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RELATE
Research, Education, Lectures Accessing the Technical Edge
The official newsletter of the Charlotte Research Institute
March 11, 2015
Events:
Dissertation Defense Announcements
iCONE Seminar
The VisCenter
Department of Research & Economic Development
Academic Affairs
North Carolina Research Campus
Science & Technology EXPO
Charlotte Venture Challenge Finals
Office of International Programs
Department of Biological Sciences
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
College of Computing and Informatics
The William States Lee College of Engineering
Department of Geography & Earth Sciences
College of Health and Human Services
Dissertation Defense Announcements
“Spectral Theorems for Schrodinger Operator on General Graphs”
Candidate:
Lukun Zheng
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Stanislav Molchanov
Committee:
Dr. Stanislav Molchanov, Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNC Charlotte,
Dr.Boris Vainberg, Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Yuri Godin, Department of
Mathematics and Statistics at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Susan Sell, Graduate School
Defense Date:
March 18, 2015 - 3:30pm
Location:
Denny 102
Degree Program Name: Applied Mathematics
“Determining the Efficiency of State-level RPS Policies in the U.S.: Examining the Impact of
Federalized Energy and Environmental Policy on Electricity Quality”
Candidate:
Joseph Alleyn Cochran
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Peter M. Schwarz
Committee:
Dr. Roslyn Mickelson, Department of Sociology at UNC Charlotte Dr. Amanda (Manda)
Adams, National Science Foundation Dr. Gloria Elliott, Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science at
UNC Charlotte
Defense Date:
March 20, 2015 - 1:00pm
Location:
Friday 228
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Degree Program Name: Public Policy
“Preserving Differential Privacy in Complex Data Analysis”
Candidate:
Yue Wang
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Xintao Wu
Committee:
Dr. Xintao Wu, Department of Software and Information Systems at UNC Charlotte, Dr.
Yong Ge, Department of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Zbigniew W. Ras, Department of Computer
Science at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Shan Yan, Department of Biological Science at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Yuliang
Zheng, Department of Software and Information Systems at UNC Charlotte
Defense Date:
March 23, 2015 - 2:00pm
Location:
College of Education Building 010
Degree Program Name: Ph.D. In Computing and Information Systems
“Institutional Dynamics in Corporate Political Linkages: Evidence from China's Emerging
Economy”
Candidate:
Jianhua Ge
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Wei Zhao
Committee:
Dr. Franz Kellermanns, Department of Management at UNC Charlotte; Dr. Yang Cao,
Department of Sociology at UNC Charlotte; Dr. Tammy Beck, Department of Management at University of
Nebraska–Lincoln; Dr. Yu Wang, Department of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte
Defense Date:
March 24, 2015 - 10:00am
Location:
Fretwell 480C
Degree Program Name: Organizational Science
“Displacement Scale Based on Speckles”
Candidate:
Mahsa Farsad
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Christopher Evans
Committee:
Dr. Christopher Evans, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science,
Dr. Gert Goch, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, Dr. Faramarz Farahi,
Department of Physics and Optical Science, Dr. Angela Davies, Department of Physics and Optical Science, Dr.
Mohammad Kazemi, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Defense Date:
March 24, 2015 - 10:00am
Location:
Grigg 131
Degree Program Name: Ph.D. in Optical Science and Engineering
“Selective Heating of Vascular Structures to Create Contrast in Medical Mid-IR Images”
Candidate:
Jason Case
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Susan Trammell
Committee:
Dr. Susan Trammell, Department of Physics and Optical Science, Dr. Glenn Boreman,
Department of Physics and Optical Science, Dr. Nathaniel Fried, Department of Physics and Optical Science,
Dr. M. Yasin Raja, Department of Physics and Optical Science, Dr. Russell Keanini, Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Engineering Science, Dr. Didier Dréau, Department of Biological Sciences
Defense Date:
March 24, 2015 - 3:30pm
Location:
Grigg 132
Degree Program Name: Ph.D. in Optical Science and Engineering
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“The Way the Cookie Crumbles: Assessing the Resilience of Starter-Home Neighborhoods
through the Great Recession.”
Candidate:
Melissa Anne Currie
Sponsoring Chair:
Dr. Janni Sorensen , Geography and Earth Sciences Department
Committee:
Dr. Heather Smith, Dept. of Geography and Earth Sciences; Dr. Owen Furuseth, Associate
Provost for Metropolitan Studies and Extended Academic Programs; and Dr. Jose Gamez, Architecture and
Urban Design
Defense Date:
March 31, 2015 - 10:00am
Location:
McEniry 441
Degree Program Name: Geography PhD
iCONE Seminar
Candidate Series
“Engineering Nanomaterials for Advanced Lithography, Optoelectronics, and Beyond”
Speaker:
Dr. Mahua Biswas, Postdoctoral Scholar, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory,
IL, USA
Date:
Thursday, March 12, 2015 Seminar: 9:30 – 10:30am | Open Discussion: 10:30 – 11:30am
Location:
Grigg, 132
Dr. Biswas is currently working as a post-doctoral appointee in the Energy Systems Division at Argonne National
Laboratory with Dr. Jeffrey W. Elam. She is working on ‘nanoscale patterning of block copolymer assisted metal
oxides using modified atomic layer deposition’. Dr. Biswas also worked as a post-doctoral research associate at
New Jersey Institute of Technology on organic solar cells and as an adjunct assistant professor at City University
of New York just after completing her Ph.D. She completed her Ph.D from Dublin City University, Ireland and her
thesis work was on ‘Growth and Characterization of ZnO Nanostructures: Excitonic Properties and Morphology’.
Her undergraduate degree is in Electronics and Communication Engineering from West Bengal University of
Technology, India.
The VisCenter
Distinguished Lecture
In cooperation with the School of Architecture, UNC Charlotte
“The State of 3D Modeling of Cultural Heritage: Massive 3D Mapping and Simpiricism”
Speaker:
Bernard Frischer, Indiana University
Date:
Thursday, March 12, 12:30 pm
Location:
Woodward, 130
In this talk, I will present my view of the current state of the application of 3D technologies to the study of
cultural heritage. It seems to me that there are two interesting areas: massive 3D mapping of artifacts,
monuments, and entire landscapes; and what I can "simpiricism," or the use of computer simulations to support
empirical research of historic monuments and environments not otherwise possible without true time travel. As
an example of the first, I will present my lab's work in progress in creating a 3D map of Atzompa, a Zapotec elite
hilltop settlement just north of the World Heritage Site of Monte Albán near modern Oaxaca, Mexico. This
project was initiated in January, 2015 in partnership with INAH. To exemplify the second topic, I will present my
research group's reconstruction model of the northern Campus Martius in the reign of the Emperor Augustus.
The model has been used to test the validity of a theory first proposed in 1976 by German historian Edmund
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Buchner according to which the Ara Pacis (13-9 BC) and first obelisk brought to Rome were positioned in such a
way that the shadow of the obelisk reached the center of the Ara Pacis on the emperor's birthday.
Bernard Frischer is a leading virtual archaeologist and the author of seven printed books, three e-books, and
dozens of articles on virtual heritage, Classics, and the survival of the Classical world. He is the founding editor
of Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, an innovative online, peer-reviewed journal where
scientists can publish interactive 3D models. Dr. Frischer is a Fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows and a
Fellow and trustee of the American Academy in Rome. He has overseen many significant modeling projects,
including "Rome Reborn," the virtual recreation of the entire city of ancient Rome within the Aurelian Walls.
Department of Accounting
The Accounting Research Series
Date: Friday, March 13, 2015, 10:30 – noon
Location: Friday Building, Room 207
Please feel free to join us as Dr. Kim presents her working paper, “Hedge Funds and Voluntary
Disclosure.” The paper is a co-authored work with Bok Baik, Seoul National University, Jin-Mo Kim,
Rutgers University, and Sukesh Patro, Northern Illinois University.
Dr. Kim’s research interests include compensation contracts, firms’ voluntary disclosure, and financial
analyst coverage. She has published in top-tier research journals such as the Journal of Accounting
and Economics, The Accounting Review, Journal of Management Accounting Research, and Journal
of Business Finance and Accounting.
If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Kim during her visit or have further questions about the
Accounting Research Series, please contact Dr. Keejae Hong or Dr. Kristin Roland.
Department of Biological Sciences
"Tissue Engineering Strategies for Neoinnervation of the Gut*"
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Stephen L. Rego, Postdoctoral Researcher, Wake Forest Medical Center
March 13, 2015 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
COED, 010
"Do we need to understand microbial community assembly to predict ecosystem function?"
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Diana Nemergut, Associate Professor, Duke University Department of Biology
March 20, 2015 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
COED, 010
"Harnessing Natural Variation for Gene Discovery in Plant Specialized Metabolism"
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Sirius Xu Li, Assistant Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, NCSU
March 27, 2015 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
COED, 010
For more Biological Sciences events, visit their website.
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Department of Geography & Earth Sciences
Speaker Series
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Steve Billings, UNC Charlotte
March 13, 2015 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
McEniry, 116
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Cuizhen (Susan) Wang - University of South Carolina
March 27, 2015 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
McEniry, 116
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Gregory Hancock, College of William and Mary
April 17, 2015 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
McEniry, 116
College of Computing and Informatics
2015 College of Computing and Informatics Distinguished Lecture Series
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Speaker:
Director of
Jennifer Gardy, Senior Scientist, Genomics & Molecular Epidemiology, British Columbia Centre for
Disease Control
March 13, 2015 - 3:00pm
Woodward 106
Rick Stevens, Department of Computer Science The University of Chicago; and Associate
Date:
Location:
Computing, Environment and Life Sciences Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory
April 10, 2015 - 3:00pm
Woodward 106
Speaker:
Date:
Location:
Oussama Khatib, Professor, Computer Science Department, Stanford University
April 17, 2015 - 3:00pm
Woodward 106
Speaker:
Michael Dulin, Senior Scientist, Genomics & Molecular Epidemiology British Columbia Centre for
Disease Control
April 24, 2015 - 3:00 PM
Woodward, 106
Date:
Location:
For more Computing and Informatics events, click here.
Department of Research & Economic Development
STEM Education Workshop: Presentations and Discussion
Training Date: March 16, 2015 - 2:00 PM to 4:45 PM
Location:
Student Union, room 265
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Presentations will provide an overview of current funding initiatives for STEM Education and discuss strategies for
designing successful proposals.
For questions, please contact Lesley Brown, Director of Proposal Development.
Visit website to register.
STEM Education Networking Reception
Training Date: March 16, 2015 - 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Location:
Student Union, room 266
Reception to meet colleagues who are interested in STEM Education projects. Attendance of workshop session
is not required to attend this networking reception.
For questions, please contact Lesley Brown, Director of Proposal Development.
Visit website to register.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Colloquium Lectures
"On a problem by Steklov."
Speaker:
Serguei Denissov, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Date:
March 18, 2015 at 5:00 PM
Location:
Fretwell, 379
College of Health and Human Services
Asian American Lecture Series: Voices for Change
Guest lecture and Panel Discussion with Dr. Jane Hamilton-Meritt, Author of Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the
Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992.
Click here to RSVP (Recommended but Not Required)
Date:
Location:
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
McKnight Hall, Cone Center, UNC Charlotte
Free Event funded by the Chancellor's Diversity Challenge Fund at UNC Charlotte.
Academic Affairs
Dismantling Racism Workshop
UNC Charlotte invites you to participate in a powerful two-day anti-racist workshop.
Dismantling Racism is a two-day workshop provided by Race Matters for Juvenile Justice & the Racial Equity
Institute. Dismantling Racism builds the capacity of educators, health practitioners, judicial officers, elected
officials, law enforcement officers, child welfare advocates, and other community leaders who are interested
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in understanding and eliminating racial inequities, disparities, and disproportionality across multiple systems
including education, health, and justice.
Dates: March 24-25, April 14-15, June 10-11, or July 15-16 9am – 5pm
Light breakfast and lunch provided (2 day attendance mandatory)
Location: Hope Haven Conference Center, 3815 N. Tryon St.
Learn more, click here
If you are having problems accessing the Google Docs registration page from the link on the
flyer, please follow these instructions.
NOTE: This should only apply to individuals who are attempting to register from a non-UNC
Charlotte computer.
Sign in to Google Apps using your UNC Charlotte username and password.
You can then proceed to the url.
Registration will close on Sunday, March 15th.
Workshop registration fees paid for by the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Grant.
North Carolina Research Campus
Science Café
Sponsored by CASN, Charlotte Area Science Network “Collaboration for Science”
“The Science of Sports”
Charlotte Area Science Network’s Science Café includes networking and the presentation. For more
information, contact Clare Faggart.
Speaker:
Patrick J. Moyer, Ph.D., Director of Athletics, Cannon School
Date:
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 5:00 - 6:00pm
Location:
UNC Charlotte Center City, 320 E. 9th Street
Office of International Programs
International Film Series:
The campus community is invited to one or all of five films looking at health, the environment, and culture as
part of a film series sponsored by International Studies and a grant from the Chancellor’s Diversity Fund.
The Milagro Beanfield War
Date:
March 24, 2015 - 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:
Student Union Theater
Contact:
Office of International Programs at international@uncc.edu
About the film: In Milagro, a small town in the American Southwest, Ladd Devine plans to build a major new
resort development. While activist Ruby Archuleta and lawyer/newspaper editor Charlie Bloom realize that this
will result in the eventual displacement of the local Hispanic farmers, they cannot arouse much opposition
because of the short term opportunities offered by construction jobs. But when Joe Mondragon illegally diverts
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water to irrigate his bean field, the local people support him because of their resentment of water use laws that
favor the rich like Devine.
When the Governor sends in ruthless troubleshooter Kyril Montana to settle things quickly before the lucrative
development is cancelled, a small war threatens to erupt.
Yesterday
Date:
Location:
Contact:
April 21, 2015 - 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Student Union Theater
Office of International Programs at international@uncc.edu
About the film:
After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and
young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school.
Charlotte Venture Challenge Finals
The 2015 Southeast Venture Conference will take place at Le Méridien Charlotte, NC, 555 South McDowell
Street, North Tower • Charlotte, NC 28204 | 704-372-9610
The dates are March 31st thru April 1st.
You can see the agenda and other items of possible interest by clicking here.
Science & Technology EXPO
Main Event: Sunday, April 26th, 12-4 pm in the UNC Charlotte Union Plaza
Join faculty, staff, and students as they present exhibits, discussions, and films in the weeks leading up to the
main event.
April 10 - 26th in various locations.
Visit the website to learn more.
The William States Lee College of Engineering
Senior Design Spring Expo
Date:
April 30, 2015 - 11:00am - 2:30pm
Location:
Barnhardt Student Activity Center (SAC)
Open to the Public
Infrastructure, Design, Environment, and Sustainability (IDEAS) Center
BioEnergy Symposium
The UNC Charlotte IDEAS Center is pleased to announce the fourth annual BioEnergy Symposium on May 14th,
2015. This year's symposium has a focus on Beneficial Byproducts of Bioenergy.
If you have questions or need assistance please contact:
Karyn Williamson-Coria at 704-687-1932 or by email at kwill235@uncc.edu
For more information about the BioEnergy Symposium click here.