CAS Chronicles
Stories
USF ranks among top 20 public universities for new patents in 2025
Denis Karaiskaj, a professor in the Department of Physics, has created a silicon-based, solid-state, miniaturized atomic clock that is a smaller, cheaper and more energy efficient alternative to the chip-size atomic clock that is currently used in electronic navigation devices. Awarded a Foundation Bull Ring Ring Accelerator Grant in 2025, the device has applications for oil and gas exploration, space navigation, military GPS and high-end automotive and watch manufacturing.
February 25, 2026Research
Digitizing the past for the future: CAS collaboration helps protect the legacy of Black cemeteries
USF’s IDEx and the Black Cemetery Network are working with local leaders to map, digitize and protect Lake Maude Cemetery, ensuring long‑overlooked histories are accessible to descendants and researchers.
February 25, 2026Community Engagement, Featured, Research
2025 CAS graduate finds success on and off campus
A few months after he graduated from USF with degrees from the Department of Economics, the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies and the Judy Genshaft Honors College, Matheus Ivanesciuc stepped boldly into a career over 6,000 miles from his childhood home in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
February 23, 2026Alumni
Hurricanes thin Tampa's canopy, spurring interest in replanting
A new post-storm canopy assessment, led by College of Arts and Sciences researchers Shawn Landry and Rebecca Zarger, reveals that Tampa’s citywide tree canopy fell to 29.9% in 2025, down from 31.4% in 2024. The loss represents a 4.8% decline driven largely by storm damage, wiping out canopy gains achieved since 2021.
February 23, 2026Research
Leading psychological society honors USF faculty and alumnus with distinguished career awards
For the second consecutive year, USF received top honors from the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology, with two faculty members from the Department of Psychology and one alumnus earning distinguished and special-selection awards.
February 18, 2026Accomplishments
Catching Up With Honors Alum Christopher Johnson
From the Peace Corps to classrooms across Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, University of South Florida Judy Genshaft Honors College alum Christopher Johnson has built a career rooted in international education.
February 16, 2026Alumni
St. Petersburg global affairs conference explores the final frontier of space
Distinguished speakers from across the U.S. and beyond will convene at the largest global affairs conference in Florida to dig into the new space race. This year's St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs explores how countries and companies are collaborating and competing for resources outside Earth’s orbit.
February 9, 2026Community Engagement, Events
USF Blue Humanities program sets sail with spring symposium
On Feb. 12, USF’s Blue Humanities program will launch its spring 2026 symposium, “Keywords in Blue Humanities,” with an event on the St. Petersburg campus.
February 9, 2026Community Engagement, Events
USF earns national distinction as a leading producer of Fulbright Scholars
USF is the only public university in Florida to be recognized as a Top Producer of Fulbright Scholars this year. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s premier international academic exchange program, providing faculty the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad.
February 3, 2026Accomplishments
USF MFA candidate wins writing award and weeklong stay with distinguished poets
Kallie Blakelock, an MFA candidate in the Department of English, received the Garry Fleming Key West Writers’ Workshop Award, an honor that awarded her a weeklong trip to Key West for a writer’s workshop.
January 29, 2026Accomplishments
In the ground and on the line: Inside USF’s forensic anthropology “Buried Bodies” workshops
Two hours north of USF’s Tampa campus, USF‑FORT hosts the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology & Applied Science’s "Buried Bodies” workshops, where investigators learn to excavate real human remains in the Florida woods. It’s real‑world training that draws professionals from across the country, but now, with the land‑use agreement ending, the program that makes it possible faces an uncertain future.
January 29, 2026Community Engagement, Research
USF’s fifth president continues to create positive change for university and college
Betty Castor, who served as USF’s first female president from 1994-99, has become deeply engrained in the university’s past identity and future momentum.
January 29, 2026Community Engagement