Rani Vajravelu
Ph.D, University of Madras, 1985
Phone: 407-823-0990 (Bio)
Office: BIO 201D
Email: vajraver@mail.ucf.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Rani Vajravelu's most extensive training is in Plant Taxonomy. Her taxonomic treatments of angiosperm families were published in a 3-volume Flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic , 1984. She has contributed to the preparation of the Guide to the Flora of Florida, 1998. Her interests are also in doing scientific illustrations, some of which were published in Florida Plants for Wildlife , 1995 and Florida Wildflowers in their natural communities, 1998.

Dr. Vajravelu has traveled extensively in Europe and SE Asia in relation to her study on Euphorbia, funded by the National Geographic Society and The Explorer's Club.

Teaching Interests

Dr. Vajravelu has taught a wide variety of courses at UCF since 1994, including Honors Biology and Local Flora, and she is currently teaching Biological Principles, Plant Kingdom, Plant Taxonomy and Ethnobotany. All of these courses were extensively revised by Dr. Vajravelu with a modern touch on technology. She has authored several course-related publications, including laboratory manuals and course books. Her current projects include a new course development, Culinary Botany across the Cultures and a text book on Ethnobotany.

Recent Awards

  • Innovative Excellence Award on Teaching, Learning and Technology, received at the 18th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, 2007.
  • TEA (Teaching Excellence Award for undergraduate teaching) from UCF, 2006.
  • TIP (Teaching Incentive Program) award from UCF, 2004.

Selected Publications

  1. Vajravelu, R. 1996. Malesian Euphorbia: report on Preliminary Exploration. Malesian Euphorbiaceae.
  2. Rani N. 1985. "Occurrence of Achyranthes aspera L. var. pubescens(Mod.) C.Towns. in Tamilnadu Carnatic" JBNHS 82(2), pp. 446 Ð 448.
  3. Rani N. 1985. "Ficus albipila (Miq.)King (Moraceae): A new record for India" JBNHS 82(1), pp. 235 Ð 237.
  4. Rani N. 1984. 66 Angiosperm family treatments published individually in the Flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic.
  5. Rani N. 1983. "Some rare plants of the Tamilnadu Carnatic" (with K.M. Matthew & S.J. Britto), in Jain, S.K. & R.R. Rao. An assessment of threatened plants of India. pp. 157 Ð 162.

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