Two architecture professors are among the eight UNC Charlotte faculty named to the 2021-22 cohort of Gambrell Faculty Fellows by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Now in its third year, the Gambrell Faculty Fellows program, funded through the Gambrell Foundation, provides seed money to faculty projects that seek to address Charlotte's economic mobility challenge.
Dr. Ming-Chun Lee, associate professor of architecture, will explore ways to bridge the digital divide in Charlotte.
"The pandemic also laid bare the fragmented ways economically marginalized families access the internet and digital platforms that provide everything from public education to vaccines," wrote Dr. Lori Thomas in the award announcement. "Dr. Ming-Chun Lee will inventory the existing resources in our community and seek to develop and evaluate a mobile community technology platform that pulls together the many, yet often uncoordinated, resources around digital access and digital literacy that have emerged to address the digital divide." Read more about Lee's project here.
Dr. Mona Azarbayjani, associate professor of architecture and director of graduate programs, will join Dr. Hamed Tabkhivayghan of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to investigate ways to build a "smart" transit system in Charlotte.
"Accessible and timely transportation is necessary for accessing jobs, schools, medical care, food and quality of life," wrote Thomas, who is the interim director of the Urban Institute. "Yet many of the families and workers that rely on our bus system face an average one-way commute of 90 minutes, caused in part by demand-supply gap. Dr. Mona Azarbayjani and Dr. Hamed Tabkhivayghan will complete a pilot study that uses customer and resident feedback, existing data on the Sprinter Line between Uptown Charlotte and the airport, and AI technologies to examine the feasibility of transforming Charlotte’s public transportation into an interactive, smart, connected, demand-responsive system." Learn more about their project here.