Scholarship and Academic Life

Tanure Ojaide, the Frank Porter Graham Professor of Africana Studies, has published a new collection of short stories, “God’s Naked Children,” and a volume of 105 poems, “The Questioner.”

Physician Mario Barbé is back at Clínica Alemana, one of the premier hospitals in Santiago, Chile, where he is chief of a data analytics and artificial intelligence unit.

One of the first projects for this UNC Charlotte graduate alumnus is to use cluster analysis and machine learning to explore the hospital’s diabetic population.

Ming-Chun Lee, a professor in the School of Architecture’s Master of Urban Design program, has been named one of five inaugural fellows in the Niantic/Knight Fellows Program, a community engagement initiative by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Niantic Inc., maker of the popular Pokémon GO game. The fellowship will support projects that address community issues and promote resident engagement using Niantic’s augmented reality technology.

Assistant Professor of Voice Carl DuPont had the new album, “The Reaction,” released by Albany Records. It features songs by black composers, most of whom have never been recorded.

Min Jiang, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies, will begin a four-year tenure as associate editor of the Sage journal, Communication and the Public, in January 2019.

The Charlotte 49ers softball team once again has claimed the Conference USA Softball Academic Award. This honor is given to the team in each conference-sponsored sport with the highest GPA for the academic year. 

 With claiming the award for the 2017-18 season, the University’s softball team has won the honor for the fourth consecutive academic year.

During the academic year, the 49ers softball team compiled a 3.649 cumulative grade point average with nine of the 18 players on the roster achieving a perfect 4.0 in the spring semester.

Improving the Persistence and Success of Students from Underrepresented Populations in Computer Science (I-PASS) is a collaboration among UNC Charlotte faculty that has received nearly $1 million in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Tumininu (Tumi) Lawanson recently was named a Young Clean Energy Innovator of the Year by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) at its Intersolar North American ceremony in San Francisco, California.

“Personally, I count it as a privilege and an honor to be recognized as one of two Young Clean Energy Innovators of 2018 by IREC,” said Lawanson. “I am especially grateful for the support of my research advisor, Dr. Valentina Cecchi, and the strong collaborative research environment provided at EPIC and the University.”

The North Carolina economy continues to grow with positive indicators including housing prices and the Consumer Confidence Index, UNC Charlotte professor and economist John Connaughton said at a Mid-Year Economic Update Tuesday, June 5. He stated the country is now in the second-longest economic expansion since 1854. This economic expansion has been underway for 108 months, as of early June 2018.

Joseph Konstanzer, a graduate of UNC Charlotte’s dual master’s program in public health and health informatics, has been named a public health fellow at Public Health Institute (PHI)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He will work out of the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy.