N.C. A&T Centers of Excellence to Offer Free COVID-19 Webinar Series

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (May 1, 2020) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will present a free COVID-19 webinar series this month to provide information and tools to help entrepreneurs and members of the public survive the challenges presented by the novel coronavirus.

The five webinars are being offered via Zoom through the university’s Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity, Research, Education and Outreach (CREO) and Center of Excellence in Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing.

“These hour-long webinars are intended to offer guidance and support to North Carolina A&T students, staff, faculty and alumni as well as members of the local business community,” said Thaddeus McEwen, Ph.D., founding director of the Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and professor in the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics Department of Management.

The series schedule is:

• Tuesday, May 5, noon-1 p.m., “Be Financially Smart in this Time of Crisis,” featuring N.C. A&T alumni Herb Gray and Joel Wiggins. Gray is CEO of Life Enhancement Services, which provides counseling services to children, adults and families, while Wiggins is an entrepreneur author, executive mentor and president ant CEO of three companies, including Joel Wiggins Co.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94233829393

• Friday, May 8, noon-1 p.m., “Future Smart Cities: From COVID-19 Viewpoint,” featuring Maanak Gupta, Ph.D. Gupta is an assistant professor of computer science and an associate with the Cybersecurity, Education, Research and Outreach Center at Tennessee Tech University whose research interests include security and privacy in cyberspace, smartCARS and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/98363350156

• Tuesday, May 12, noon-1 p.m., “Developing Entrepreneurial Resilience to Survive COVID-19,” featuring Wiggins and N.C. A&T alumnus Damian Mills, president and CEO of Mills Automotive Group and 2014 president of Chrysler Minority Dealers Association.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/91631464496

• Thursday, May 14, noon-1 p.m., “3D Printing of PPEs and Hand-Made Face Masks Design for COVID-19,” featuring Salil Desai, Ph.D., and Geetika Jaiswal, Ph.D. A professor of industrial and systems engineering at N.C. A&T and interim director of its Center of Excellence in Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing, Desai is the recipient of several awards including the Presidential Award for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring and the National Science Foundation Career Award for Outstanding Investigator. An assistant professor of fashion merchandising and design at N.C. A&T, Jaiswal’s expertise includes textile recycling and management, corporate social responsibility, global sourcing and fashion business management.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/96563405538

• Tuesday, May 19, noon-1 p.m., “Innovating and Starting a Business During COVID-19,” featuring Sandra Johnson, Ph.D., a visiting scholars with N.C. A&T’s Centers of Excellence. The founder, CEO and chief technical officer of Global Mobile Finance Inc., a fintech startup company in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, she is the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer engineering and a master innovator with multiple patents.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95661985268

For more information about this series, email McEwen at mcewent@ncat.edu, Desai at sdesai@ncat.edu or CREO co-interim directors Kaushik Roy, Ph.D., at kroy@ncat.edu and Belinda Shipps, Ph.D., at bpshipps@ncat.edu.