Grand Challenges Lunch and Learn  

“The Marathon that Feels like a Sprint: Lessons Learned from a Mid-Cycle Grand Challenges Initiative”
Nebraska Union Platte River Room 
Box lunch provided.

Learn about how another institution is focusing on finding solutions to some of the world’s most significant problems. Jennifer Lyon Gardner will share her experience implementing Bridging Barriers, the campus-wide research grand challenges program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Lyon Gardner is deputy vice president for research at Texas. Before joining the Office of the Vice President for Research at UT, she founded and directed the Strategic Research Initiatives team in its College of Natural Sciences. She served on the board of directors for the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) from 2017 to 2021.

Innovator Celebration

Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center Banquet Hall

Hosted by NUtech Ventures

Join us in honoring the accomplishments and achievements of all our university innovators with a reception including drinks and heavy hors d’oeuvres. Chancellor Ronnie Green and Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Bob Wilhelm will provide remarks with an awards ceremony to follow.

Grand Challenges RFP Town Hall (virtual)

Grand Challenge steering committee members and staff of the Office of Research and Economic Development are hosting a virtual town hall to provide information about the Grand Challenges RFP process and take faculty questions about RFP requirements. Questions may be submitted in advance to grandchallenges@unl.edu.

Research and Creative Activity Faculty Slam

Wick Alumni Center

The Slam offers faculty a platform to communicate with peers about their research, scholarship or creative activity through rapid-fire talks that are entertaining and easy to understand.  Faculty presenters will have five minutes to engage the audience. Presentations must address this question: In what ways does your research, scholarship or creative activity connect with one or more of UNL’s Grand Challenge themes?

Faculty talks:

· Ciera Kirkpatrick of journalism presents “Mass Media’s Effects on Health and How Strategic Communication Can Aid in Achieving Health Equity.”
· Sarah Zuckerman of educational administration presents “Nebraska Schools Hub: A Multidisciplinary Educational Improvement Hub.”
· Mark Griep of chemistry presents “STEM Literacy Group is looking for partners.”

Following the presentations, the audience will vote to determine a winner. Read on for further details.

Nebraska Research Days Keynote featuring Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

East Union, Great Plains Room

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman’s expertise in diversity, equity and inclusion within academia and the workplace is highly sought after by companies and campuses across the country. She has given talks to organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Harvard University and The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. Her work has been featured in The Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR, Forbes and Newsweek.

Opoku-Agyeman is currently a public policy doctoral student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is an alum of Harvard University, where she was a Research Scholar in Economics, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she received her B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in Economics.

Nebraska Lecture featuring Julia McQuillan, Willa Cather Professor of Sociology

“Disruptive Questions and Productive Tensions: What Can Social Scientists Bring to Teams Seeking Equity?”

Julia McQuillan, Willa Cather Professor of sociology, will discuss how sociologists can help broaden perspectives throughout research by raising important questions that might not occur naturally to other scientists in the STEM fields. 

Postdoc Science Slam

Howard L. Hawks Hall, Room 032
Hosted by the Office of Graduate Studies.

Postdoc researchers from a range of disciplines will give engaging, concise, and understandable 5-minute presentations about their research or creative activity. Following the presentations, the audience will vote to determine a winner.

Birthday Party Open House at Morrill Hall

Join us in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the University of Nebraska State Museum, with free admission, prizes and activities for faculty, staff and their families, students and the public. Cookies and other refreshments will be served.

Activities include a scavenger hunt, selfies with Archie, reopening of the Mueller Planetarium, Visible Lab “Meet a Scientist,” and the newest exhibit: “Hidden Prairie: Exploring Life in One Square Meter.”

Activities for researchers, from 2-4 p.m., include discussing ways to engage the public as a Visible Lab scientist, how to expand digital reach to school-age audiences with virtual programs and supporting the community with research and instructional activities. See additional details here.

Faculty Recognition Celebration (virtual)

Our annual celebration will feature the accomplishments of Nebraska Research this year and will include prizes, videos and a message from Bob Wilhelm, vice chancellor for research and economic development. Faculty featured in the Office of Research and Economic Development’s newly released annual report will be highlighted.

To see faculty featured in the new Research and Creative Activity booklet who wrote, edited or translated books or chapters ​published July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021, see this slideshow.