Scholarship and Academic Life

Juan Vivero-Escoto, an assistant professor of chemistry, is the 2013 recipient of the Ralph Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associate Universities (ORAU), a 109-member university consortium affiliated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Vivero-Escoto was among 30 winners in a pool of 147 applicants from consortium institutions. Only two faculty members per institution were permitted to apply; they underwent a highly competitive peer-review process organized by ORAU from among its members.

Many elementary students’ math performance improves when their teachers collaborate, work in professional learning communities or do both, yet most students don’t spend all of their elementary school years in these settings, according to a new study by UNC Charlotte researchers recently published in the journal Sociology of Education.

The North Carolina economy will grow modestly in 2013 after a relatively flat performance in 2012, but the state is positioned for stronger growth in 2014, reported UNC Charlotte economist John Connaughton in his quarterly forecast for the state.

UNC Charlotte’s Charlotte Research Scholars (CRS) program provides undergraduate students the training and experience to be successful in research, a critical component for graduate education. Sixty scholars have been selected for the research program’s second year. Starting Tuesday, May 28, they will conduct original research during a 10-week program in collaboration with a faculty member.

The Charlotte Action Research Project (CHARP) will host a neighborhood campus forum from 5:45 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 29, in Cone University Center, Room 210.
According to organizers, the forum is designed to connect UNC Charlotte faculty, staff and students with research opportunities with residents of Charlotte’s low-income and minority neighborhoods.
During a series of workshops, CHARP partners identified five research themes for further study: neighborhood change, spatial justice, empowerment and citizen rights, communities and schools and neighborhood safety.

In today’s virtual world, it’s easy to downplay the significance of place. Yet, when it comes to regional prosperity, geography matters. Income and job growth are not random; they spill over from one region to another. Being next to a prosperous region will make one’s own economy more vibrant.

One way to understand what motivates and deters burglars is to ask them. UNC Charlotte researcher Joseph Kuhns from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology did just that. He led a research team that gathered survey responses from more than 400 convicted offenders that resulted in an unprecedented look into the minds of burglars, providing insight into intruders’ motivations and methods.

Cindy Crusto from the Yale University School of Medicine will speak on “The Impact of Trauma on Young Vulnerable Children: Implications for a Public Health Approach to Children’s Mental Health” at 11 a.m., Friday, May 24, in the Colvard Building, Room 3120, as part of the Health Psychology Speaker Series.

UNC Charlotte economist John Connaughton will give his quarterly forecast for the North Carolina economy at a luncheon and press conference Tuesday, June 4, at UNC Charlotte Center City. Connaughton’s presentation begins at noon in the auditorium. Box lunches will be available beginning at 11:30 a.m.                               

Warren Cole, a professional science master’s degree student in the College of Computing and Informatics Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, has received a summer internship from the Open Science Data Cloud – Partnership for International Research and Education (OSCD-PIRE) project. He will conduct his internship at the internationally acclaimed Beijing Institute of Genomics in Shenzhen, China, considered one of the world’s premiere genome sequencing centers.