Synopsis:

Information revolution has changed the nature of learning, specially, the higher education. Rapid advances in online learning in the world has sharply increased the global and regional divide.
Virtual education, combined with the Open Learning Resources, have made knowledge available to anyone, anytime and anywhere. Yet, inadequate infrastructures in many parts of the world has caused a great digital gap, hence, higher socio-economic disparities. The new paradigm, at the same time, provides new opportunities for many nations and social groups. An evaluation of virtual learning experiences in Iran during the last decade is an essential step in envisioning a process of taking advantage of this new opportunity.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Alirez Rabi is currently the President of Farabi Institute of Higher Education founded in 2005. He received his PhD in 1977 in City and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia. He also received a graduate degree in Architecture, Urban Studies from Kent State University, 1972. His previous academic positions include:

Faculty, Graduate School of City Planning, Midwest College of Engineering, 1973-74
Faculty, Architecture Department, Tehran University, 1975-79
Assistant Professor, Dean, Vice President, Farabi University, 1977-1980

Associate Professor, Sharif University of Technology, Center for Advanced Information Technology, 2001-2004.
Farabi Institute of Higher Education was founded in 2005 as the first non-profit, non-governmental Virtual University in Iran under the auspices of the Ministry of Science. The Graduate School of Management began its work by offering online degree programs in MBA and IT Management. Later, Industrial Management, International Commerce and Technology Managements were added. Admission to the Graduate School is via National Entrance Exam administered by the Ministry of Science. The Graduate School has gained the reputation of “Center of Excellence” with many of its graduated entering PhD. programs.
Dr. Rabi is also the founder of Surreal Poetry Workshop. Surreal Poetry Workshop was initiated in 2011 on Facebook. It attracted many young, as well as seasoned poets from around the globe. Its membership surpassed 10,000 people. The Workshop is managed by an elected 15 members Board of Directors.

Synopsis:

Diminishing bonanzas of conventional energy and the need for sustainable and resilient development worldwide have created a significant demand for the optimization of structures and buildings without eliminating their important redundancies and making them vulnerable to what would otherwise be normal shocks and disturbances. This is particularly the case for the structures made of concrete, the world’s most widely used construction material. Its per capita annual consumption is approximately one metric ton, making it the second most consumed material after water. In addition, its production not only depletes raw material resources, but also contributes significantly (i.e. more than 5%) to the emission of anthropogenic, heat-trapping gases.
While the words optimization, sustainability, resilience and redundancy seem asynchronous to us, in the course of billions of years of evolutionary history, nature has heuristically developed a diverse, remarkably ingenious set of dynamic and robust strategies that have endowed creatures and organisms with optimum yet sustainably-resilient adaptability to their in-flux environments. During the recent decades, significant research efforts have been devoted to understanding these strategies and exploring their applicability to solve a variety of complex engineering problems. This talk describes the successful application of a few of these nature-inspired metaheuristics in the optimization of structural systems.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Yazdani is an assistant professor of civil engineering and the director of the Sustainable Infrastructure, Geotechnics and Materials (SIGMa) Lab at Howard University, Washington, DC. He received his PhD from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in December 2015.
Dr. Yazdani specializes in geotechnical engineering, multiscale design, characterization and simulation of materials, and probabilistic optimization using metaheuristic algorithms and data mining methods. He has published over 30 book chapters and journal and conference papers, and has received several competitive national awards including the best paper at the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Student Paper Competition in Phoenix, AZ and an ASTM International Project Grant in 2013 and the Best Paper Award at the 10th Annual Conference in Computer Science at OU in 2014.
Dr. Yazdani’s current interdisciplinary research is focused on fostering sustainability and resilience in civil infrastructure by developing high-performance and multifunctional construction materials, performance monitoring of structures using remote sensing and smart materials, addressing the geotechnical aspects of infrastructure (e.g. renewable energy systems) and incorporating uncertainty analysis and optimization into the analysis and design of geotechnical and structural systems.

Synopsis:

The advancements in biotechnology especially as related to DNA have made gene identification of human genetic disorders more feasible. The main goals of these methods are to develop tools for early diagnosis, prognosis, new drug and treatment development and family counseling. In this type of research, the first step is to determine whether a disorder is inherited from parents to their children. The major methods of gene identification are linkage analysis meaning tracking the transmission of a marker with a disorder from one generation to the next. The second method is association analysis by comparing the frequency of a marker in a group of patients to healthy individuals. The third method is the development of an animal model for a disorder and the identification of the gene in the model organism; then, identifying the same gene in human. After the identification of a linked marker(s) to a disorder, it is necessary to look for genes in the genomic region where the maker is located. The next step is sequencing of the candidate genes and looking for mutations. Any gene that harbors a mutation(s) will be the gene for the disorder of interest. Today, with the advancements in nanotechnology we can screen hundreds of mutations for many disorders at the same time.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Parsian received his doctoral degree in Human Genetics from Michigan State University with emphasis on Pediatric Neurology and Mental retardation disorders. To advance his research training in gene identification of complex human genetic disorders, he did two years of post-doctoral work at Washington University School of Medicine where he was offered faculty position in the departments of Psychiatry and Neurology. During his tenure at WashU School of Medicine, Dr. Parsian established and directed DNA Core facility as part of NIMH/NIH Center grant funds. At the same time he became the director of Human DNA Polymorphism laboratory. In addition, he started several large, national and international gene identification projects including Parkinson’s disease, Birth defects due to consanguinity and animal models of complex genetic disorders. Also, he developed several methodological and analytical strategies to identify human genetic variations and disorder genes. Then, he moved to University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences as professor of Human Genetics and Pediatrics where he directed the Human Genomics Center and Laboratory of Neurogenetics. On January 2009, Dr. Parsian accepted a position of investigator and Project Scientist at NIAAA/NIH. Dr. Parsian have received many NIH grants and awards for his research accomplishments.