They call it the lightning capital of the U.S. The corridor from Tampa to Titusville in Florida, known as “Lightning Alley,” experiences almost 60 lightning strikes each year for every square mile.
Spectrum Winter 2023

On the Cover
A crisp winter day dawns over the Westcott Building plaza, and sun rays frame the moment of calm before students, faculty, and staff converge from all directions and the flurry of another day begins. Photo by Bruce Palmer, FSU Photography Services, 2019.
Drug and alcohol misuse and addiction are not unique to any one person — many people know someone who has overdosed or they may have a person who has battled dependency in their friend group or family.
For Department of English alumna Jessica Washington, working in the payments industry is more than securely processing the transfer of money.
Laura Guidry-Grimes’ job might not be the easiest to understand, but the difference her work makes for patients and families going through some of the toughest times of their lives is crystal clear.
Which aspects of life go unnoticed, escaping our view because they are too small, too quiet, or cloaked in a color we cannot see, thus disconnected from human senses? During a night-hike in the Costa Rican rain forest, on a high school Spanish trip, I was lured by secret signals hidden in the dark,” said Courtney Whitcher.
After weeks on the water, Andrea Emmanuelli developed the sea legs necessary to remain surefooted while conducting experiments aboard the R/V Rachel Carson in the Gulf of Alaska, but one thing remained a daily surprise.
Rawan Abhari darts between topics with the confidence of a seasoned public speaker. She interrupts herself to take a breath before jumping back into the conversation — international law, economics, climate science. Weaving together a broad tapestry of themes, she navigates complex issues with ease.
As Florida State University alumnus Gregg Anderson dug into the rich soil of the Italian region of Tuscany in 1979, he had a vision that one day, artifacts he and his fellow student archaeologists uncovered would be illuminated under museum lights.
Florida State University Distinguished Research Professor Igor Alabugin is always on the go. While it’s easy to spot him in the halls of the Chemical Sciences Laboratory building, keeping pace with his purposeful stride — and his travel calendar — requires stamina.
Millions of children each year are diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, due to difficulties with executive functions, neurological activities supported by the prefrontal and frontal area of the brain.
Have you seen our newest addition to the lab?” assistant professor of physics Vandana Tripathi asks. Tripathi knows the equipment inside Florida State University’s John D. Fox Superconducting Linear Accelerator Laboratory as intimately as the lines of her hand.