2023 Interdisciplinary Research Fall Forum Wrap Up

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.

Title card: Computational Approaches for a Just and Sustainable World

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