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Updates and news for the week of April 25 – May 1, 2023
The UTC Campus Weekly newsletter is distributed every Tuesday morning. If you have news, events or announcements you would like shared with campus, please submit your information to chuck-wasserstrom@utc.edu in the Division of Communications and Marketing by 3 p.m. on Friday for placement in the following Tuesday’s newsletter.
Campus Updates | University Events Master Calendar | UTC News
A quantum look back to the future
 Source: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201911/qubits.cfm Quantum technology is coming and, with it, new opportunities in education, jobs and business. Last week, UTC hosted a trio of presentations led by quantum technology experts. In case you missed the discussions, you can read the recaps and watch the MocsTalk replays:
Learning modules to explore at your convenience can be found by visiting UTC Quantum Initiative or EPB Quantum Network.
Coffee with the Chancellor
Coffee with the Chancellor takes place from 8:45-9:30 a.m. today (April 25) in the University Center Chattanooga Room. Please note the change in start time for this date.
For those who haven’t attended Coffee with the Chancellor, stop by and chat, grab a cup of coffee and keep the mug. The only agenda is meaningful dialogue, so bring your creative ideas and any questions or concerns.
Pitch Perfect
 Fly for Researchers Faculty Pitch award winners (from left): Lynette Carlson, Max Jordan, Erkan Kaplanoglu, Abdul Ofoli, Vahid Disfani, Sungwoo Yang Dr. Sungwoo Yang, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering, won the second annual Fly for Researchers Pitch Competition and $20,000 to apply to research on what he calls Aerogel 2.0—“the next generation of aerogel.” In addition, audience members voted his pitch as the best project, netting an additional $2,000 to accelerate commercialization progress. The Audience Choice award was sponsored by the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business and LaunchTN.
- Second place and $10,000 in the competition went to SolarEagle, a drone-based artificial intelligence system that will detect and assess damaged solar panels. The SolarEagle team is comprised of electrical engineering professors Abdul Ofoli and Vahid Disfani.
- Third place and $5,000 went to a team headed by Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu, associate professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Technology, which is developing a modular, pneumatic-actuated balance platform for people with chronic back pain.
Cleveland rocks: Dual admission agreement allows for smooth transfer from Cleveland State to UTC
Last week, an updated dual admission agreement between UTC and Cleveland State Community College was formalized as part of a Power C Tour event in Cleveland State’s George L. Mathis Student Center.
The Cleveland State to UTC agreement is designed to provide a seamless transition for students earning an associate degree at Cleveland State to continue their education and obtain a bachelor’s degree at UTC.
Award-winning Mocs
The Center for Career and Leadership Development reached out to campus earlier this semester to request nominations for student workers who go above and beyond in their jobs and for faculty or staff members supervising student workers who positively impact their students’ lives.
Your nominations were received, resulting in voting for UTC’s inaugural Student Employee of the Year and Supervisor of the Year awards. The award-winning Mocs are:
Student Employee of the Year
- 1st Place—Emerald White, Financial Aid and Scholarships
- 2nd Place—Sabrina Pham, Center for Global Education
- 3rd Place—Dominique Molina, UTC Library
Supervisor of the Year
- 1st Place—Leslie Pusey, Honors College
- 2nd Place—Mandy McAllister, Office of Student and Family Engagement
- 3rd Place—Dr. Amir Alakaam, Health and Human Performance
The outstanding people of UTC
 Dr. Ignatius Fomunung Congratulations to UTC faculty and staff who received awards or submitted proposals for sponsored programs in March. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs announced that faculty and staff attracted $37,592 in external grant and contract awards during the month and submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $10,591,083 in external funding, if awarded.
Among those receiving awards in March was Civil and Chemical Engineering Professor Ignatius Fomunung, who received $19,964 from TPT Technologies for the project titled, “Demonstration, Testing, and Refinement of a Sustainable, Non-Stop, Autonomous, Affordable, Personalized (SNAAP) Transportation System.”
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 From left: Felipe Holden, Ethan Smith and Trevor Scott (photo courtesy of Hunter Holzhauer) UTC placed third in the recent TVA Investment Challenge Program, which included participants from 26 universities across the state. The top three teams make presentations to all of the other institutions, and the UTC presentation was made by Felipe Holden, Ethan Smith and Trevor Scott. The TVA Fund is managed by students in Dr. Hunter Holzhauer’s FIN 4880 class; the students outperformed the S&P 500 by 4.20%.
Check out these Mocs making a difference:
Happy Earth Day
 Photo courtesy of Mocs Athletics Members of the UTC football and men’s and women’s basketball programs took time on Saturday to participate in the Brainerd Levee Earth Day Cleanup. UTC student-athletes spent the morning working along the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway, a prime location for birders, bicyclists and pedestrians.
The Mocs were on hand thanks to support from The Flock, one of the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) collectives that independently support student-athletes at UTC.
Life on Earth
On Friday and Saturday (April 28-29), UTC will be hosting the annual meeting of the History of Philosophy Society. Sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Philosophy and Religion, and Environmental Studies, the campus community is invited to attend “Life on Earth” keynote addresses presented by Baird Callicott (University of North Texas, emeritus) and Jason Wirth (Seattle University). For more information, contact lucy-schultz@utc.edu.
Mark your calendar for the WCTL Instructional Excellence Conference
The Walker Center for Teaching and Learning will host the 2023 Instructional Excellence Conference from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 9, in the University Center Tennessee Room. Come eat breakfast, hear a powerful address from our featured speaker and engage in a workshop that will give us some compelling ideas to consider as we decompress from the 2022-23 academic year and gear up for fall 2023. For more information and to register, click here.
The featured speaker will be Dr. Kevin Gannon, director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence and professor of history at Queens University of Charlotte (North Carolina). He is the author of “Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto,” part of the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series from West Virginia University Press, and is a regular contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education. To get a sense of Dr. Gannon’s passion for impactful teaching, check out his conversations on the Tea for Teaching and Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts.
Coming soon: CO.MOBILITY Summit
UTC is a co-sponsor and host of the upcoming CO.MOBILITY Summit, which will take place May 9-11 in the University Center.
The summit, powered by CO.LAB—the Chattanooga-based nonprofit accelerating early-stage startups in the sustainable mobility space—will cover the latest advancements in electric and autonomous vehicles, Smart City innovations, freight technology and quantum tech. Our own Chancellor Steve Angle and Dr. Mina Sartipi, founding director of the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress, are speakers at the event, which is free to the UTC campus community. Register now and secure your free admission by clicking HERE, then click on “Get My Ticket” and enter promo code MOCS at checkout.
Campus Updates
To all our graduating Mocs, congratulations from UTC Advancement. As you transition from student to alumnus, you have the opportunity to have a lasting impact at UTC. By donating just $5 or more, you can receive an exclusive gold cord to wear at commencement, signifying your commitment to future Mocs. This small donation can go a long way in helping to fund scholarships and enhance academic programs. Plus, wearing the gold cord will set you apart as a proud UTC supporter. Donate today and leave a legacy for future students at your alma mater.
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The Department of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science will celebrate 30 years of excellence in teaching by Dr. Jon Mies at a retirement party in his honor from 3-5 p.m. on Thursday, May 4, in the University Center Chickamauga Room. All are invited to attend.
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Want to give your input on health concerns and health issues as a Hamilton County, Tennessee resident? UTC is collaborating with the Hamilton County Health Department on a Public Health Survey. This is an anonymous survey to help us know what programs are needed in Hamilton County. To take the survey online, click here.
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In order to provide new transfer students and their guests with the most information in a limited time frame, New Student and Family Programs is holding a UTC Student Services Fair from 8-9 a.m. in the University Center Tennessee Room during check-in for all in-person transfer orientation sessions on June 8, July 13 and Aug. 1.
If your office or area provides a service or program that would be beneficial to an incoming transfer student, please consider attending the Student Services Fair. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today by emailing your name and program and/or department to: Carrie-Sherbesman@utc.edu.
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The International Symposium on Digital Forensics and Security—ISDFS 2023—will be held both online and in person at UTC on May 11-12. This symposium has been supported by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers since 2016. All papers approved by the referees and presented at the symposium will be sent for publication in the IEEE Xplore library. For information or questions, email Asaf-Varol@utc.edu.
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The Tony Award-winning best musical “Dear Evan Hansen” is coming to the Tivoli Theatre May 23-28, and UTC employees, students, their families and friends are being offered a 25% discount code for select performances.
Interested? Click here, go through the purchase process, and you’ll receive the 25% discount.
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Any University email that contains the following protected or sensitive information must be encrypted:
- Protected health information (i.e., patient record information)
- Personally identifiable information (i.e., Social Security number)
- Credit card information
- Any information protected by governmental or institutional regulations
Did you know you can send encrypted emails to other employees in Outlook by putting the word “encrypt” in the subject line of your email? For more information and step-by-step instructions, visit the IT Knowledge Base.
The UT Vault is another method for securing sensitive emails. This tool is especially useful if you are sending a sensitive email to a student, someone with another email service provider, or if someone outside of UT needs to send you sensitive information. The UT Vault is also useful if you need to send an email with a large attachment. Visit UT Knoxville’s OIT webpage for more information.
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Mocs Card Services is issuing new cards to all faculty, staff and students. Please get your new card before the end of the semester.
What is the difference in the current Mocs Card and the NEW Mocs Card? The new Mocs Card is embedded with a RFID chip (tap technology) that will coincide with the installation of new card readers across campus.
- Bring your current Mocs Card to the ID Office in University Center Room 262 to exchange for the new card.
- The ID Office is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
- If you do not bring your current ID, there is a $30 replacement fee. Replacement fees are processed in the Bursar Office (University Center Room 274).
- Contact Mocs Card Services (423-425-5819) or the ID Office (423-425-2218) with questions.
Looking ahead
Events posted to this week’s University master calendar include:
 Photo courtesy of Ray Soldano/GoMocs.com This week’s Mocs Athletics calendar:
- Tuesday (April 25): Men’s Golf at the SoCon Championships (Eatonton, Ga.), all day
- Thursday (April 27): Beach Volleyball at the OVC Championships (Martin, Tenn.), TBA
- Friday (April 28): Beach Volleyball at the OVC Championships (Martin, Tenn.), TBA
- Saturday (April 29): Beach Volleyball at the OVC Championships (Martin, Tenn.), TBA
- Saturday (April 29): Softball at Furman (Greenville, S.C.), 1 p.m.
- Saturday (April 29): Softball at Furman (Greenville, S.C.), 3 p.m.
- Sunday (April 29): Softball at Furman (Greenville, S.C.), 1 p.m.
Looking back
 Jared Steiman and Alondra Gomez Nuñez, who were married in 2017, went to middle school, high school and UTC together. Jared Steiman, a 2020 UTC graduate who now works as a GEAR UP program coordinator in the UTC Center for Community Career Education, became the second UTC alum in recent weeks to be awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. He will be traveling to Mexico in the fall to assist in teaching English while representing the U.S. as a cultural ambassador.
Here are some other recent UTC stories featured in the Newsroom:
- Freshman Sebastian Jimenez, a Brock Scholar in the Honors College majoring in biology and chemistry, will be participating in a National Science Foundation-funded summer research program at the University of Chicago.
- McClendon Curtis, a Chattanooga native and Mocs football standout, will graduate with a master’s degree in School Leadership in May. He is finishing his last semester online while living and training at a Florida camp for NFL hopefuls.
- UTC junior Destini Givens, who received an associate degree from Chattanooga State Community College in May 2022, is majoring in psychology with a minor in child and family studies. Coming to UTC, she said, “was magical for me.”
- The upcoming 73rd Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will have more than 120 experts who will lead more than 200 educational experiences, including guided hikes to learn about plants and animals, stargazing, wild foods and many other subjects.
- The Guerry Center recently welcomed nearly 80 guests to the 2nd annual Honors College Open House Accepted Students Day—including 34 high school students. While some of the students in attendance still had decisions to be made, most had already accepted their offers to become members of the UTC Class of 2027.
- Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk’s participants was freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.
- The Children’s Center has paid positions for UTC student workers. The center is adjacent to Brown Academy on the south side of campus, convenient for student workers between classes.
Watch: Lina Abdelkarim Profile
Lina Abdelkarim, a construction management master’s student and part of the eight-member team of students from the Department of Interior Architecture and Design and the College of Engineering and Computer Science entered in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2023 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge, recently sat down to talk about her time at UTC and her career aspirations.
WUTC Spotlight: Live in the Library
 Angel Snow (photo credit: Fairlight Hubbard)
A recent session of Richard Winham’s Live in the Library, recorded in the Chattanooga Public Library, featured Angel Snow and her band.
Her new album, “Yesterday is Here,” is a collection of songs written by Tom Waits but radically rearranged by Snow and her band.
“I’ve been looking forward to this session,” Winham said. “When you listen to it I think you’ll understand.”
Be Well Tip of the Week: Managing Stress During Finals
Finals week is a busy, exciting and stressful time of year. Although feeling stress is normal, there are ways to mitigate the impacts and keep you performing at your best. This starts with scheduling opportunities for breaks to rest and reset.
Pencil in some of these events this week to help you find balance and catch your breath:
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