@work on the economy:

 

 

NCCU students, including Physics majors Joseph Estevez (left) and Nene Ugoeke (right), in the modern physics laboratory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STEM Education a DREAM Come True at NCCU

 

UNC’s draft strategic plan highlights the important role innovation will play in our state going forward:  “The future success of North Carolina’s economy will hinge less on our ability to make things than to think things—to relentlessly create new knowledge, new technologies, new products, and processes, new ways of organizing and doing work.”

 

STEM students – those with skills in science, technology, engineering and math – will play an important role in that economy, and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is actively working to recruit and graduate more of them. Through a $1.75 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, NCCU plans to implement its DREAM STEM program, whose acronym stands for “Driving Research, Entrepreneurship and Academics through Mastering STEM.”

 

The program’s goal? To get more students studying STEM disciplines and to get them thinking about how to translate what they learn in labs into cutting-edge solutions to community and business problems.

 

According to Dr. Caesar Jackson, interim dean of graduate studies and principal investigator for the grant, growing the number of students involved in STEM requires connecting students to those disciplines well before they declare a major. “We have to develop a STEM cohort through learning communities,” he said. Working with NCCU’s Office of Orientation and First-Year Experience, DREAM STEM will offer a two-credit orientation-style course for new students planning to declare a science major. In addition, the program will offer five $4,000 scholarships annually, student research experiences and travel and presentation assistance.

 

DREAM STEM will also challenge students to think about the practical implications of their research—both as solutions to community problems and as commercially viable products. Through a new Research, Discovery and Innovation Summer Institute, STEM majors will participate in an eight-week science-based entrepreneurship program focused on the research-and-development portion of the entrepreneurship cycle.

 

“Our competitiveness as a country is dependent on entrepreneurship,” said Jackson. “Students working with nanoparticles shouldn’t stop with understanding how they work; we want them to consider how the nanoparticles can be imbedded to create a better sensor.”

 

The NCCU School of Business has also created a certification program in technological entrepreneurship available to STEM majors. “Successful completion of the program will give students a certificate in technological entrepreneurship along with their undergraduate degree,” said Jackson.

 

NCCU’s efforts in entrepreneurship education will complement a broader focus on entrepreneurship across the University of North Carolina system, which boasts formal entrepreneurship programs on 12 campuses. Last year alone more than 700 students graduated with majors, minors, certificates, or master’s degrees in entrepreneurship-- helping to ensure that North Carolina’s people and businesses continue to be among the most innovative in the nation.

 

To read the original article published on NCCU’s website, click here. 

 

 

 

 

@work in the community:

 

 

Sanitation Creations placed third overall in a the 2012 UNC Social Business Conference. Founder Liz Morris (left) and team members (l-r) Kristen Downs and Alison Sanders pose with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus at the event.

 

 

 

UNC Social Business Conference Followup: Two Ideas Keep Going…and Going…

 

What do portable toilets and farmers markets have in common? It’s more than fertilizer. Both of these areas are seen as ripe for innovation by Liz Morris at UNC-Chapel Hill and Hillary Murphy at UNC Asheville, contestants in the 2012 UNC Social Business Competition. While the competition ended in September, both Morris and Murphy continue develop their businesses and perspectives on how to provide sustainable solutions to some of the biggest problems communities in North Carolina and the world at large are facing.

 

Liz Morris and her team “Sanitation Creations” hope to help address the global sanitation crisis, which is responsible for 1.5 million deaths a year according to the World Health Organization. Liz and her team landed third place in the business plan competition for the Dungaroo, their idea for an environmentally friendly portable toilet that is waterless, odorless and cost-efficient. The invention uses specially-lined bags that kill pathogens, which are then sealed after use, safely storing the waste so it can later be turned into energy.

 

Following the social business conference, Sanitation Creations kicked off a crowd funding campaign where they raised more than $3,000. “We plan to use the money to continue developing our patent-pending waste containment process,” said Morris.

 

Their efforts have not gone unnoticed; Sanitation Creations was recently asked to join the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, a group of regional veteran-entrepreneurs who mentor startups with high-growth potential. “Blackstone Entrepreneurial Network is giving us the mentorship and tools to move from being a start-up to a viable company and couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead,”  said Morris. “2013 will be the year of the Dungaroo.”

 

In addition to jumpstarting companies, the competition also transformed the way that students think about philanthropy. Hillary Murphy, a Health and Wellness Promotion Major at UNCA continues to develop her team’s proposal to fund an expansion of  the use of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards to farmers markets through an innovative farming membership program.  

 

“I wanted to do this before the competition but I had always thought it would be grant or government-supported. The competition challenged me to look at the issue from a business stand point—where the intervention could to grow without any outside help.” She said.

 

Since the Social Business competition, Hillary and her faculty adviser Dr. Ameena Batda, have presented the project to community members and faculty, and are currently in conversation with the Western North Carolina Community Foundation and the Buncombe County Health Department. After getting initial startup support, Hillary hopes to be able to offer fresh and nutritious produce to communities with some of the worst health outcomes.

 

While Hillary is hopeful that the project will begin helping underserved communities before she graduates next year, she is certain that the process has already helped her clarify her what she wants to do after college. “Before this project and the social business competition, my work with community health outreach programs made me think my ultimate job after college would be working in a non-profit. After working on this project, I think my ultimate job would be working in social enterprise,” said Hillary. 

 

 

 

@work in the world:

 

 

 A drawing Bates did of Sgt. Jacks, who lost his leg in Afghanistan to an improvised explosive device in 2011. Photo courtesy of Robert Bates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Marine Shares International Combat Experience Through Art

 

Former Marine and UNC Charlotte sophomore Rob Bates is taking a dangerous and deeply personal international experience and turning it into art. His goal? To make sure the story of American’s war in Afghanistan and the people who fought it are remembered. His medium? A pencil and a sketch pad.

 

Bates came to UNCC following two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Wounded in an IED blast and suffering from PTSD, Bates wanted more people to know about what he saw and learned. Last spring he mounted an exhibit of some of his combat art drawings at UNCC, but he wanted to do more. So he took off last month with sponsorship from American Public Media, going back into harm’s way on a project to document the experience of “regular” Marines, called “Sketching the Drawdown.” He’s just back, with an inspiring -- and cautionary – story to tell.

 

Bates began to create combat art while in Afghanistan in 2004, climbing hilltops to sketch the villages below and document the entrance and exit routes and other information necessary for military activity. Upon his second deployment in 2009, he bought a sketchbook and began to document people, places and events. "At the time, I thought, this will be something cool for my son to have when I’m 60," said Bates. His work was discovered by Michael Fay, a highly regarded combat illustrator, who encouraged Bates to make his art public.

 

In May of 2012 Fay and Bates organized an exhibition of combat art—called “The Joe Bonham Project”-- at UNCC. The project, named after the protagonist in “Johnny Got His Gun” is designed tells the story of the struggles and triumphs of wounded veterans. The subject is deeply personal for Bates, both as a veteran and one of the wounded. “You see guys who have lost limbs who are adjusting—picking up the pieces of their lives and building a new normal, which is really inspiring,” said Bates.  

 

The exhibition also serves another important function—refocusing America’s attention on the ongoing war and its survivors.  “The return isn’t what grabs attention. You hear way more about the Kardashians than you hear about veterans. That’s what Americans feed off of. I just wish we could replace the Kardashians and put a few of these guys in the spotlight.”

 

Bates is doing his part.  With support from APM, (and a borrowed bullet-proof vest) Bates’ returned to Afghanistan to document the work of Marines during the drawdown of U.S. forces (click here to listen to the APM interview).  A lot has changed since Bates was in Afghanistan in 2008—both on the ground and for Bates personally. “A lot of young guys I talked to were disappointed with the more logistical role that the war is in now; after all of the training they did and the build-up, they want to see action—it’s like the Super Bowl for them.”  Bates added “For me, the glamour of war has worn off—I guess some of that comes with age and some of that comes from having been through it.”

 

Bates hopes to use his experiences in the field and in his art classes at UNCC, to go on to graduate school—and eventually teach.  For UNCC—and all of the schools in the UNC system, Bates’ story is a testament to the perseverance and unique perspective that the 8,400 veterans enrolled at UNC campuses have to offer. To learn more about Rob Bates or see more of his work, see his blog here. 

 

 

Fact of the Month

 

Between 2003 and 2012, the number of students from India has increased from 900 on 10 UNC college campuses to 1,418 on 15 UNC campuses – a 57.6% increase.

 

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