30 minute read
News Briefs
www.UNCC.edu
Niners elected to posts statewide and nationally
Election night 2020 proved big for Niner Nation. Former Student Body President Richard Hudson was reelected to the U.S. Congress. A record 14 alumni were elected to the N.C. General Assembly, and two gained seats on the N.C. Court of Appeals.
“Alumni who choose public service represent UNC Charlotte’s remarkable academic and extracurricular depth, and the opportunities available to develop the skills, confidence and worldview to pursue a path that will make a difference for people and communities,” said Michael L. Wilson ’93, chair, Board of Trustees. “We thank these leaders for their commitment to public service and their support of Niner Nation.”
U.S. CONGRESS
Richard Hudson
U.S. House District 8 (R) B.A. History, 1996
N.C. SENATE
DeAndrea Salvador (D) Mecklenburg County B.S. Economics, 2013
Joyce Waddell (D) Mecklenburg County M.A. Education, 1973
Vickie Sawyer (R) Iredell County B.A. Special Education, 1997
Mujtaba Mohammed (D) Mecklenburg County B.A. History, 2008
Ted Alexander (R) Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties B.A. Political Science, 1982 Dave Craven (R) Randolph and Guilford counties B.A. Political Science, B.S. Business Administration and Accounting, 2012
N.C. HOUSE
Terry Brown (D) Mecklenburg County B.A. in Political Science, 2009
Brian Farkas (D) Pitt County B.A. in Political Science, 2009
Dean Arp (R) Union County M.S. Civil Engineering, 1999
Mary Belk (D) Mecklenburg County B.A. Political Science, 2006
Jason Saine (R) Lincoln County B.A. Political Science, 1995 Cecil Brockman (D) Guilford County B.A. Political Science, 2006
Kelly Hastings (R) Cleveland and Gaston counties Teaching Certificate, 2009
Jake Johnson (R) Henderson and Polk counties B.A. Political Science, 2016
NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS
Fred Gore (R) Seat 5 B.S. Business Administration, Marketing, 1998
Jeff Carpenter (R) Seat 7 B.A. Political Science, 1994
UNC Charlotte sets enrollment record with more than 30,000 students
UNC Charlotte is larger and more diverse than ever.
Approximately 4,000 new first-year students, 2,600 transfer students and 2,400 new graduate students began this fall, pushing total enrollment over 30,000 for the first time in UNC Charlotte’s nearly 75-year history.
“We are now the second-largest institution in the UNC System with 30,146 enrolled students,” said Chancellor Sharon L. Gaber. “This record-breaking enrollment is a testament to UNC Charlotte’s longstanding focus on affordability, accessibility and opportunity for deserving students.
Chosen for its high academic achievement, the freshman class brings an average weighted GPA of 3.9. In fact, a greater percentage of all new undergraduates earned institutional merit-based and external scholarships compared to last year’s incoming students.”
The newest undergraduate Niners, selected from more than 26,000 freshman and transfer applications, represent 91 of 100 North Carolina counties, 49 states and 25 countries. More than 2,100 are firstgeneration college students.
“Niner Nation continues to grow not only in numbers but also in terms of opportunity, diversity and outcomes,” said Joan Lorden, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “Our outstanding faculty, academic programs, research capabilities and incredible campus experience make UNC Charlotte the first choice for many students from across the state, region and country.” • More than 6,200 of 6,600 new undergraduates are from North Carolina. • The freshman class is the largest in
University history, 10% larger than 2019. • Enrollment among Black/African American
freshmen grew by 30% and for Hispanic freshmen 43% over last year. • Students who identify with more than one race or ethnicity jumped by 19% since last year. • Nearly 33% of the incoming class are first-generation college students. A greater percentage of new undergraduates received institutional merit-based scholarships for fall 2020, and more students also earned external scholarships when compared to last year. Honors
College enrollment increased by 6%. • Incoming freshmen in STEM majors represent 34% of the class. • Total graduate student enrollment is nearly 6,000, the highest number in UNC
Charlotte history. • Significant graduate school growth is attributed to in-state students with 712 more enrolling than fall 2019. • Noteworthy graduate enrollment increases include the MBA program and the
Graduate Certificate in Teaching.
Throngs of students crisscross the University daily as they head to classes, labs or other campus destinations; the coronavirus pandemic necessitated the implementation of new safety measures, such as face coverings and health screenings, to keep Niner Nation safe.
The University attributes the enrollment boost in part to quick implementation of both live and pre-recorded virtual admissions events and individual attention to students’ needs. The admissions staff reached out via text, phone and email to admitted students to make sure they had all the information they needed to register for summer orientation, enroll in fall courses and join the UNC Charlotte community.
“The significance of the role our students, faculty and staff in recalibrating our enrollment efforts as a result of the coronavirus cannot be overstated,” said Claire Kirby, associate provost for Enrollment Management. “Individuals from all areas of campus life helped us to meet prospective new students where they are in this new virtual environment, leading eventually to this celebratory milestone.”
University’s largest grant to expand national center for youth with disabilities
A pair of UNC Charlotte education professors are using the University’s largestever grant to expand their national effort to improve employment, education and community integration for students and youth with disabilities.
The $20 million-plus, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education ups its investment in the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition for Students and Youth with Disabilities (NTACT) at UNC Charlotte. NTACT was created in 2015 through an initial $13 million Catherine grant directed by emeritus special Fowler education professor David Test.
NTACT assists state and local education agencies, vocational rehabilitation agencies and service providers to implement practices to help students with disabilities graduate high school Valerie in preparation for postsecondary Mazzotti education and/or employment.
Catherine Fowler and Val Mazzotti from the Department of Special Education and Child Development along with grant staff, including Bettie Ray Butler of the Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education, are joined by a team of researchers from six universities across the country on the project.
Data from the first five years of NTACT programming indicated states that worked closely with the center improved graduation rates for students with disabilities, increased students obtaining jobs while in high school, increased students participating in work-based learning experiences and other pre-employment transition services while in high school, increased students with disabilities enrolling in and completing a three-course sequence of Career and Technical Education courses.
Tonya Bates Heather Coffey
Coffey, Bates receive 2020 Teaching Excellence Awards
Heather Coffey and Tonya Bates are the 2020 recipients of the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence and the UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence, respectively. They were honored during a virtual ceremony in September, along with the other finalists, Paula Connolly, professor, English; Eric Heberlig, professor, Political Science and Public Administration; Susana Cisneros, senior lecturer, Languages and Culture Studies; and Kathleen Nicolaides, teaching professor, Criminal Justice and Criminology.
Provost Joan Lorden said of the finalists, “Their classrooms are places of inclusion where free expression of ideas is encouraged and welcomed, and where students of different backgrounds find acceptance. They are creative. No matter what discipline they teach, they find new and inspiring methods to spark their students’ desire to learn and to grow.”
Coffey is an associate professor in the Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education and is a teacher of future teachers. She encourages a social justice mindset in her students and gets to know her students so they are comfortable sharing concerns about teaching in environments that do not mirror their own experiences.
She helped develop the interdisciplinary Civic Minor in Urban Youth and Communities as well as the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan, Prospect for Success. A former middle school and high school educator, Coffey designed and directs the new model for the Teaching Fellows program and is the director of the UNC Charlotte Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project.
Bates, ’97 ’01 M.S. is a senior lecturer and leader within the Department of Biological Sciences who incorporates active learning, inquiry-based learning and technology in the classroom. Her courses, including high-enrollment, general education classes for non-majors, are strongly student-centered and focus on realworld applications and scientific literacy in an effort to better connect students with the material.
By adopting a flipped classroom and other active learning approaches and by using learning assistants in large classes, Bates provides opportunities for students to work collaboratively and to receive individual assistance.
Bates, who received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from UNC Charlotte, facilitates workshops for middle and high school science teachers, serves as a judge for K-12 science fairs, volunteers with the regional Science Olympiad competition and serves on UNC Charlotte’s Science and Technology Expo planning committee. She also has extended her impact through training and mentoring University faculty.
Chancellor Emeritus Philip L. Dubois
Philip L. Dubois, chancellor emeritus of UNC Charlotte, is the 2020 recipient of the ACE Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award. He received the award in recognition of his commitment to advancing the American Council of Education efforts to strengthen America’s postsecondary educational system.
As chancellor of UNC Charlotte and president of the University of Wyoming, Dubois actively participated in the American Council of Education Fellows Program. During the past three decades, he mentored
Wade Bruton
seven ACE Fellows and nominated two faculty members for program participation: Cheryl Brown, Alfred Bryan, Wilma Henry (co-mentored with former chancellor Jim Woodward), Ryan Johnson, Jeffrey Leak, Barbara Lyman, Karen Morgan, Joseph Morreale and Alan Shoho.
“Philip Dubois has been a friend to the ACE Fellows Program for so long and contributed in so many ways to the success of the program and the growth and professional development of the Fellows he has engaged with,” said Sherri Hughes, assistant vice president for professional learning at ACE. “I am delighted to honor his commitment and generosity with this year’s Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award.”
“Of all the things I’ve done as chancellor, helping prepare our future leaders in higher education is surely the most meaningful,” said Dubois.
Distinguished alumnus joins Obama Foundation Board of Directors
UNC Charlotte alum and longtime supporter Demond T. Martin, an investor and philanthropist, has joined the Obama Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Martin ’97 is a partner at Adage Capital Management in Boston, where he has invested in the consumer sector for nearly 20 years. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an accounting degree from UNC Charlotte. “I firmly believe in the transformative power of education and the work the Obama Foundation is doing to provide leadership training and resources to influence positive change in communities,” said Martin. “President Obama’s belief that we cannot wait for change but rather that we are the change, emboldens me for the path ahead and the investments I will make in this important work.”
Martin served in the Clinton White House as assistant to Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, and as a member of the UNC Charlotte Foundation Board. He and his wife Kia have focused their philanthropic efforts on addressing the gaps created by racial and social injustice, with emphasis in education and health care.
Through their family foundation, Demond and Kia Martin have engaged in many initiatives, including the Martin Scholars at UNC Charlotte, the King Boston memorial, the Tonia Taylor Fund for Health Equity at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the BSI program at Berklee College of Music. Demond Martin is a trustee of the Berklee College of Music and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In 2016, Martin joined with Karen Popp ’80 to make a generous gift to the University and the student union was officially named the Karen A. Popp and Demond T. Martin Student Union.
Demond Martin
Dance Professor Karen Hubbard featured in jazz dance history film
A documentary about the history of jazz dance features Associate Professor of Dance Karen Hubbard among its contributors. “Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance” has garnered awards and positive reviews since its premiere in July, including Best Musical Documentary in the Rhode Island International Film Festival and Best of Festival (Feature) in the Dance on Camera festival.
Hubbard, who has danced on Broadway, television and film (including the movie version of “The Wiz”), is a noted jazz dance scholar. Most recently, her article, “The Authentic Jazz Dance Legacy of Pepsi Alumnus Adé Hogue ’12 was commissioned by The Undefeated, a sports and pop culture website owned and operated by ESPN, to illustrate the words of Black athletes and leaders “using their platform to speak up for what’s right.” Adé Hogue Hogue has frequently provided design work for civic and activist causes and was excited to provide posters “to support those out there fighting for the health and safety of people of color.”
The resulting posters are free downloads from The Undefeated website.
A designer and lover of hand-created type and lettering, Hogue embarked on a career with Chicago creative firms after graduation; he rose to the position of art director while working with national and global brands such as PayPal, eBay Inc., ALDI, Ocean Spray, the Got Milk campaign and more.
Hogues’s freelance work for brands include The Atlantic, Netflix, the Obama Foundation, Nike, Chili’s, Under Armour, The Undefeated and Nick Jr. among others. He works as a freelance designer and type artist while teaching design at DePaul University in Chicago. Bethel,” appeared in the book “Jazz Dance: The History of its Roots and Branches” (2014). At UNC Charlotte, she teaches the course Vintage Jazz.
“‘Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance’ shifts focus from the European aesthetic to a more inclusive and accurate version of jazz dance history, beginning with the dancing of enslaved Africans held captive in the U.S.,” Hubbard said. “I consider it an honor to have been asked to share my expertise along with jazz dance luminaries like Debbie Allen and Chita Rivera and to see visuals of my authentic jazz dance mentor Pepsi Bethel (Greensboro native, deceased artistic director of N.Y.-based Authentic Jazz Dance Theatre) in the final version.”
Africana Studies Professor Tanure Ojaide awarded international fellowship
Tanure Ojaide, Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies, has received a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship from the Institute of International Education to share his expertise with students and Tanure faculty in Africa. Ojaide
Ojaide will be in residence for three months at the University of Abuja in Nigeria, once COVID-19 restrictions permit. He will collaborate on research with graduate students and faculty members, especially in oral and written African literatures, and assist the University of Abuja in strengthening its programs in these areas.
One of today’s leading African writers, Ojaide is among the most decorated faculty poets in the UNC System. He has won more than a dozen book prizes and accolades, including the 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, Cadbury Poetry Prize and the Association of Nigerian Authors’
ESPN’s The Undefeated commissions alumnus for special posters
Poetry Award.
School of Data Science receives Inspiring Programs in STEM Award
UNC Charlotte’s School of Data Science recently received the 2020 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Winners were selected based on efforts to inspire and encourage a new generation of young people to consider careers in STEM through mentoring, teaching, research, and successful programs and initiatives.
Doug Hague, executive director of UNC Charlotte’s School of Data Science, stated, “One of the core missions of our program is to make the field of data science accessible to students of all backgrounds. We’re excited to see our data science students transform corporations, governments and communities through the appropriate use of data.”
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine selected the School of Data Science for its continued efforts to move the dial for women and minorities in STEM. Through strategic recruitment efforts, thought-provoking conversations with industry leaders and academic partnerships, the school has graduate programs that reflect diverse cohorts, with more than 45 percent female and 30 percent international students and underrepresented minorities. Setting the pace for student access and success When it comes to ensuring student success in college, UNC Charlotte is meeting or exceeding goals set by the UNC System as outlined in its 2017-22 Strategic Plan.
UNC Charlotte’s progress in the overall graduation rate, the completion rate among low-income students, undergraduate degree efficiency, critical workforce credentials and research productivity is contributing significantly to System-wide student success that far exceeds the national average.
“UNC Charlotte recognizes the importance of a college degree for careers of the future, and we want every student to finish what they start,” said Joan Lorden, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “Changes in our economy and our society are demanding more of our citizens: broader skills, deeper knowledge and greater competitiveness.”
Between 2010 and 2018, UNC Charlotte’s five-year graduation rate jumped from 59% to nearly 68%, exceeding the current institutional goal of 64.8% and earning national recognition from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). More UNC Charlotte graduates are completing their degrees faster than the national average, which stands at 58% for U.S. students who began college in fall 2012 and who had completed their degree six years later, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Undergraduate degree efficiency, a measurement of bachelor’s degrees awarded per 100 full-time equivalent students and that indicates how quickly graduates enter the workforce, has risen to nearly 26%, outpacing the UNC System’s benchmark of 23.5%.
The University also closed the gap in undergraduate degree efficiency between underrepresented minority and non-underrepresented minority students by 50% by 2019-20, reaching the UNC System’s target in this area two years ahead of schedule.
UNC Charlotte specializes in providing comprehensive and coordinated studentcentered programs that meet the needs of its diverse student population, a large percentage of whom are first-generation college students.
—CHARLES JENCKES
Charles Jenckes with record-setting Speed Demon Aerodynamics expertise helps Speed Demon set world record
As the aerodynamicist for the Speed Demon 715 Streamliner team, Charles Jenckes had the job of making the 400-mile-per-hour-plus vehicle stable without increasing its drag. The UNC Charlotte assistant professor succeeded in his task, and the Speed Demon 715 car recently reached 481 miles per hour to set the record as the world’s fastest piston-powered wheel-driven ground vehicle.
A faculty member in the Lee College of Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering Department, Jenckes puts into practice the theory and knowledge he teaches in the classroom to make the Speed Demon 715 car its best. In addition to working with the Speed Demon team, Jenckes has been a racing professional for more than 30 years. During his career, he worked for race teams throughout the United State and Europe, and most recently led the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Department for the Haas F1 Team.
“My work with Speed Demon is applied aerodynamics,” Jenckes said. “It is taking the theory and the analysis we see in computer simulations, applying it to the car, and seeing it work at more than 400 miles per hour.”
For the Speed Demon car, Jenckes said the three major components of the project were the build of the vehicle, the engine and the aerodynamics. The challenge of doing a total aerodynamic redesign of the car was to make it safer and more stable, without adding any drag that would slow it down.
“With this design challenge for a vehicle that runs in excess of 400 mph you can’t leave anything unattended,” Jenckes said. “When we do aero designs for Formula One or NASCAR, we use a lot of wind tunnel testing but that wasn’t available for this project. So, my work involved hundreds of hours of computer analysis and hundreds of CFD runs. It all worked, and we were able to solve the key issues from the aerodynamic design standpoint.”
Steve Watt, the project manager for Speed Demon, said Jenckes’s involvement was a huge boost to the team. “Charles’s aero knowledge as a Ph.D. is a tremendous asset to what we do. The car is so data-driven that his help and the work of the other three guys dealing with the huge amounts of data is what made it possible to achieve the records this year.
During Bonneville Speed Week 2020, Speed Demon 715 posted a two-way average of 470.015 mph, setting a land-speed record for a piston-driven ground vehicle. It also set a top speed of 481.576 mph in the last mile, which is the fastest a piston-powered, wheeldriven ground vehicle has ever gone.
The 2020 UNC Charlotte NASA Student Launch team, front row, left to right, Max Peterson, Tyler Ainsworth, David Clifton, Dan Cornett, Tyler Watkins and Aryan Gupta; back row, Jackson Smith, David Black, Gunner Petrea, Jacen Mott and Alex Dechant. Not pictured, Samantha McKinney.
49er Rocketry team places second in NASA event
The UNC Charlotte Rocketry team, made up of Lee College of Engineering undergraduates from mechanical, systems, electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering technology, finished second overall and first in the payload portion of the 2020 NASA Student Launch competition.
Although the program was delayed and the annual launch finale event in Huntsville, Alabama, canceled, 54 teams competed remotely in the design, building and testing portions of the competition. NASA announced virtually the overall and category winners of the competition. The top overall teams were Vanderbilt University, UNC Charlotte and the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Teams earned points for progress and successes during the eight-month competition. Awards were presented in multiple categories including payload design, safety, best social media presence and STEM outreach.
The UNC Charlotte team won the Best Payload Design award. Its payload was a two-part system with the first part detecting the sample retrieval area during the rocket’s descent. The information was then relayed to an unmanned aerial vehicle, which, using integrated computer vision and obstacle avoidance navigated to the retrieval area, collected the simulated lunar ice, then moved at least 10 feet away from that site with the sample safely stored.
In the Best Vehicle Design category, the UNC Charlotte team placed third. The category scores teams for the most creative, innovative and wellconstructed rocket design for carrying the payload, while maximizing safety and efficiency.
UNC Charlotte also placed third in the Safety Award category, which is given to teams who meet all safety expectations and have the highest-quality documentation of safety designs and procedures. Sonyia Richardson joins statewide task force on health inequities
Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed UNC Charlotte Social Work Professor Sonyia Richardson to a statewide task force on health inequities.
As a member of the 35-person Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force, Richardson will work with leaders from across North Carolina to identify best practices to create economic stability, eliminate health disparities, and achieve environmental justice in North Carolina. Richardson is serving on a subcommittee focused on education.
“I plan to bring an intersectional perspective as an African American female social worker, educator, researcher and citizen,” Richardson said. “I want to provide insight for best practices that will offer healing and equity for marginalized communities. And as my research focuses on the intersection of social work and education, this committee provides an opportunity for me to provide a unique, interdisciplinary perspective.”
Solving a formerly unsolvable drinking water challenge
When Civil Engineering doctoral student Amir Alansari learned of a drinking water treatment challenge that no one had been able to solve for almost 50 years, he knew he had to give it a try.
Alansari, who began his Lee College of Engineering career as an undergraduate in 2007, before completing a master’s degree, has been working toward his Ph.D. since 2013. Originally from Dubai, he became interested in drinking water during his junior year, when he conducted undergraduate research on desalinization. He expanded his research scope to more complex topics of water treatment during his graduate studies.
“I like drinking water research, because it involves so many disciplines, including engineering, biology and chemistry,” Alansari said. “The more I study it, though, the more I realize how much I don’t know. But it is an essential problem for the entire planet and for me the research is fascinating.”
Alansari’s doctoral research focuses on how to predict and optimize drinking water treatment in order to produce cleaner water more efficiently. Because of the huge number of variables involved in water treatment, it is a research challenge that has baffled scientists and engineers for decades.
Two of the main components of water treatment are sedimentation, where water is kept still and particles are allowed to settle to the bottom, and filtration, where water is run through filter media (such as sand) to remove particles. The problem is that most particles in water are too small to settle or
Amir Alansari
filter on their own. If particles can be made to stick together and become larger, they can be more effectively removed through the two processes.
Getting the particles to stick together, or coagulation, is achieved by adding chemicals (coagulants) to water. Coagulation is the first and most important step of drinking water treatment, because the efficiency of every subsequent process is directly dependent on the efficiency of coagulation.
There are at least 15 variables that impact the performance of the coagulation process, including water chemistry, weather, pH levels and the individual characteristics of each treatment plant, and all of these variables change constantly.
“Most of the coagulation studies done in the past were either site-specific or focused on one variable, and hence did not apply to
Amir Alansari’s new jar-test method enables him to test a number of watertreatment variables. most real-world conditions,” Alansari said. “Developing a universal and practical model of coagulation has been a near-impossible task, because of the chemical complexity of water and the sheer number of factors and their interactions that determine the performance of the coagulant.”
To succeed where others had failed, Alansari first designed and built a jar-test apparatus that better mimics water-treatment plants by including sedimentation and filtration stages. The apparatus has six side-by-side jar sections, which allows variables to be adjusted in each and results compared immediately.
“I had to kind of reinvent how we do jar testing,” Alansari said. “A traditional jar test didn’t include a filtration stage. My setup represents everything that goes on in a treatment plant.”
Using the new jar-test method, Alansari concentrated on analyzing six of the primary water-treatment variables. He also created 16 different types of synthetic (manmade) water to mimic streams, lakes and other water systems.
James Amburgey, associate professor of Civil Engineering and Alansari’s graduate mentor, said, “He took a jar-test method that didn’t work and made it work and now by using machine learning, he is creating his own computer model. No one has been able to do this before.”
Alansari is employing machine-learning techniques, a subset of artificial intelligence that use computer algorithms to improve automatically through experience, to take the guess work out of treating water.
Belk College leads among real estate schools
UNC Charlotte’s Belk College of Business is one of 2020’s Leading Schools for Real Estate, according to a national industry publication. The Belk College is the only business school in the Carolinas to make Commercial Property Executives’ list, which features institutions that demonstrate a commitment to developing tomorrow’s leaders in the real estate industry.
Through the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate (CKCRE), Belk College offers a multidisciplinary Master of Science in Real Estate (MSRE) that provides students with the skills necessary to analyze, evaluate and execute complex real estate investment and development transactions. The center’s collaborations help students stand out in the job market, as reflected in the 100 percent employment rate for MSRE graduates in 2019.
Colleen Hammelman receives NSF award to study foodscapes
Colleen Hammelman, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program Colleen Hammelman (CAREER) grant to study population change and gentrification in urban foodscapes.
With this five-year funding, expected to total $461,555, Hammelman will investigate the impact of changing urban economies on landscapes created and used by underrepresented populations. Her research broadly considers questions of social justice in urban food systems.
Hammelman’s project will systematically investigate the ways that restaurants, groceries, food trucks and other elements are changing urban landscapes; where and how new foodscapes are constructed; and the implications of this relocation on cultural, social and economic outcomes for diverse groups. Research results will make visible the impacts of development decisions on diverse communities while advancing theory in urban geography and food studies.
Juan Meneses
English professor to conduct research during National Humanities Center residency
Associate Professor of English Juan Meneses will spend four weeks in residency at the National Humanities Center in the Research Triangle Park completing the third chapter of his second book, tentatively titled “Denizens! On Foreigners, Visitors and Other Outsiders.”
Meneses will join a select group of about 40 scholars from across the nation selected for this research residency, with the timing guided by the state’s protocol on COVID-19.
For his book, Meneses is considering the idea of denizenship, as reflected in a number of works of literature, film and other creative media.
“A notion first used in medieval England, denizenship was employed to describe the status of foreigners who nonetheless enjoyed certain legal and political rights in the country,” he said. “Denizenship designated a difference in status with respect to citizens enjoying full rights while, simultaneously, blurring the line that divides citizens from figures such as the ‘alien national’ or the ‘non-native.’”
In particular, Meneses will look at ecological dimensions of this issue, investigating how environmental questions exert important pressures on belonging, national identity and global solidarity, among other aspects.
Geology-Mechanical Engineering pairing results in novel, award-winning findings
Since 2012, Martha Cary (Missy) Eppes and Russ Keanini have teamed up to conduct research, resulting in recent recognition as the 2020 recipients of the Kirk Bryan Award for Research Excellence from the Council of the Geological Society of America.
Eppes, a professor of Earth Sciences in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, is a field geologist with 20 years of experience measuring natural cracks on rocks outdoors. Keanini, a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department, has almost 30 years of experience as an expert in computational statistical analysis.
In their 2017 publication “Mechanical weathering and rock erosion by climatedependent subcritical cracking,” Eppes and Keanini, for the first time, demonstrated that water likely influences all types of rock cracking at Earth’s surface whether it requires water or not.
The researchers used classical mathematical models combined with a compendium of fracture mechanics theory and data from engineering research to achieve their results. They also showed that cracking proceeds even when only extremely low stresses are applied to the rock. These stresses can be due to occurrences as simple and ubiquitous as daily heating and cooling by the sun, they noted. Associate Professor of History Christopher Cameron was named a 2020 Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies; he was one of 81 selected from nearly 1,200 applicants.
ACLS fellowships are among the most prestigious research honors in the humanities. Cameron was chosen as the
Missy Eppes and Russ Keanini have, for the first time, demonstrated that water likely influences all types of rock cracking at Earth’s surface whether it requires water or not.
“Our work suggests that climate influences weathering in an unexpected, previously unrecognized way,” said Eppes. “Without weathering, there can be no soil and sediment and perhaps no life. Our research shines a light on an entirely new factor that controls how weathering proceeds that must be factored into predictions of how Earth will respond to ongoing global change.”
Eppes noted the drawdown of carbon ACLS Oscar Handlin Fellow in American History and will receive $50,000 to support his work. Cameron’s book project, Christopher “Liberal Religion and Race Cameron in America,” will explore the history of African Americans’ engagement dioxide out of the atmosphere by the weathering of silicate minerals is one of the few ways that Earth can cool itself.
“Our study suggests that warmer and wetter climates, like those predicted for the next hundred years, will cause rocks to crack more quickly, which subsequently will result in more chemical weathering that could draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and
Christopher Cameron named American Council of Learned Societies Fellow
thus cool Earth,” stated Eppes. with religious liberalism from the First Great Awakening of the 1740s to the founding of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism in 2015. African Americans were among the founders of the first Universalist churches in the 18th century, created their own liberal congregations beginning in the 19th century and have continually pushed Unitarians and Universalists to be more attuned to social injustices.
Architecture teams place among top 10 in international competition
Two projects by UNC Charlotte School of Architecture graduate students are among the winners of the 2020 AIA COTE Top 10 for Students Competition, presented by the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).
“Bio Tower: A Green Medical Research Hub,” by Sophia Bullock, Drake Cecil and Alex King, and “[Up]–LIFT Technology Tower,” by Bekim Sejdiu and Devin Waddell, were the winning projects from UNC Charlotte. All five students recently graduated with Master of Architecture degrees. Architecture faculty Kyoung-Hee Kim and Liz McCormick mentored both projects.
“Bio Tower: A Green Medical Research Hub” responds to the loss of tree canopy that Charlotte will experience as it continues to grow. The tenants for the Bio Tower include medical clinics, pharmaceutical production companies and sales offices.
“[Up]–LIFT Technology Tower” seeks to address Charlotte’s economic mobility crisis in a sustainable urban community tower that incorporates access to training in fields related to technology and startup spaces for tech businesses.
Lewis named to statewide task force, receives national mentor award
Urban education professor Chance Lewis was appointed to a statewide task force on educational equity and inclusion. He also received a Spencer Mentor Award that includes a $10,000 grant.
Lewis, who leads the UNC Charlotte Urban Education Collaborative, joins the 32-person Chance Lewis task force composed of parents, educators, administrators, education advocates, representatives of state and local government, University of North Carolina and North Carolina Community College systems and employers with a presence in the state.
In North Carolina, the traditional K-12 student population is close to 50% students of color, but only 20% of public school teachers are of color. Research shows that all students, particularly students of color, are more successful in school when they have a diverse teaching population leading their classrooms. Representation and inclusion lead to equity for all students.
“My priority is to provide expert advice on research-based practices that have been shown to be effective in recruiting and retaining teachers of color in public schools,” Lewis said. “It is my hope that my contribution to this task force will assist in providing all public school districts with guidance on how to get high-quality diverse teachers in every school.”
The Spencer Mentor Award recognizes those with a strong history of mentorship and who demonstrate extraordinary contributions to supporting the research training and career trajectories of graduate students and junior scholars.
