- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Innovation Hub to Host Women in Cybersecurity Event

John Hill — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 14:22:40 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Cyber Arena is partnering with the , with support from the Arkansas Department of Education, to host an “Empowering Women in Cybersecurity” event in celebration of International Women’s Day. The event will take place from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 8. Participants can attend virtually or in person at the Innovation Hub, 204 E 4th St., North Little Rock. “With women representing just over 10 percent of the cybersecurity workforce, events like these are so important for young women to see cybersecurity as a viable career choice,” said Sandra Leiterman, managing director of the The keynote speaker is Beth-Anne Bygum, chief security and compliance officer for Acxiom. The event will also feature a panel discussion with women who work in cybersecurity careers and a question-and-answer forum. The panelists include La’Mia Crutchfield, a senior at Bryant High School; Sarah Humphries, a sophomore at Lake Hamilton High School; Alexandria Cade of Acxiom; and Sarah Puolton of BreachBits. Girls in grades 6-12 as well as middle school and high school teachers are invited to join the night’s activities to learn more about cybersecurity careers and women in cybersecurity. Participants will also have the opportunity to choose from several hands-on activities to learn about different careers in the cybersecurity field. Participants may register for the event .

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host Community Coding Night Dec. 15

John Hill — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 17:37:48 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host a virtual Community Night of Coding from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15. This is the 3rd annual event to celebrate Computer Science Education Week, an annual call to action to inspire K-12 students to learn about computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners in the field. CSforAR is partnering with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s and to provide a virtual technology and innovation fair for families that features break-out sessions as well as four facilitated “Hour of Code” sessions. The Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock departments of computer science and information science, Cyber Gym, and Henderson State University’s Reddie Maker Space will provide tutorials and activities on coding with microbits, Google Santa Tracker and Scratch, careers in computer science and cybersecurity, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. “The Department of Computer Science is an enthusiastic supporter of Community Night of Coding and with an objective of generating excitement and understanding in this area of study that affords so many tremendous career opportunities,” said Dr. Al Baker, interim chair of the Department of Computer Science. “This event provides all participants with some basic insights into what a computer scientist does.” The event is free and open to all ages and no prior experience in computer science or coding is necessary to attend. Attendees can register for the event at . Attendees will be sent a schedule of events on Dec. 14. For more information, contact Sandra Leiterman at saleiterman@ualr.edu or Kelly Griffin at kelly.griffin@arkansas.gov.

Business Innovations Legal Clinic hosts free course on joint ventures in community development

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 14:01:03 +0000

The Business Innovations Legal Clinic at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law will host a free, two-hour course on community-based real estate development and joint ventures on Thursday, March 28. The event will be held from 6-8 p.m. in the student lounge on the second floor of Bowen Law School, 1201 McMath Ave. in Little Rock. The course also serves as the launch of the Business Innovation Legal Clinic’s “Access to Opportunity Handbook Series” for lawyers and community members, along with its first manual, “When David Partners with Goliath: A Joint Venture Manual for Community Developers.” The discussion will feature a panel of four speakers with backgrounds in community-based development throughout the United States. The speakers include:

Barry Mallin, a New York City attorney with decades of experience representing nonprofits in tax credit transactions. Mallin was the primary author of “When David Partners with Goliath: A Joint Venture Manual for Community Developers.”
Christopher Jones, an Arkansas native serving as executive director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and former executive director of the nationally-recognized Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston.
Warwick Sabin, senior director of U.S. programs of the Rockefeller Foundation who developed numerous local projects, including the South on Main and Oxford American cluster in Downtown Little Rock and the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub in North Little Rock.
Kim Vu-Dinh, visiting professor and director of the Business Innovations Legal Clinic at Bowen, whose past experience includes commercial and residential tax-credit based development in New Orleans. Vu-Dinh served as the primary editor of “When David Partners with Goliath: A Joint Venture Manual for Community Developers.”

All four speakers will discuss the best practices in community-based real estate developments and their firsthand experiences with projects both in and outside of Arkansas. A question-and-answer session will follow, and each attendee will receive a free copy of “When David Partners with Goliath: A Joint Venture Manual for Community Developers.” This free event is open to all attorneys, students, and members of the public. Attorneys can receive two hours of continuing legal education credit. A complimentary meal will be provided by Ayo Foods, LLC, a worker-owned, new, local, business and client of the Business Innovations Legal Clinic. with the number of attendees. The Business Innovations Legal Clinic provides high-quality, pro bono transactional legal counsel to small businesses and nonprofit organizations working in economic development, many of which would not be able to obtain legal assistance otherwise. This clinic is funded by a generous grant from the state’s Attorney General’s Office.

Bowen Law School hosts workshop on how to start a business in Arkansas

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 20:08:22 +0000

Starting a new business can be a long venture filled with legal questions. The William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the will deliver a free workshop to help clear up the legal questions associated with opening a new business in Arkansas. The workshop, “Let’s Make It Legal,” will take place from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, 201 E. Broadway St. in North Little Rock. The Innovation Hub is partnering with Bowen’s Business Innovations Clinic to present a free workshop where participants can learn how to start, structure, protect, and maintain a new business in Arkansas. Sager Patel, a third-year law student from Kenya with a bachelor’s degree in biology from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and Kristina Hallock, a third-year law student from Jacksonville with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Central Arkansas, will lead the workshop. In 2016, Bowen received a $1 million grant from the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office to create the clinic. Students enrolled in the Business Innovations Clinic, under the supervision of Kim Vu-Dinh, visiting assistant professor of law, work closely to serve the legal needs of small businesses, innovators, and non-profit organizations. The event is free and open to the public. Fill out the to reserve a spot in the workshop

Celebrate International Observe the Moon Night Oct. 27

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 20:16:44 +0000

Anyone who is interested in getting a closer look at the surface of the moon can join the International Observe the Moon Night festivities Friday, Oct. 27, for a full night of lunar viewing. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 7-9:30 p.m. at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, 204 E. Fourth St. in North Little Rock. In case of rain, the event will be held from 7-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. Telescopes will be set up for a close-up look at the moon’s surface, while Loblolly Creamery will provide treats for hungry moon watchers. Members of the and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Physics and Astronomy will be on hand to answer questions and provide insight on the moon. Dr. Tony Hall, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock associate professor of astronomy, will provide meteorite samples for viewing and touching. Additionally, Robert Togni of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society will give a presentation at 7 p.m. entitled, “Seeing Lunar Evolution.”

Innovation Hub awards ��Vlog��ý Little Rock team $25,000 in funding

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:45:15 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock systems engineering team received $25,000 in funding through the the Delta I-Fund program for its start-up company, IntelliNexus, to create a high-tech social networking solution for cars. Delta I-Fund is an early stage, proof-of-concept fund formed to capitalize and train university startups. The goal, according to the Innovation Hub’s website, is for the startups to eventually become successful businesses that bring jobs to the region. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock team consists of Dr. Seshadri Mohan, professor of systems engineering, Sachin Sharma, a Ph.D candidate in systems engineering, and Muhammad Baig Awan, who earned his doctorate in systems engineering in December 2016. The program provides up to $50,000 in funding through three stages. In September 2016, IntelliNexus was selected as one of eight teams to receive an initial investment of $5,000. IntelliNexus is the first of the cohort to received the third and final round of funding through the Delta I-Fund program. “The objective is to approach potential customers and stakeholders in the country, to interview them, and validate the business model,” Mohan said. “In talking to the potential customers or stakeholders, we polish our business model so we can be more successful if we launched the company.” IntelliNexus is developing technology that creates a network in both autonomous and driver-controlled vehicles. Its technology, SAVANT (SmArt Vehicles Adhoc Network Technology), is a high-tech social networking solution for cars. The key to SAVANT is that it will directly connect vehicles to other vehicles in the vicinity, rather than relying on cellular networks that can have connectivity problems. This can ensure cars remain connected when they come across stretches of road that don’t have cellular towers. It also means that drivers within the network can share information with other drivers, such as driving directions, playlists, photos, videos, and traffic updates, including any crashes they might encounter. “Imagine you are driving on Interstate 630 and there is an accident down the road. If these vehicles are connected through SAVANT, they can exchange information,” Mohan said. “The vehicles near the accident site can share the information with other vehicles as they happen in real time, so drivers can look for alternative routes.” The cars will be connected via cognitive radio, an adaptive radio and network technology that detects available channels in a wireless spectrum and changes transmission parameters to allow more communications to run in a given spectrum at the same time. “It mostly relies on unlicensed bandwidths that are free and unused, those that are not licensed by the FCC,” Awan said. By Dec. 3, the team received the second stage of funding for $20,000 to continue interviews to revise its business model and search for investors. The team has now interviewed more than 60 organizations — from insurance companies and law enforcement agencies to telecommunication businesses and automobile companies. It has conducted interviews with AT&T, Amazon, General Motors, Nokia, Nissan, Google, and Uber. IntelliNexus presented the findings of its commercial research and received the final round of funding, $25,000, on March 24. “Throughout the program, the team applied themselves diligently and learned as much as they possibly could about the commercial applications of their patented technology. They did this by conducting over 60 interviews with potential customers and through mentorship from the I-Fund teachers and mentors,” said Jeff Stinson, director of entrepreneurship for the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. The three entrepreneurs plan to use the rest of their funding to begin prototyping SAVANT and to look for more investors. They estimate that it will take $300,000 to $500,000 and one or two years to build an initial working prototype of their device. The team also plans to eventually hire ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students with expertise in computer science and electrical and computer engineering and to create additional entrepreneurial opportunities for students at the university. The next Delta I-Fund program begins in September. Anyone looking to be a part of the next cohort should visit . In the upper right photo, the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock team behind IntelliNexus consists of Sachin Sharma (left), Dr. Seshadri Mohan (middle), and Muhammad Baig Awan (right).

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student takes first place in engineering competition

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:29:39 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student won first place for the best professional paper and oral presentation at the American Society of Civil Engineers Deep South Student Conference. Heather Hightower, a construction management graduate student from Benton and the president of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, also received a $200 cash prize for her 2,000-word paper and presentation on the topic: “Is it ethical for university engineering faculty to teach technical subject matter to engineering students without obtaining professional licensure?” Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State universities took second and third place in the professional paper and oral presentation competition. Students from the university’s chapter of the , coached by Faculty Adviser Nick Jovanovic, battled against 14 college teams from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana in the society’s competition on March 31 and April 1 in Memphis. More than 20 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students competed in six events: concrete canoe, steel bridge, surveying, environmental, ethics paper, and a mystery event. “The student chapter sent 22 students to the conference, which is a new attendance record for the chapter,” Jovanovic said. “The student chapter also made history by taking a concrete canoe for the first time. This was also the first year that the student chapter was able to participate in all six events at the Deep South Conference. Thus, given that ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is the newest ASCE student chapter in the conference, this is a fantastic result.” In the concrete canoe competition, students tested their engineering skills by creating a canoe out of concrete materials that floats in water. In Memphis, the students took their canoes to the water to take part in a racing competition.

Heather Hightower

Concrete canoe team members include Team Captain Blake Johnston, Assistant Captain Sam Kincannon, Manville Allen, Amanda Hall, Harrison Hayworth, Hunter Hobby, Palmer Lane, Magen Schlesier, Logan Snapp, and Jorge Vasquez. Steel Bridge Team members include Team Captain Casey Baker, Assistant Captain Jonathan Henderson, Nicole Compton, David Greenwood, Dee Osieczko, and Jonny Picking. Surveying Team members included Team Captain William Beggs, Natasha Carlson, and Jose Garcia. Kassandra Castrillo competed in the environmental competition while Vianca Martin was the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock competition coordinator during the 2016-17 academic year. Sponsors that provided financial and material support for the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock American Society of Civil Engineers include: ABC Block, AFCO Steel, American Institute of Steel Constructors, Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, Arkansas Chapter of American Concrete Institute, Arkansas Section of American Society of Civil Engineers, BASF, Bentley Software, C&F Steel Erectors, George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Construction Management and Civil and Construction Engineering, and Ryerson Steel. In the upper right photo, University of Arkansas at Little Rock students display a concrete canoe built for the American Society of Civil Engineers Deep South Student Conference. Team members (L-R) include Logan Snapp, Manville Allen, Harrison Hayworth, and Hunter Hobby. Photo by Joe Kline Jr./��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock, Innovation Hub to Host Women in Cybersecurity Event

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host Community Coding Night Dec. 15