GRIT-X 2017

SESSION 1: 10 — 10:30 a.m.

Next Generation Psychiatric Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Scientists at the cutting edge of neurobiology are beginning to unravel the causes of mental illness by studying the patterns of electrical activity within the brain. Kafui Dzirasa is one of these pioneers; he has a particular focus on building a “pacemaker for the brain” to treat diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Dzirasa’s work draws on new technologies that allow researchers to regulate brain activity and observe the consequences, in hopes of revealing the electrical pathways that underlie complex social behaviors.

The Social Life of Speech

Language is one of our most basic human characteristics – using language is something we all do, all the time, every day. But there isn’t just one linguistic code that we use. Rather, language is a nuanced, complex social tool, naturally evolving over time and changing for different circumstances. Research on the English language examines how various segments of society use words, usages, and pronunciations in ways that reflect the cultures and identities of their speakers. In Baltimore, the language we hear tells us about our history as a city and reflects the diversity of the people who call the city home.

When What You Wear Understands You

How can cutting-edge research on textile sensors and wearable radar sensors help us recognize gestures, monitor sleep fragmentation, and diagnose sleep disorders? The Banerjee lab has developed and applied sensors to users with upper extremity mobility impairments, adults suffering from insomnia and restless leg syndrome, and kids with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, with the intent to begin answering that question.

SESSION 2: 10:45 — 11:15 a.m.

The Fortune of Misfortunes: Finding Passion and What to Do With It

It has been said that the purpose of education is to find your passion. But how? More importantly, what do you do once you’ve found it? Sean Pang, the Washington Post’s 2017 Teacher of the Year, will focus on the lengthy journey of finding his passion despite the obstacles he faced, including financial challenges at home, recent health problems, and discrimination based on his Asian heritage and immigrant status. Peng will instill in the audience the importance of not only having hope, but also spreading it so others can find the silver lining in even their darkest times.

The Great Chernobyl Mystery: How Ignorance Became Policy and Politics

U.N. websites say that 33 people died from the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe and 6,000 children got cancer. Is that the extent of the damage? Working through newly disclosed Soviet health archives, historian Kate Brown discovered that Soviet doctors reported a public health disaster in the Chernobyl-contaminated territories in the late 1980s. What happened to that story? Brown explores international archives to show how the news of radiation-related health problems disappeared from the scientific consensus.

SESSION 3: 11:30 a.m. — 12 p.m.

Building Founders the Old Fashioned Way

Makerspaces are the newest tool fueling the next generation of entrepreneurs and product developers. The makerspace community provides opportunities to grow synergies among engineers, software developers and artists, leveraging their varied skill sets as they work alongside each other. Inside, product developers can operate advanced computer-controlled tools to create industrial grade prototypes without waiting on turn-around from outside suppliers. Iterative design cycles are reduced from months to hours, so inventors can quickly reach viable solutions.

Here Be Dragons: Investigating Black Holes in Galaxy Nuclei

Astronomers have discovered that every galaxy has a huge black hole at its core, millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. In most galaxies, these black holes are only revealed by their gravitational influence. However, in a few percent of galaxies gas and dust are actively falling onto the central black hole, resulting in large amounts of radiation being produced from close to the event horizon. Turner will discuss what we can learn by studying these exotic systems.

Making Dance: Let the Body Show the Way

How does a dance take shape? Often it begins with dancers experimenting with simple gestures of the arms and body, followed by the choreographer sculpting the dancers’ creative experiments in space and time. Choreographer Doug Hamby will demonstrate the process of creating a new dance work with a group of three dancers, with the goal of building a short dance of dynamic interaction and complexity right before the audience’s eyes.