Category: Presentations and Talks

Join the Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering Department for a seminar by Harsha Abeykoon, Plymouth State University, from 9:30 to 10:50 a.m. Tuesday, April 16 in 262 Rhatigan Student Center, Herrman Room, on “Touching Remotely? a reality for Virtual Reality (VR).” Light refreshments and snacks will be served.

Seminar abstract:

The sense of touch stands out as unique among human sensory capabilities. For effective transmission, actions initiated by an individual and corresponding environmental reaction must be conveyed in a two-way (bilateral) manner. Bilateral tele-operation is realized using an acceleration-based controller. Evolution of the tele-operative technologies will be presented. If tactile sensations are transmitted, archived and replayed, virtual objects can be created for VR environments.

Instead of traditional force sensors, an innovative observer method is employed to grasp the subtle dynamics of interaction. The seminar will delve into the intricacies of reaction torque observer and its variant, the disturbance observer. The range of applications is broad, extending from remote surgical procedures and patient rehabilitation to advanced tele operative systems.

Moreover, the presentation will highlight the technical advancements while offering a deeper understanding of how collaborative projects within academic institutions contribute to the field of haptic technology. It will also demonstrate a few other student projects ranging from sound source localization, field-based navigation, vision and to gait pattern generation using reinforcement learning.

Speaker bio:

Harsha Abeykoon obtained his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and went on to complete his master’s degree in mobile robotics and his doctorate in motion control of robots at Keio University, Japan. He has served as an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand) and was a senior lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He is currently affiliated with Plymouth State University and holds positions as the vice chair of the IEEE New Hampshire section and the secretary of its Robotics and Automation Society.

As part of the Latin American and Latinx Studies Series, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures will host feminist scholar and activist Silvia Trujillo Cordobés at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24 in 203 Rhatigan Student Center, Lancelot Room.

Cordobés is a sociologist, currently a professor of gender and communication, and cultures and diversity in the Department of Communication at the University Rafael Landívar in Guatemala City. Her lecture will be on “Central American Feminisms: Gender Violence and Migration to the United States.” It will be an opportunity to talk about women and gender issues, migration and contemporary Latin American topics. All are invited, although the lecture is in Spanish, and interpretation will be available.

Dr. James C. Ho, professor emeritus, will give the next physics seminar talk at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 in 128 Jabara Hall and also on Zoom.

The talk is titled “A Challenge: Calorimetric Measurements of Room-Temperature Superconductors under Pressure.” Dr. Ho has made a major effort in developing titanium-based aneurysm clips now widely used in neurosurgery.

The lecture is part of the Physics Seminar Series, which brings speakers to campus several times each semester. The series is sponsored by the Eddy and April Lucas Fund.

Join Interstellar Seminar from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 in 104 Jabara Hall or online to experience Dr. Nick Kanas’ talk on the psychology of interstellar travel.

The stresses of living in the wilderness of space are distinct from what we typically experience on the ground. Multigenerational missions to the stars will create unique challenges for mental health, interpersonal relationships and governance.

Dr. Kanas focuses on space psychology as an emeritus professor of psychiatry at University of California at San Francisco. He is an award-winning author and researcher and fellow of both the American Group Psychotherapy Association and the Royal Astronomical Society. Author of the leading textbook on space psychology and psychiatry, Dr. Kanas is also a celebrated science fiction novelist.

Zoom details and archived lectures can be found on the Wichita Space Initiative webpage.

The Department of Biological Sciences’ Seminar Series continues from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 15 in 218 Hubbard Hall with Dr. Matt Gibson of the Stowers Institute with his talk “Understanding your Inner Anemone: Hox Genes, Segmentation, and Somitogenesis During Cnidarian Development.”

As always, seminars are open to the public and undergraduates are encouraged to attend.

The Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics will present Dr. Kapildeb Ambal, assistant professor of physics at Wichita State, as he discusses “Quantum magnetic field sensing and its potential for industrial applications” at 3 p.m. Friday, April 12 in 123 Wallace Hall.

Join the Department of Political Science and the Global Learning Center of Wichita from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20 in 100 Lindquist Hall for Dr. Doris Chang’s talk regarding the 2024 presidential election in Taiwan.

Dr. Chang, professor of political science, will discuss the following:

• How does the 2024 presidential elections in Taiwan and the United States affect U.S.-China-Taiwan eelations?
• How does Taiwan exercise its alternative sovereignty in the international community?
• What are the key industries in Taiwan that makes it indispensable to the rest of the world?

Chiyoko Myose will give an artist talk in conjunction with her immersive art installation “A Thread X A Thread,” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 in 210 McKnight Art Center.

Chiyoko Myose is an artist originally from Wakayama, Japan, now based in Wichita. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Doshisha Women’s College in Kyoto, Japan, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Wichita State. Her works are primarily painting and installation art. Chiyoko has been showing her works through exhibitions and commissions regionally, nationally and internationally including Japan and Italy.

“A Thread X A Thread” will be on display in the McKnight Art Center atrium from April 12 though April 26.

Join the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for a public lecture by Dr. Mark Walsh, Maynooth University, Ireland, titled “Isotopy, Concordance and Intermediate Curvatures” at 3 p.m. Friday, April 12 in 372 Jabara Hall.  Refreshments will be available at 2:30 p.m. in 353 Jabara Hall.

Dr. Walsh is a geometer who studies the relationship between topology and curvature. His early work concerned the space of Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature (psc) on a smooth compact manifold. There he made a significant contribution to a famous problem: whether concordant psc-metrics are isotopic. He also exhibited certain loop space structures on this space in the case when the underlying manifold is a sphere. More recently, his work has involved other curvature conditions, in particular Ricci curvature as well as intermediate Ricci and scalar curvatures.

The Lecture Series in the Mathematical Sciences began Oct. 12, 1987. The lecture series was originally funded by the Boeing Aircraft Company (1987-1992) and organized by Professor Gary Crown. Since it began, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics has been bringing mathematicians and scientists from around the world to campus. For more information about The Lecture Series in the Mathematical Sciences, contact the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at 316-978-3160.

As humanity looks beyond the star system, it will need a culture of art and literature to provide perspective for those exploring and colonizing new frontiers. Join Interstellar Seminar from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 in 104 Jabara Hall or online.

As an interdisciplinary artist, Daniela de Paulis works at the interface of the arts and sciences by collaborating with radio telescopes worldwide. Her performance art combines technologies and philosophies that advance astrobiology, neurobiology and new space through public engagement. She is a member of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee to better the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and to communicate across the universe through art.

Zoom details and archived seminars can be found on the Wichita Space Initiative webpage.