November 21, 2023

2023 Interdisciplinary Research Fall Forum Wrap Up

Title Card: Computational Approaches for a Just and Sustainable World

Nearly 200 faculty, students, postdocs and staff from Ohio State and beyond participated in the 2023 Interdisciplinary Research Fall Forum co-hosted by TDAI and the Sustainability Institute Nov. 8 & 9 in Pomerene Hall. This year's central theme was "Computational Approaches for a Just and Sustainable World."

The event featured an opening keynote by Dr. Patrick Louchouarn, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty at OSU, five panel discussions, two workshops, flash talks by students, postdocs, and faculty, a student research poster and interdisciplinary partner session, networking reception, and a closing keynote by Dr. Vipin Kumar, Regents Professor and William Norris Endowed Chair of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota.

An unforgettable addition to this year's Forum, Baba Brinkman and Zeps of Event Rap captured and recapped each session in bespoke rap, freestyled student research presentations back to them, and added a playful energy to the enterprise that surprised, enchanted, and engaged this year's attendees.

Judges awarded prizes to seven students for their presentations in the research poster session, which featured 30 entries:

Traditional Research Posters

First Place: Oluwadamilola Salau, "Beyond Water Bodies: Urban Pluvial Flood Risk in Columbus, Ohio." Advisor: Steven Quiring.
Second Place: Jacob Gardner, "Assessing the Financial Capability of Ohio Water Utilities to Meet New PFAS Limits." Advisor: Daniel Gingerich.
Third Place (tied):
Yuntian He, "Fairmile: Towards an Efficient Framework for Fair Graph Representation Learning." Advisor: Srini Parthasarathy.
-and-
Xueqiao Peng, "Using Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Objective Cluster-Level Optimization of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Infectious Disease." Advisor: Andrew Perrault.

Research Posters That Included a Data Visualization Component

First Place: Wenxin Du, "Quantitative Approaches Toward Equitable Virtual Reality." Advisor: Mario Peruggia.
Second Place: Pranav Maneriker, "Interactive Fairness Auditing." Advisor: Srini Parthasarathy.
Third Place: Yang Tang, "OSU Digital Twin Engine Initiative." Advisor: Rongjun Qin.

TDAI and SI are deeply grateful to the following faculty, postdocs, staff, and industry partners for their time and efforts:

Session Organizers and Participants

Shadrick Addy, MGD - Assistant Professor, Design, Adavanced Computer Center for the Arts & Design (ACCAD), OSU
Kelsea Best, PhD - Assistant Professor, City & Regional Planning, Civil, Environmental, & Geodetic Engineering, OSU
Christian Bianco, PhD - Assistant Professor, Fisher College of Business, OSU
Jeffrey M. Bielicki, PhD - Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs
Michael Bisesi, PhD - Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Academic Administration; Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, OSU
Chen Chen, PhD - Assistant Professor, Integrated Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, OSU
Emily Creamer, PhD - Post-Doctoral Scholar, Educational Studies, College of Education and Human Ecology, OSU
Daniel Gingerich, PhD - Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, OSU
Robert R. Hoffman, PhD - Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Elena Irwin, PhD - Distinguished Professor of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences in Economics and Sustainability; Faculty Director, Sustainability Institute, OSU
Christopher Ito, CPA - Chief Executive Officer, FFI Holdings LLC
Jeffrey Jacquet, PhD - Associate Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, OSU
Katelyn Johnson, PhD - Principal Analyst in the Net Zero & Climate Risk practice Verdantix
Matthew Johnson, PhD - Research Scientist, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Rebecca Kemper, PhD - Chief Executive Officer, Columbus Landmarks Foundation
Martina Leveni, PhD - LECACY Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, OSU
Mathew Mayhew, PhD - Professor, William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher Professor of Educational Administration, Educational Studies, College of Education and Human Ecology, OSU
Harvey Miller, PhD - Professor and Reusche Chair, Geographic Information Science
Sandy Nessing - Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, AEP
Jeremy Patterson - Senior Graphics Researcher, Advanced Computer Center for the Arts & Design (ACCAD), OSU
Mario Peruggia, PhD - Professor, Statistics
Rongjun Qin, PhD - Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, OSU
Steven Quiring, PhD - TDAI Core Faculty; Professor, Geography, OSU
Smitha Rao, PhD - Assistant Professor, Social Work, OSU
Mike Rayo, PhD - TDAI Core Faculty; Associate Professor, Integrated Systems Engineering, OSU
Ethan Rivera - Student Programming Lead, Ohio State Battelle Center for Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, OSU
Abdollah Shafieezadeh, PhD - Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, OSU
Shelbi Toone, MPA - Project Manager, Ohio History Connection
YaVonda Ulfig, DBA - Energy Transition & Sustainability Manager, American Electric Power (AEP)
Katie White, MSW - Administrator, Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging
David D. Woods, PhD - Professor Emeritus, Integrated Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, OSU
Amy Youngs, PhD - Associate Professor and Graduate Studies Chair, Art

Poster Judges

Kate Bartter - Executive Director, Sustainability Institute
Vimal Samuel Buck - Director, Industrial Cybersecurity, Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CMDE)
Stephanie Buehler - Research Development Specialist, Enterprise for Research, Innovation & Knowledge (ERIK)
Xiaoxuan Cai, PhD - Assistant Professor, Statistics
Andreas Chavez - Assistant Professor, Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology
Elizabeth Drotleff - Director, Industry Research Collaborations, College of Arts & Sciences
Yuehua (Zoe) Duan, PhD - Data Science Senior Analyst, TDAI
Julie Field, PhD - Associate Professor, Anthropology
Dana Howard, PhD - Assistant Professor, Biomedical Education & Anatomy, College of Medicine
David Hudak - Executive Director, Ohio Supercomputer Center
Marta Jarzyna, PhD - Assistant Professor, Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology
Paola Malerba, PhD - Center for Biobehavioral Health at Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Lorrayne Miralha, PhD - TDAI Core Faculty, Assistant Professor, Food, Agriculural & Biological Engineering
Emily Nutwell, PhD - Program Director, Masters of Translational Data Analytics, TDAI
Dimitri Papazoglou - Applied Research Consultant Engineer, Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CMDE)
Andrew Perrault, PhD - Assistant Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
Brian Skinner, PhD - TDAI Core Faculty, Assistant Professor, Physics

Research Partners

TDAI and SI are also grateful to the following for participating in the Partner Session showcase of resources and opportunities for interdisciplinary researchers.

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