Monday, August 18
Stephanie Hinnershitz - Valdosta State Universty
Asian-American Immigration
Dr. Stephanie Hinnershitz is an assistant professor of history at Valdosta State University in Georgia where she teaches courses in immigration history, recent United States history, and public history. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2013 and her research interests include immigration history, Asian American history, and civil rights history. Currently, Stephanie is working on two projects: one examining the connections between Asian immigrants and Asian Americans and civil rights battles in the South during the twentieth century and her first book, Race, Religion, and Civil Rights: Asian Students on the West Coast, 1900-1968, which places Asian American students within the framework of civil rights history in the West.
Tuesday, August 19
Chandra Wickramasighe - University of Buckingham
Cosmic Beginnings
Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe is acknowledged as a leading expert on interstellar material and astrobiology. He has made many important contributions in these fields, publishing over 350 papers in major scientific journals, over 75 in the journal Nature. In 1974 he first proposed the theory that dust in interstellar space and in comets was largely organic. Jointly with the late Sir Fred Hoyle he was awarded the International Dag Hammarskjold Gold Medal for Science in 1986.
Wednesday, August 20
Arnout van de Rijt - Stony Brook University
Success Breeds Success
Dr. Arnout van de Rijt received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Cornell University in 2007 and is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University. In 2010 he was awarded the Freeman Award for distinguished junior scholarship in social network analysis. His research exploits novel data collection opportunities enabled by present-day communication technology to answer longstanding questions about the origins of social order and societal inequality.
Thursday, August 21
Ivan de Araujo - Yale University
Craving Calories
A natural of São Paulo, Brazil, Dr. Ivan de Araújo attended the University of Brasilia, from where he received his BA (Philosophy) and MA (Mathematics) degrees. He went on to perform additional post-graduate work at the University of Edinburgh , where he studied neural network models of hippocampal function. In 2003 he completed his doctorate in the laboratory of Edmund T. Rolls at Oxford University, where he studied human brain representations of taste-odor combinations, fat perception, and thirst. He came to the USA in 2004 to perform post-doctoral work in the laboratories of Sid Simon and Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University, where he studied the responses of neuronal populations to changes in physiological state in both rats and mice. He joined the Pierce Laboratory as an Assistant Fellow in June 2007 where he studies the neurobiology of feeding.
Friday, August 22
Justin Hollander - Tufts University
The Subconscious City
Dr. Justin Hollander, PhD, is an associate professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. He is an emerging leader in studying the intersection between cognitive science and the design of cities. Most recently, he co-authored Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment (Routledge, 2015) with Ann Sussman and is the author of three other books on urban design and planning. Dr. Hollander also directs the award-winning Open Neighborhood Project, an initiative to enhance the role of citizens in the physical design of their communities.
Saturday, August 23
Oleg Kolosov - Lancaster University
New Medical Imaging Technique
Dr. Oleg Kolosov is a Reader of Condensed Matter Physics at Lancaster University, UK, where he works with Professor David Allsop (Biomedical and Life Sciences Division) imaging the smallest components of biomolecules. Dr Kolosov’s recent research with Professor Allsop, uncovering early stages of assembly of biomolecules responsible for Alzheimer’s decease, was published in the journal Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group. Dr Kolosov’s group research [Nano-Science] focuses on nano-scale physical properties of various materials from biomolecules to graphene. He holds a PhD from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and he was Advanced Fellow at Oxford University and a Director of Innovation at Symyx Technologies – a high tech company pioneering combinatorial materials discovery.