The Provost’s Awards Lecture Series is intended to honor and showcase the recipients of the Provost’s Awards and provide them an opportunity to present, share and discuss their work with the campus. Another goal of this series is to raise the level of academic and intellectual discourse among our colleagues, and to further enrich connections with others across the campus.

All lectures are held from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Henry Madden Library, Room 2206.

Wednesday, Sept. 25

2018-19 – Excellence in Teaching
Gregory Kriehn, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

“Quantum Optics: What light teaches about life, the universe, and everything”

Quantum Mechanics describes the nature and interaction of atoms, subatomic particles, and the interaction of these particles at the smallest energy scales. Light, which is fundamentally governed by quantum theory, consists of tiny energy particles that have simultaneous particle and wavelike properties — which often gives rise to very unintuitive behavior. Dr. Gregory Kriehn will discuss some of these properties, and relate their effects to what he has learned over the years as a teacher about life, the universe and everything.

Thursday, Oct. 10

2018-19 – Faculty Service
Emma Hughes, Department of Criminology

“Inside-out: Embracing, Extending, and Celebrating Community Service”

In this talk, Dr. Emma Hughes will explore ways in which faculty, staff and students have engaged in innovative programs and collaborations with incarcerated communities. Such initiatives have served to build on efforts to bring the University into the wider community through reaching out to one of the most marginalized and isolated populations in our region. At the same time, this talk will explore how such engagement benefits all those involved, enriching the understanding and experience of participants and redefining notions of "inside" and "outside" status.

Thursday, Oct. 24

2018-19 – Distinguished Achievement in Research, Scholarship or Creative Accomplishment
Steven Church, Department of English

“The Essayist, the Editor, and the Educator: Juggling My Roles in the Academy”

Church will discuss two of his more recent creative projects, an anthology of essays he edited, The Spirit of Disruption: Selections from The Normal School, released in August 2018, as well as his collection of his own personal essays, "I’m Just Getting to the Disturbing Part: On Work, Fear, and Fatherhood," and consider how these projects and the idea and act of “essaying,” has helped shape his teaching and service to the University.

Wednesday, Nov. 6

2018-19 – Distinguished Achievement in Research, Scholarship or Creative Accomplishment
Youngwook Kim, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

"Applications of Deep Learning to the Radar Signal Processing”

In this talk, Dr. Kim will present the application of Deep Learning (DL) to the radar signal processing especially for the analysis of human motion. Recognizing human motion using radar has been an important research topic owing to its wide variety of applications, including in health care, security, surveillance, border patrols and robot control. This presentation demonstrates the concept of DL and how it works on processing radar signals.

Thursday, Nov. 21

2018-19 – Innovation
Wei Wu, Department of Construction Management

“Cultivating Apprenticeship Learning in Architecture, Engineering and Construction with Mixed Reality”

The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is facing a severe shortage of skilled workforce. To fill the voids left by retiring baby boomers and adapt to a rapidly-changing industry environment, higher education is challenged to prepare college students with desired career-specific competency by cultivating the head, hand and heart (3H) apprenticeship learning with innovative technology such as Mixed Reality.