Dr. Lisa Piazza, left, talks to Mengjun Xie during a reception to welcome her to campus. She is director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE), which connects students with summer research projects on campus. Piazza was selected following a national search in 2017 and began her work at UTC this summer. Before joining UTC, Piazza was assistant director for undergraduate research at the University of South Florida. She has a bachelor of art history and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Florida and a master in art history from the University of North Carolina.