Research

Amanda Mostafavi, a doctoral student in computer science in the College of Computing and Informatics, will defend “Personalized Indexing of Music by Emotions” at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 26, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 426. Zbigniew Ras is the dissertation advisor.

Jean-Claude Thill, the Knight Foundation Distinguished Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, was named a 2013 Fellow of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) at the organization’s 60th annual North American Meetings of the RSAI in Atlanta, Ga. He is the sole U.S. regional scientist to be recognized this year, along with scholars from Japan, Sweden and Italy. Worldwide, RSAI has a cadre of 70 fellows.

Clean, green, affordable and reliable – former New Jersey Governor and EPA administrator and current co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy) Christine Todd Whitman espoused the benefits of nuclear power in a talk to more than 200 students, faculty, staff and industry leaders on Thursday, Nov. 14, at UNC Charlotte’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC). Alumnus and North Carolina Representative Mike Hager, who serves on several legislative environmental and energy committees, also attended the forum.

Christopher Blanchette, associate dean for research in the College of Health and Human Services, has been appointed editor-in-chief of the journal Drugs in Context. This is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal that focuses on the practice of medicine.
As editor, Blanchette will play a role in the journal’s mission, which is to make an academic contribution to international life science and to inform and motivate improvements to the practice of medicine.

Nationally, UNC Charlotte is one of the top producers of Fulbright Scholars, according to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
This is a significant achievement, ranking UNC Charlotte alongside other major research institutions, such as the University of California Berkeley, University of Georgia and University of Michigan. But it’s not a surprise either, said Joël Gallegos, assistant provost for international programs.

UNC Charlotte has established Project Mosaic, an initiative that will be led by Knight Foundation Distinguished Professor Jean-Claude Thill to enhance the University’s social and behavioral science research. The divisions of Academic Affairs and Research and Economic Development are funding the campus-wide effort, which will be housed in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s online publication PlanCharlotte.org has won a $12,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to boost a project that will look at Charlotte’s creeks.
The grant from Knight Foundation Fund at Foundation for the Carolinas will pay a researcher in local history to examine the role the creeks have played in Charlotte’s growth and development, including the city’s cultural and social history, with a special focus on neighborhoods in west and northwest Charlotte.

The University’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center is a partner on a $620,000 federal grant to develop a molecule inverter that mounts on solar panels.
EPIC will work with clean-energy startup SineWatts, according to an article in the Charlotte Business Journal.
SineWatts will open an office in Charlotte. It is likely to be a tenant UNC Charlotte Portal Building when the facility opens in early 2014.

The Department of Africana Studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will hold its 12th annual Africana Studies Symposium in April 2014. It will examine the “widening gaps of national and global inequality through the lens of moral economy.”

Ayman Hajja, a Ph.D. student in computing and information systems in the College of Computing and Informatics, will defend “Object-driven and Temporal Action Rules Mining” at 11 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 7, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 426. Zbigniew Ras is the dissertation advisor.