging diseases and nanomaterials engineering for multifunctional manufacturing applications.
December 11, 2024Accomplishments
![Neda Latifi, assistant professor of medical engineering, works with undergraduate student Russel Kramer [Photo by Torie Doll, University Communications and Marketing]](/arts-sciences/chronicles/images/2024/december/research-listing.jpg)
USF sets new record with $738 million in research funding
The milestone comes during USF’s first full fiscal year as a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and helps demonstrate its impact as one of the nation’s most research-intensive institutions. The new record brings the university closer to reaching its goal of securing $1 billion in annual research funding.
December 10, 2024Research
USF to confer nearly 4,000 degrees during fall commencement ceremonies Dec. 13-14
This graduating class includes a 16-year-old, a 70-year-old grandmother of four and an electrical engineer seeking to revolutionize the medical, space exploration and military industries.
December 9, 2024Accomplishments
New book on immigration and belonging will illuminate indigenous peoples and languages of North Africa
When Heide Castañeda, a professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida, travels to Morocco it isn’t to visit Africa’s largest mosque or one of the historical kasbahs. Castañeda, a migration scholar, is there to study and understand the experience of the indigenous Amazigh people — the focal point of her new book, forthcoming from New York University Press.
November 25, 2024Accomplishments, Research
![Workers build the original Gandy Bridge, which opened in 1924. [Photo courtesy of USF Special Collections]](/arts-sciences/chronicles/images/2024/november/gandy-bridge.jpg)
Gandy Bridge turns 100, how USF is preserving its history
When built 100 years ago, the Gandy Bridge helped create the Tampa Bay area that consists of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. That story is told through the archives stored in USF Special Collections.
November 25, 2024Community Engagement
English professor featured in 'Best American Poetry'
Natalie Scenters-Zapico, an award-winning poet and assistant professor in the Department of English, is gaining global recognition. Scenters-Zapico, who shapes the local literary community as director of the Michael Kuperman Memorial Poetry Library, has a poem in the prestigious “Best American Poetry” anthology, cementing her work as essential reading at USF and for audiences across the country.
November 22, 2024Accomplishments
Latin American Film Studies scholar wins prestigious early career award
The Latin American Studies Association awarded Olivia Cosentino, an assistant professor of film and new media studies in the Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies, the Early Career Award 2024 for her outstanding scholarship on Mexican cinema.
November 21, 2024Accomplishments, Research
‘Once you’re in it, you’re in it for life.’ Aspiring surgeon receives wraparound support from Women in Leadership & Philanthropy program
The Women in Leadership & Philanthropy program has invested thousands of dedicated mentoring hours and more than $4 million in grants, scholarships and programmatic funding to more than 700 scholars like Merlo, who received $1,000 to support her studies this year.
November 21, 2024Accomplishments, Alumni, Community Engagement
Anthropology professor honored for transformative work in University Area Community
Dr. Christian Wells from the Department of Anthropology has recently earned the University Area Community Development Corporation (UACDC) Advocate Award for the eight years of impactful community work he and his students have conducted.
November 21, 2024Accomplishments
Fellowship allows School of Public Affairs’ Ratna Dougherty to share Maui wildfire research at national public policy and management conference
The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management has awarded Ratna B. Dougherty, an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs, with a competitive national fellowship allowing her to highlight her work with socially vulnerable populations affected by wildfires in Maui.
November 21, 2024Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research
CAS sweeps Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor and Outstanding Thesis & Dissertation awards
The College of Arts and Sciences is home not only to this year’s Outstanding Faculty Mentor and an honorable mention, but to three out of the four Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Award recipients as well.
November 20, 2024Accomplishments, Research
Dr. Loni Hagen’s Fulbright Award will foster research and international, academic relationships
Loni Hagen, an associate professor in the School of Information, received the Fulbright Study/Research Award, a grant that allows her to develop new research projects and collaborative opportunities between the University of Tsukuba and the University of South Florida.
November 20, 2024Accomplishments