2014 Graduate Conference

Graduate students enrolled in Ivan Allen College Liberal Arts graduate courses submitted abstracts to present papers at the IAC graduate student conference. Presentations were scheduled as 10 minute papers on panels or 9 minute roundtable presentations during the conference on Friday, January 31th, 2014, 10am-5pm, in Room 102 of the Stephen C. Hall Building (215 Bobby Dodd). The Ivan Allen Graduate Student Advisory Board members reviewed the abstracts and organized the schedule for the conference. Graduate students were recruited to volunteer as session chairs and respondents.

2014 IAC Graduate Student Conference Program

January 31, 2014

National Innovation Systems

  • Chair: Jonah Bea-Taylor (History and Sociology)Taylor Smith (International Affairs) – Military Innovation in the Russian Federation
  • Xiaojing Sun (Public Policy) – The Role of Public Policy and Markets in the Development of the Solar Energy Industry in China
  • Jonathan Huang (International Affairs) – The Dilemma of and Strategy for a Defense Technology First-Mover: An Opportunities Framework for Military Investments in Emerging Science and Technology
  • Jonah Bea-Taylor (History and Sociology) – Nanotechnology in Thailand: Defining the Role of Emerging Technologies in Achieving Sustainable Development

China, Technology, and National Development

  • Chair: Xiuli Sun (Economics)
  • Liang Yao (History and Sociology) – Revisiting Chinese Nationalism: The National Products Movement and the Coca-Cola Protest in Shanghai, 1945-1949
  • Xiuli Sun (Economics) – How Chinese Manufacturing Firms Get New Technology: To Innovate or to License?
  • Tracy Hsiao (History and Sociology) – The Evolution of American and Chinese Acupuncture
  • Xiaoning Dai (History and Sociology) – Beyond script: In search of the Modern ‘Nation-State’ through the National Language Romanization Movement and the Latinized New Script Movement in Republican China

Global Markets and Economics

  • Chair: Mingge Wu (Economics)
  • Erin Sexton (International Affairs) – Storm Warnings: A Comparative Analysis of the International  Climate of the 1930s and Today

Power Industries

  • Chair: Alex Smith (Public Policy)
  • Noah Solomon (International Affairs) – Biofuels as a Solution to U.S. Navy Oil Dependence
  • Hannah Weksler (History and Sociology) – Electrified Chicken: Poultry Farming as an Outlet for Electrical Expansion in the Interwar Years (1910-1940)
  • Madhusudan Kamat (Civil and Environmental Engineering) – Lightning as a Potential Source for Electricity Production
  • Alyse Taylor (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Alex Cheu (Electrical Engineering) – International Smart Grid Survey to Develop Policy Recommendations for the Future U.S. Electric Grid

Social Identity and Technology

  • Chair and Respondent: Michael Vogel (Literature, Media, and Communication)
  • Michael Madaio (Literature, Media, and Communication) – Distributed Cognition in the Classroom: Digital Texts, Students, and New Modes of Interaction
  • Christopher Lee DeLeon (Literature, Media, and Communication) – Gameplay and Interaction Design Lessons  Learned from 219 Daily Prototypes
  • Sybrina Atwaters (History and Sociology) – Mediating Deviance: Conflict and Contestation within the Sacred Corridors of 3-D (Three-Dimensional) Virtual Worlds

Technology in Urban Environments

  • Chair: Kelechi Uzochukwu (Public Policy)
  • Eric Joseph Chisholm (Public Policy) – Minor League Baseball Stadiums and Gentrification
  • *Kelechi Uzochukwu (Public Policy) – The Effects of Neighborhood Constructs on Childhood Obesity: Understanding Racial and Spatial Disparities (First Prize)
  • *Gloria Ross (History and Sociology) – Mapping the Development of Atlanta’s Food Deserts from  1980 to 2010 (Third Prize)
  • *Johann Weber (Public Policy) – Policy Analysis of Open Streets Programs as Policy Tools (Second Prize)
    Mollie Taylor (International Affairs) – Collaboration of Inventors across Cities and Time
  • *Matt Cox (Public Policy) – Too Rich to Care? Following Carbon Emissions in 100 US Metropolitan Areas (Third Prize)

* Prize winner

Read abstracts of prize winners