RECOGNIZING RESEARCH
Annual Research and Creative Achievement Week spotlights excellence
Approximately 375 undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral scholars are expected to present their research and creative work this week to fellow students, colleagues, faculty and the community at East Carolina University’s Mendenhall Student Center.
<img src="http://news.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/80/2018/04/RCAWschedule.jpg" alt="Click on the RCAW image above to download the week's schedule of activities in PDF format. For additional information, visit https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/rcaw/. (Submitted image).” width=”360″ height=”466″ class=”size-full wp-image-46231″ /> Click on the RCAW image above to download the week’s schedule of activities in PDF format. For additional information, visit https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/rcaw/. (Submitted image).It is the ninth annual installment of ECU’s Research & Creative Achievement Week, a forum to display discovery in biomedical sciences, business, education, engineering, the fine and performing arts, human health, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, technology and computer science, and visual art and design.
Other special events this week include the Intersection: Arts@Science, the International Scholars Symposium, the Honors College Research Poster Showcase and the Scholar-Teacher Symposium.
Activities run through Friday.
“We are very excited this year to have the largest, best-ever set of student creative activity and research presentations with the theme of ‘Networking Ideas,’” said Tom McConnell, associate dean of the Graduate School at ECU and chair of the this year’s RCAW events.
The best among the student research projects and the Faculty Mentor Award recipients will be recognized during a Friday luncheon in the Mendenhall Great Rooms.
Additionally, faculty recipients of ECU’s annual Achievement for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity awards are recognized this week for the originality and excellence of their work.
Recipients were nominated by their peers and recommended by the Faculty Senate Academic Awards Committee. Each recipient receives a cash award, and all will be honored at a lecture and reception April 29 at the East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU.
This year’s recipients are described below.
Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
John D. Shearin III
Professor & Director,
School of Theatre and Dance
College of Fine Arts & Communication
John Shearin: ‘Creative Force’
John Shearin is the chief administrator in the School of Theatre and Dance, but remains a teacher and director at heart.
In his 25 years at ECU, Shearin has kept a full schedule for each of those callings, overseeing more than 120 theatre and dance productions, directing more than 45 plays and acting in about a dozen. Being the chairman of a department requires meetings, paperwork and desk time, but he has insisted on teaching and directing as well because that’s what he loves.
For his outstanding leadership, Shearin has been awarded ECU’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, one of the most prestigious awards given by the university.
Five-Year Achievement Award Winners
Jinling Huang
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Thomas Harriot College of Arts & Sciences
Jinling Huang: Gene Guru
Jinling Huang, an expert in comparative and evolutionary genomics, computational biology and bioinformatics, is one of this year’s recipients of East Carolina University’s Five-Year Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity.
An associate professor in the Department of Biology, Huang studies the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of eukaryotes — organisms whose cells contain a nucleus and other organelles enclosed within membranes. Fungi are a simple form of eukaryotes.
Huigang Liang
Professor, Department of
Management Information Systems
College of Business
Huigang Liang: ‘An Impressive Record’
Huigang Liang, an expert in how people and organizations use information technology, has received a Five-Year Achievement Award from East Carolina University recognizing the originality and excellence of his research.
Liang teaches in the Department of Management Information Systems in the College of Business. He holds the Robert Dillard Teer Jr. Endowed Chair in Research and is director of the Center for Healthcare Management Systems.