Given the recent national and global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions have had to make critical transitions to manage and address the new paradigm we are in with respect to restrictions on how we interact and social distancing. This webinar will focus on sharing resources and information to assist STEM students and faculty returning to school with efforts regarding teaching, learning, and conducting research. Dr. Gregory Triplett, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at VCU will discuss simulation and computer-based research. Dr. Mary Ann Leung, Founder of the Sustainable Horizons Institute, will share options for conducting research during a pandemic. Ms. Linda Akli, Director of IT Initiatives, SURA will share remote research resources with Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) that include data analytics, modeling, and visualization. We hope that this webinar will be a timely and beneficial resource to the ERN and broader STEM education communities.
The webinar took place THURSDAY, September 24, 2020 from 3:00PM to 4:30PM EDT.
You can watch the recorded webinar here.
The webinar is NOT exclusive to ERN Conference participants and we welcome all individuals who are interested in the subject matter to enjoy the webinar.
The webinar had live captioning provided.
The slides are available here: bts_slides.pdf
ABOUT THE PANEL:
Linda Akli, SURA
Abstract
As Director of Information Technology Initiatives, Linda Akli is responsible for facilitating collaborative IT projects supporting research computing. Since joining SURA in 2007, Ms. Akli has developed workforce development and education programs for national research cyberinfrastructure including TeraGrid and the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE). She is frequently called upon to serve in advisory capacity, and currently serves on the External Advisory Board of the NSF-funded Network for Computational Nanotechnology Cyber Platform (NCN-CP) which operates nanoHUB.org and the White House Initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities Broadband and Smart HBCU cluster. She is author and co-author of articles and papers on diversity and inclusion in High Performance Computing, workforce development, and education. Prior to joining SURA, Ms. Akli was employed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) where she led the development of the BEN Collaborative, a digital library for biological sciences education, and managed several student programs aimed at increasing participation in STEM. Ms. Akli began her career in computer communications systems engineering, and her projects include international electronic messaging and global directory standards development, technical contributions to federal electronic commerce programs, and congressional committee policy input on defense communications. Ms. Akli graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. degree in Computer Science and minors in Afro-American studies and management sciences. She completed graduate course work in Engineering Administration at George Washington University; and during her tenure at AT&T Long Lines and the MITRE Corporation completed several management development training programs.
Mary Ann Leung, Sustainable Horizons Institute
Abstract
Dr. Mary Ann Leung, is a nationally acclaimed leader in the design and implementation of innovative programs aimed at developing the next generation of STEM leaders. As an accomplished scientist, Mary Ann honors and treasures the process of scientific discovery. As the director of major STEM-focused educational programs, Dr. Leung nurtured her passion for connecting students and science by developing and implementing novel and measurably impactful initiatives. As founder of Sustainable Horizons Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Dr. Leung leads education, diversity and inclusion, and workforce development programs, studies, and initiatives across the nation. She serves as the Diversity and Inclusion Department Editor for Computing in Science and Engineering Magazine. She was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Committee on Opportunities in Science, leads webinars for AAAS ERN, and was the inaugural Iowa delegate for Vision 2020, a national gender equity initiative. She graduated with honors from Mills College, earning a B.A. in Chemistry with a Math minor. Dr. Leung holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Computational Physical Chemistry.
Gregory E. Triplett, Jr PhD; Virginia Commonwealth University
Abstract
Triplett is a Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Triplett oversees all aspects of engineering programs including curriculum development, student recruitment and matriculation, strategic planning, student funding, graduate research, and online education. At VCU, he directs the Precision Imaging Research Laboratory (PIRL), which focuses on the development and integration of nanomaterials and their applications in biomedical, energy, and physical science. He currently leads a team of undergraduate and graduate students to capture signal transduction mechanisms in real time, specifically interactions between amino acid functional groups of proteins with donor molecules and protein kinase using photonic technology integration. He recently completed the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education Program at Harvard and is President of the VCU Sigma Xi Chapter, Lifetime Member of NSBE, and member of many other professional and scientific organizations.
He graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Florida State University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS, MS, and PhD, respectively, in electrical engineering.