Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, Middle Tennessee State University Janet Colson is a Nutrition and Food Science Professor at Middle Tennessee State University. She is a registered dietitian and completed a Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food Science from Florida State University. She has taught various nutrition classes at the undergrad and graduate levels for 30 years. Her most recent graduate class focuses on functional foods and nutraceuticals. She was editor of several editions of McGraw Hill's Annual Editions in Food & Nutrition and Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Food & Nutrition. She is the lead author for the open educational resource textbook Introduction to Nutrition and Wellness, used by high school nutrition classes in Tennessee and at her university.
PhD student, School of Health, Dalhousie University Julia Kontak is a PhD in Health student at Dalhousie University. Julia’s current research focuses on Health Promoting Schools, youth engagement and knowledge translation. She also works as a Research Associate at UpLift, a School-Community-Partnership that aims to catalyze and support Health Promoting Schools efforts across Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Julia completed her MA in Health Promotion at Dalhousie University and worked at two leading health research organizations in Nova Scotia. Most recently, Julia held the position of the Knowledge Translation Coordinator at the Maritime SPOR Support Unit for four years.
Associate Professor Finance, Concordia University Professor Dr. Juliane Proelss studied business administration at Katholische Universität Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Ingolstadt, and completed a postgraduate diploma in commerce at Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. In 2009 she completed a doctorate at European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich-Winkel with a thesis entitled “Strategy Optimization for Alternative Investments”. During her doctorate, she worked as research assistant at the PFI Private Finance Institute / EBS Finance Academy in Oestrich-Winkel and was responsible for consulting projects as well as the conception of executive education programs. Furthermore, she gained teaching experience in trainings for the executive education. She was awarded the titles of Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified Foundation and Estate Planner (CFEP). In 2009 Juliane Proelss joined the Risk Management Department of Santander Consumer Finance, Mönchengladbach and was responsible for credit analysis and refinancing. In 2012 Juliane Proelss was appointed professor in business administration specialized in financial management at Trier University of Applied Sciences. In January 2015 she joined Concordia University, Montreal as assistant professor in finance. She published several articles in the field of modern financing instruments and corporate finance in renowned journals and books. Her innovative research ideas received competitive research grants from e.g. the Fonds de Recherche du Québec -Société et Culture (FRQSC) and the Education of Good Governance Fund of Autorité des Marchés Financiers of about $200,000. Juliane Proelss is teaching in BSc and MSc university level as well as in executive education programs.
Chancellor's Professor in Engineering, Climate Change and Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee Joshua S. Fu is Chancellor's Professor, John D. Tickle Professor of Engineering, James G. Gibson Professor in Climate Change, and Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Inaugural Professor of the UT-ORNL Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, Joint Appointment Professor in Computational Earth Sciences Group in Computational Sciences and Engineering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The focus of Fu’s research work includes climate change impacts on energy infrastructure, air pollution, water availability, and extreme events like heatwaves, floods and droughts, wildfires, and human health. The additional focus is to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques on climate change, human health, and mapping global total atmospheric deposition. Currently, my research team is utilizing a petascale supercomputer to simulate Arctic ice melting and improve the model on coupling chemistry and climate modules in a global (1 degree) scale and downscaling to a regional scale (4 km) and participating in developing the new chemistry solver for the US DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). Fu has served Vice-Chair of the Measurement-Model Fusion for the Global Total Atmospheric Deposition (MMF-GTAD) of the new initiative in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), contributed as a co-author of the Final Report of the Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN Task Force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution) and reviewing committee member for air quality status in East Asia for the EANET, a governmental consortium in East Asia and located in Japan. He also was a co-author of the Technical Report, Climate Change, and Infrastructure, Urban System, and Vulnerability, to the Department of Energy in support of the National Climate Assessment in 2012. He served as an international adviser/expert on East Asia/China air quality modeling assessments such as the Beijing and Shanghai air quality modeling assessment for the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a modeling lead of the Model Intercomparison Study (MICS-Asia), and a modeling member for HTAP on air quality and climate change. He contributed climate modeling results for IPCC AR5 based on RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. He develops and provides scientifically sound, cost-effective analysis tools to design and develop complex climate and environmental model applications. There is an example, he is one of the initiators for the Air Benefit and Attainment Assessment Cost System (ABaCAS) that has been used internationally. Fu has published more than 160 referred journal articles and 110 peer-reviewed conference proceedings. He has been an invited speaker including keynote and lecture for more than 100 times in Asia, Europe, and the US. Also, and has been interviewed or reported on the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Science Daily, @EurekAlert!, Red Orbit, and more than 30 media to discuss issues of international and national importance on climate change/extreme events and air quality. Fu obtained his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, MS from UCLA, and BS from Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University. His areas of research include: Wildfires and human health AI/Machines learning in air quality, climate, forest/crops, health, socioeconomic data Global and regional climate, energy, and air quality Peta-scale computing on coupled climate and air quality modeling Climate downscaling toward impacts of air quality, water resources, human health Assessment of hemispheric transport and climatic effects of air pollutants: Global and Regional Modeling of Ozone and Particular Matter Agricultural Air Quality (ammonia, methane) Transportation conformity and air quality Air Toxics Modeling – link to the homeland and international security Develop environmental modeling and decision support tools for complex multi-discipline ecosystem Genetic algorithm and stochastic-based optimization applications in a high-performance computing Data management/data mining and information technology applications in environmental management systems Reliability, uncertainty, and risk analysis in environmental systems The human dimension in environmental systems
Professor of Psychology, Iowa State University Professor Chan obtained his Ph.D. in 2007 from Washington University in St. Louis and joined the faculty at Iowa State University the same year, where he has remained since. Dr. Chan’s research focuses on improving memory performance in both the educational and legal contexts. Although these domains appear quite disparate, his research shows that theoretical discoveries from one domain (e.g., retrieval enhances future learning of new materials) often facilitates understanding of phenomena in the other (e.g., retrieval can exacerbate eyewitness suggestibility to misinformation). His research has received over 3,000 citations and he has published in many of the top journals in the field, including Psychological Bulletin, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Psychological Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In recognition for his scientific contributions, he has been elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Psychonomic Society, and Midwestern Psychological Association. He received the J. Don Read Early Career Award in 2015 from the Society of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition and the Rising Star recognition in 2012 from the Association for Psychological Science. He served as associate editor of the Journal of Memory & Language from 2021-2023 and had previously served as consulting editor for the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation. In addition to research, Dr. Chan is also recognized for his teaching and graduate supervision efforts. Since arriving at Iowa State, Dr. Chan has received a University Award for Early Career Achievement in Teaching, a College level Shakeshaft Master Teacher Award, three Departmental Awards for Teaching, and the award for Excellence in Mentoring.
