Category: Presentations and Talks

Want to know more about life in space? Join alumna Dr. Sarah Wallace as she talks about NASA experiments with microbes on the International Space Station. She will present “Microbes in space” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 28 in 209 Hubbard Hall and via Zoom. The ID for the meeting is 977 7689 8339, password is 574212.

The presentation is geared towards the general public. Wallace serves as a technical lead in the Microbiology Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center, which is responsible for mitigating infectious disease risk during human spaceflight. Her responsibilities include the assessment of microbial risk based on vehicle and mission architectures as well as crewmember, food and environmental monitoring. These assessments are used to develop requirements for NASA and commercial spaceflight vehicles, including the International Space Station.

In addition to her operational support of human spaceflight, Wallace leads new technology initiatives for her discipline with the goal of reducing Earth-dependence for complex sample analysis. She has served as the principal investigator for numerous spaceflight investigations, including those to increase off-planet molecular biology capabilities.

The Watkins Visiting Professorship was created in 1974 by the Watkins Foundation. The grant is now provided through the Watkins fund, a part of the Wichita State Foundation’s endowment. For more information about this lecture series, contact Dr. David Eichhorn, associate dean for faculty development and research, at 316-978-6659.

Join the Department of Math and Statistics for a public lecture by Keying Ye, Ph.D., from the University of Texas at San Antonia.

The lecture, titled “Normalized Power Prior Bayesian Analysis,” will take place at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 31 in 372 Jabara Hall. Refreshments will be available at 2 p.m. in 353 Jabara Hall.

The Department of Biological Sciences’ Seminar Series continues at 4 p.m. Monday, March 27 in 231 Hubbard Hall or via Zoom with Dr. Sarah Wallace, a space microbiologist at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Wallace will present a technical talk over “Spaceflight microbiology: Beyond the cultures.” As always, seminars are open to the public and undergraduate students are encouraged to attend.

The Zoom ID for the session is 977 7689 8339 and the password is 574212.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering within the College of Engineering is hosting Dr. Theresa Locascio and Dr. Jonathan Ashley, scientists from Catalent Pharma Solutions, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 28 in 134 Woolsey Hall or via Zoom.

The seminar, “Development of Oral Solid Dosage Forms,” is open to students, faculty and staff.

Those who cannot attend in person can join via Zoom. The password is: BME760D.

Join MathWorks and the Advanced Virtual Engineering Laboratory at NIAR-WSU for a technical MATLAB and Simulink seminar for faculty, students, researchers and staff, co-presented by Dr. Gerardo Olivares and MathWorks engineers, at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 28 in the NetApp building.

• Application of MATLAB and Simulink for digital engineering and digital twin aerospace applications: This technical talk highlights the use of MATLAB and Simulink in digital engineering and digital twin activities to simulate aerospace systems.
• Introduction to data analysis and machine learning with MATLAB: In this session, MathWorks engineers will show participants how MATLAB can be used to visualize and analyze complex data, perform numeric computations, and develop algorithms in the areas of data analytics and machine learning.

Admission is free, but seats are limited.

The School of Computing within the College of Engineering is hosting Yili Ren, a doctoral candidate from Florida State University, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, March 24 in 260 Jabara Hall.

Ren will present “Intelligent Wireless Systems: From Human Sensing to Object Detection” to students, staff, faculty and industry partners.

The Department of Aerospace Engineering within the College of Engineering will host Dr. Nadia Kianvashrad, a post-doctoral associate from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, from 10:15 to 11 a.m. Friday, March 24 in 209 Wallace Hall.

Students, staff, faculty and industry partners are invited to attend Kianvashrad’s talk, “Prediction of Aerothermodynamic Loading and Flight Control Using Energy.”

Join the Department of Math and Statistics for a public lecture by Dr. Qi Zhang, professor at the University of California, Riverside.

The lecture, titled “Log gradient estimates of the heat equation on manifolds,” will take place at 3 p.m. Friday, March 24 in room 372 Jabara Hall. Refreshments will be available at 2:30 p.m. in 353 Jabara Hall.

Leanne Caret — former president of Boeing Defense, Space & Security and the 2023 engineer in residence for the College of Engineering — is visiting Wichita State Monday, March 27. Caret will be featured at two speaking events that students, staff, faculty, alumni and industry partners are welcome to attend.

The first speaking event, “How To Navigate Your Way to the Top,” will be a Q&A session hosted by Dr. Anthony Muscat, the dean of the College of Engineering. The session will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in 301 Rhatigan Student Center. Donuts and coffee will be served.

The second speaking event, “A Conversation With Leanne Caret,” will be another Q&A session hosted by Grace Peterson, a junior mechanical engineering major and the president of the Society of Women Engineers student organization. The session will be from 4 to 5 p.m. in 128 Jabara Hall. Cookies and iced tea will be served.

Distinguished Professor of Psychology Dr. Virginia Valian — member of the doctoral faculties of psychology, linguistics and speech-language-hearing sciences and director of the Language Acquisition Research Center and the Gender Equity Project at Hunter College, CUNY — is visiting Wichita State. The National Science Foundation Advance Catalyst team on campus is sponsoring the visit, including Valian speaking on gender equity at two events.

Valian will deliver the talk, “The Advancement of Women: Better, but Still too Slow,” 10-11 a.m. Friday, March 31 in 265 Rhatigan Student Center. Faculty, staff and alumni are invited to attend the talk.

An open forum featuring Valian will be from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in 265 RSC. Undergraduate and graduate women in STEM fields are encouraged to attend the event.