Academic Affairs

Distinguished cancer researcher Pinku Mukherjee was honored with the O. Max Gardner Award – the highest faculty accolade given by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. She was presented the honor formally Friday, April 10.

“The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast, will feature two programs on Thursday, April 9.

At 11 a.m., Madeline Keeter (’08), community and government relations coordinator at CaroMont Health; Zacch Estrada-Petersen (’05), senior accountant at the Hearst Corporation; and Stacie Young (’98), director of annual giving; will discuss UNC Charlotte’s inaugural 24-hour online giving day, Niner Nation Gives.

Friday, April 10, is the deadline for full-time faculty members to complete a survey of faculty job satisfaction as part of the national research program Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), which has operated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education since 2003.

Earlier this year, faculty members received unique links to the survey via email from COACHE (coachefaculty@opinioncast.com).

A student volunteer venture to help veterans near Camp Lejeune this past fall recently earned the University the Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP).

This past fall, eight students from the University College/College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Learning Community participated in a SERCAP Volunteers for Communities Alternative Break Program. The volunteers, all freshmen, were Jessica Beavers, Selena Brown, Alyssa Finkelstein, Benjamin Iuliano, Hannah Javidi, Madison McKinnon, Edwin Ogachi and Sarah Payne.

General Graphene, an Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company, won the grand prize of $20,000 at the 2015 Charlotte Venture Challenge.

The company is developing industrial scale graphene manufacturing capabilities using production methods licensed from the University of Texas and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Each machine will produce 60,000 sheets (square meter) of graphene (a form of carbon described as having “extraordinary” properties) per year.

Bill Ribarsky, the Bank of America Endowed Chair in Information Technology, is the 2015 recipient of the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal, UNC Charlotte’s most prestigious faculty award in recognition of excellence in research.

Ribarsky’s research has greatly influenced the field of visualization and visual analytics. He has been lauded by peers for advancing the way in which individuals visualize data and approach real-world problems.

Junior Sarah Whitmire is a Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow; the national honor recognizes individuals who are investing in their communities through service, research and advocacy.

As a Levine Scholar, Whitmire is working the UNC Charlotte faculty members, practitioners in the Carolinas Healthcare System and a group of women experiencing homelessness on a community-based research project.

Jonathan Frederick, director of the North Carolina Science Festival, and UNC Charlotte’s James Hathaway will be guests on the April 2 edition of “The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast. They will discuss the upcoming North Carolina Science Festival and the UNC Charlotte Science and Technology Expo.

Employees can watch “The Live Wire” at their desk or on their mobile devices starting at 2 p.m.

Registration is open through Wednesday, April 1, for UNC Charlotte’s Undergraduate Research Conference (URC). The conference, now in its fourth year, is a campus-wide showcase of undergraduate research projects. Sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, Atkins Library, Charlotte Research Institute and the Levine Scholars Program, the 2015 conference will take place Friday, April 24, in the Barnhardt Student Activity Center.

The Career Center’s April 10 Spring Career Expo is expected to be at capacity with 210 organizations offering thousands of full-time jobs, internships and co-ops in a range of industries.