Summer 2020 Commencement scheduled for Friday at Cajun Field
The University of Louisiana will confer undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees during Summer 2020 Commencement on Friday, Aug. 7, at Cajun Field.
The ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. Commencement ceremonies are typically held at the Cajundome. Summer 2020 Commencement, however, will be held outside because of bans on large gatherings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Safety will be a focus.
Seating for graduates and spectators will be arranged to ensure social distancing.
Up to four family members or friends of graduates who have reserved tickets can attend the ceremony.
Guests and graduates will be required to wear masks.
Sanitizing stations where attendees can find disinfectant will be set up.
Guests should enter the Cajun Field parking lot via West Congress Street through Gate 4. They will be able to begin filing into the stadium at 6:30 p.m. through gates C and D.
Graduates should enter the Cajun Field parking lot via Reinhardt Drive through Gate 5. They will gather near the athletic complex to line up.
Dr. Dianne Olivier will be Commencement speaker. Olivier is coordinator of the doctoral program in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership in the College of Education. She holds the Joan D. and Alexander S. Haig/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Education.
Her research interests include professional learning communities, educational leadership, change process and school culture. Olivier is a Jackson Scholar Mentor for minority doctoral students through the University Council for Educational Administration.
The University’s clear bag policy will be in place. Attendees can carry one small, clear bag and one small purse or clutch. University Police officers will examine bags and purses.
Louisiana holds Commencement three times a year, at the end of the fall, spring and summer semesters.
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Cajun Compass gives students, alums networking, mentorship platform
The University of Louisiana has developed an online platform for career development and networking among students, alumni, faculty members and supporters.
The UL Alumni Association’s Cajun Compass enables people who sign up for the free service to connect with mentors, or to mentor someone else. The platform gives users the ability to seek – and find – others with similar majors, careers goals and interests.
“Students can search for mentors employed by companies they aspire to work for; employers, on the other hand, can scout potential hires,” said Jennifer LeMeunier, executive director of the UL Alumni Association.
Users can schedule virtual chats, use discussion boards to ask questions or share advice, post jobs and internships, and visit a job board that culls postings from across the world.
Jonathan Adams, engagement coordinator for the University’s Alumni Association, said Cajun Compass “provides a comprehensive range of capabilities for one purpose - to connect people who can best assist each other in meeting their career goals.”
The platform enables users to refine searches by geographic regions, stages of their careers, or participation in common campus organizations or activities. It also includes links and resources that offer information on job markets and trends.
Cajun Compass was created with input and feedback from University alumni, students and faculty and staff members.
One of them is Megan Breaux, president of Alumni Association’s College of Education Alumni Chapter. Breaux is also a college and career coach with GEAR UP. The U.S. Department of Education program provides support and resources for high-school students making college and career choices.
“Cajun Compass is a very innovative resource, because it takes the guesswork out of networking and establishing professional relationships. It’s especially beneficial at a time when face-to-face networking isn’t feasible,” she explained.
Learn more or sign up for Cajun Compass at https://compass.louisiana.edu
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$1M federal grant boosts research to convert carbon dioxide into ethylene
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Louisiana a $1 million grant to develop a way to convert carbon dioxide into ethylene, one of the world’s most widely used chemicals.
The research has a potential environmental upside. The proposed technology being developed at UL produces ethylene by breaking down carbon dioxide with low pulses of electricity. By comparison, steam cracking, the current method for producing ethylene, emits 200 percent more carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that’s a primary culprit in global climate change.
Dr. Xiao-Dong Zhou is executive director of UL’s Institute for Materials Research and Innovation and the Stuller Endowed Chair of chemical engineering. He is heading the research team that secured the $1 million grant from the Energy Department’s Office of Fossil Energy, which awarded $17 million to 11 projects as part of its Carbon Utilization Program in June.
The federal program’s goal: to reduce emissions and transform waste carbon into value-added products. That’s his team’s goal, too, Zhou said.
About 140 million metric tons of ethylene are produced annually worldwide. It is the primary ingredient in polyethene, which is used to make plastic bags, bottles and food containers, among other everyday consumer products.
“Ethylene is an important chemical,” Zhou said. “But when you produce it at the industrial level, you also produce a lot of carbon dioxide.”
The UL project “reverses the concept,” by using carbon dioxide to make ethylene, he explained. “If we can produce ethylene by using electricity coming from renewable resources, then we could, theoretically, reduce carbon dioxide production by 200 percent because we are not producing it. We are consuming it.
“We could produce ethylene while keeping the environment safe. It’s cost-effective and environmentally friendly.”
In addition to Zhou, UL’s team consists of Dr. Dilip Depan, Dr. Tolga Karsili and Dr. Yu Wang. Depan is an assistant professor of chemical engineering, while Kasili and Wang are assistant professors of chemistry.
They are joined by research partner Dr. Jingjie Wu, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
The $1 million federal grant to UL will be supplemented by $250,000 in funding from both UL and the University of Cincinnati.
The Energy Department also awarded 10 other research teams Carbon Utilization Program funding. Among the universities that received grants are the University of California Los Angeles, North Carolina State, and the universities of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Louisville.
Susteon Inc., a North Carolina-based private technology company, and the Gas Technology Institute, a nonprofit research and development organization located in Illinois, round out the list.
In a press release announcing funding, Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes said that “fossil fuels will continue to power our world well into the future. Therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure these fuels are utilized as cleanly and efficiently as possible.”
The Carbon Utilization Program “is investing in cutting-edge technologies to allow us to capture carbon oxides, which will reduce emissions, and then recycle them into economically valuable services like enhanced oil recovery or products like plastics and carbon fibers,” Menezes added.
Louisiana.edu
Louisiana's Summer Commencement caps a historic academic year
Fireworks capped the University of Louisiana ’s Summer 2020 Commencement Friday at Cajun Field, a history-making ceremony held outside because of bans on large indoor gatherings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UL’s 320 total Summer 2020 graduates also closed a record-breaking 2019-2020 academic year. They are among the most graduates in a single academic year in University history.
A total of 3,610 students earned degrees during the Fall 2019, and the spring and summer 2020 semesters combined. Among that number are a record 636 master’s degrees.
The 2,182 woman and 1,428 men who earned degrees during the 2019-2020 academic year are the most in history. The University also awarded 161 degrees to Hispanic students, another record. The 92 Asian students who earned degrees are tied for the most in school history.
On Friday, bachelor’s degrees were awarded to 215 graduates. Master’s degrees were awarded to 97 graduates, the most ever at a summer ceremony. Eight graduates earned doctoral degrees.
Graduates represented 37 parishes, 18 states and 10 countries.
Dr. Joseph Savoie, University president, praised Summer 2020 graduates for their academic achievements, and for their fortitude and determination. He encouraged them to rely on those characteristics “to play a role in the shape of things to come.”
“Our recovery from this pandemic will find its strength from your ideas, your ingenuity, your passions, the helping hand you give to others, and the power you discover in yourselves,” Savoie said.
Dr. Dianne Olivier was Commencement speaker. Olivier is coordinator of the doctoral program in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership in the College of Education. She holds the Joan D. and Alexander S. Haig/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Education.
Olivier reminded graduates their degrees – and their ability to overcome adversity – have positioned them for success.
“In the last few months, you have experienced unanticipated challenges, and yet you have succeeded. You have demonstrated you are resilient, persistent, tenacious, determined, committed, adaptable, and that you have grit,” Olivier said.
College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions to implement telehealth
The College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions at the University of Louisiana is developing a telehealth network designed to ease workloads of health care professionals in emergency rooms and urgent care clinics.
Faculty members and students will help hospitals and physicians screen people with COVID-19. The system will also enable the college’s nurse practitioners to diagnose and provide treatment plans for patients with less serious conditions, such as viral infections or sinusitis, for example.
The college received a $271,850 grant from the Federal Communications Commission as part of its COVID-19 Telehealth Program. A total of $200 million is being distributed to hospitals, medical clinics and universities.
Dr. Ziad Ashkar, who is leading Louisiana's project, said faculty members, and students studying to become nurse practitioners, will provide services such as health screenings, create medical charts and offer referrals.
Ashkar directs the University’s Louisiana Center for Health Innovation. A professor in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, Ashkar is the Dr. J. Robert Rivet Endowed Chair and the Acadian Ambulance Service/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Health Informatics.
“Emergency services aren’t possible with telehealth, but you can gauge symptoms, make diagnoses, and offer guidance. In some cases, nurse practitioners will be able to write prescriptions,” Ashkar explained.
“In more serious cases, we can work with medical partners in the community to coordinate care based on the medical information that has been gathered remotely,” he added.
Dr. Deedra Harrington, coordinator of the college’s BSN program and an associate professor, said once the system is in place, students will be able to gain clinical experience in telemedicine.
“Our nurse practitioner students will work with patients, and collaborate with a faculty member on treatment plans. Undergraduates will be able to assist in capacities such as gathering information or scheduling appointments,” Harrington said.
Dr. Christy Lenahan, an associate professor who coordinates the college’s nurse practitioner program, said telehealth has steadily gained in popularity in recent years. The pandemic, however, has made remote visits the primary way patients see physicians.
“We want our students thoroughly prepared in the case of another pandemic. Everyone hopes that won’t happen. But even so, many patients and health are providers will prefer telehealth from now on, especially for chronic conditions that don’t require office visits,” Lenahan said.
The University is in the process of implementing the telehealth system. As part of the grant, the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions will receive devices such as tablet computers that will facilitate telehealth appointments.
It will also enable a private company to provide telecommunications, and develop a system that will house information such as medical records, and administrative, clinical, financial and insurance data.
Faculty members are also working on a system for appointment scheduling to accommodate as many patients as possible. The grant will enable the service to be free, initially.
Learn more about the COVID-19 Telehealth Program at www.fcc.gov/covid19telehealth
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