Research

University leaders, governmental officials, business and industry partners and members of the greater community were on campus Friday, Feb. 28, for the formal dedication of the PORTAL building, a facility developed to harness the power of UNC Charlotte to stimulate business growth and job creation.

Libin Bai, a doctoral student in software and information systems in the College of Computing and Informatics, will defend “Stability and Performance of Networked Control Systems” at 3 p.m., Friday, March 14, in Woodward Hall, Room 338. Sheng-Guo Wang and Yongge Wang are the dissertation advisors.

James Currie recently joined UNC Charlotte as the associate director for PORTAL. He comes to the University from Ohio State University, where he was program director for industry engagement and economic development for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

UNC Charlotte’s new PORTAL building is the latest example of the University’s commitment to foster partnerships with private industry. The facility was designed to stimulate business growth and job creation along with promoting research and innovation.
The four-story, 96,000-square-foot,  PORTAL building, which sits on a prominent site at the Tryon Street entrance of the Charlotte Research Institute campus, will be formally dedicated on Feb. 28.

As part of the Project Mosaic Brown Bag Seminar series, James Walsh, political science and public administration, will talk about “Ethnic Exclusion, Oil and Civil War” at 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25, in Cone University Center, Room 348B.

Johan Enslin, director of the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC), will discuss energy independence at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 19, in UNC Charlotte Center City, Room 204, as part of the 2014 Great Decisions lecture series. Prior to his talk, Enslin will be recognized at a reception as part of the UNC Charlotte observance of Engineers Week.
Recently named a 2014 Energy Leadership Award recipient by the Charlotte Business Journal, Enslin was recognized for his efforts to make the Carolinas a global force in the energy sector..

Amar Saric, a doctoral student in computing and information systems in the College of Computing and Informatics, will defend “An Approach to Reducing Parameter Uncertainty for Robotic Surface Assembly Tasks’ at 12:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 21, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 436. Jing Xiao is the dissertation advisor.

The StressWAVES Biobehavioral Research Lab is seeking healthy adults to participate in the Smoking, Immunity and Mood (SIM) study.
Participation would require one, early morning lab session that would last two and a half hours. Subjects would complete a questionnaire and provide blood samples. At the conclusion of the study, participants would be paid a $35 stipend and receive a free health-status snapshot, including blood pressure and fasting cholesterol levels.

James Tabor, professor and chair of religious studies, will discuss the relationship between Israel and the United States at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12, at UNC Charlotte Center City, Room 204, as the fourth speaker in the 2014 Great Decisions lecture series.

 Local communities can expect the number and asset size of philanthropic foundations to increase, due to the rise in health care consolidations driven by health care reform. In the past, assets of this kind may have been underused or even undocumented.  A new database created by UNC Charlotte researchers can help bridge this gap.