This spring, Anderson and Hale secured funding from the Sue Stinson Enrichment Endowment, created by Dance Professor Emerita Sue Stinson to promote dance within a context of social justice. They’re using it to develop a program they call “The Dance Lab,” to create more mobile, interactive events for dance students and the public. Anderson says it will make dance students more comfortable with letting an audience in on the process and imperfections. “In the School of Dance, we say, ‘we’re not afraid to fail,” she says. “What you make may not look great initially, but you get some nuggets of fantastic material that you can develop.”
word’sout word’s out
A draw for students Hale, who is from Rock Hill in South Carolina, and Anderson, who is from Covington in Georgia, say they were drawn to UNCG for the chance to study a diverse array of movement styles, its rigorous academic opportunities, and the stellar faculty. “I came here for mentorship, guidance, and to become a better teacher,” says Anderson. Walton says it’s important for programs like these to be student-led, balancing experience with fresh perspectives. “There’s so much that students learn from the process of collaborations and project development,” Walton says. “They discover they have the skillsets to do important, impactful work.” Méndez hopes more dance students will look to the Weatherspoon for inspiration. “We want to be a place where students feel welcome to collaborate with us and propose new museum programs that capitalize on their experiences and interests.”
by Janet Imrick learn more at weatherspoonart.org & vpa.uncg.edu
EXPLORING AI FOR CHILD SAFETY
DANCE STUDENTS Tiffany Moss Dr. Hamid Nemati, professor of Hale and Liz Anderson pose in the The data, which the government began Weatherspoon Art Museum information systems and supply chain collecting in thehallway. 1990s, includes detailed management, has been studying artificial information about child abuse reports intelligence, or AI, for longer than down to the zip code. Hamid says those most. He did his doctoral research on in the AI space have a high interest in the AI methods to optimize flows of items use of this type of structured, detailed data across networks. His interest in AI has collected over a prolonged period. only grown stronger as advances in AI The prototype system their team technologies, including ChatGPT, have developed could predict recurrence made them more widely used. of child maltreatment better than any One project his team has been excited previously proposed systems. The about is the use of AI methods to mitigate results appear in the prestigious journal child abuse and maltreatment. Knowledge-Based Systems. Hamid and Bryan alums Dr. Minoo The next steps are testing and feedback Modaresnezhad and Dr. Yuzhang Han from different agencies – a tough ask when – his past doctoral students – tasked agencies are already overburdened. “What themselves with developing a robust AI we’re trying to get is a better sense of how system that could help predict child abuse these systems can become part of the daily when given information from the National routine for child protective agencies.” Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. An extended version of this story appears in the Fall 2023 Bryan Business Report. Visit bryanbusinessreport.uncg.edu to read it and to catch up on recent research on tourism, fashion, alcohol, and the workplace. u nucngc gr erseesaeracrhc hs psrpi nr ign g2 022042 4
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