Research & Innovation Events
September 2025
September 4 | 8:30 AM-4:30PM | UC River Room
Research Computing Symposium 2025: Showcasing UofM Resources
Attendees will be introduced to state-of-the-art resources, including powerful computational
tools designed to accelerate research.
September 12 | 3-4:30PM | FIT Methodist Presentation Theatre
Technology Serving Humanity Speaker Series welcomes Dr. Rohit Aggrawal
Professor and David Eccles Emerging Scholar in the Department of Operations and Information
Systems
David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah
Talk: Applied AI: From Industry Practice to Business School Partnerships: This talk explores the latest developments in artificial intelligence while addressing
the growing skills gap in the field. It will examine the challenges of integrating
AI into existing workflows and highlight how businesses can adapt to these changes.
In addition, the session will showcase new opportunities for collaboration between
academia and industry, with a focus on the role business schools can play in preparing
future leaders for an AI-driven economy.
September 16 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM | FIT Room 225
Memphis Data Professionals | Event-Driven Design with Kafka: Patterns, Pitfalls &
Practical Strategy
Join Memphis' tech community for a practical, no-frills technical session with speaker
Joey Brown, a passionate Fullstack Developer and Software Engineer. This event is
designed to help engineers, architects, and tech leaders make critical judgments around
Kafka and event-driven systems. Networking will begin at 5:30 PM.
This session will help you:
- Build architectures smartly—not just boldly
- Avoid wasted effort on overly complex systems
- Push back on Kafka hype with grounded reasoning
- Learn from real-world successes and failures in production environments
This event is ideal for:
- Software Engineers & Technical Architects
- DevOps / Platform Engineers
- CTOs, Engineering Managers & Tech Leads
- Anyone curious about distributed systems, event-driven strategies, or Kafka's practical application
To register for this event, please follow the link: https://www.meetup.com/memphis-technology-user-groups/events/307511373/?eventOrigin=your_events
September 18 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | FIT Fishbowl
Research Development Community Networking Event
You're invited to a casual coffee meet-up to connect with the University of Memphis
Research Development community. This is a great opportunity to network with fellow
researchers, faculty, and staff from across campus. Grab a cup of coffee, share your
latest research ideas, explore potential collaborations, and learn about the upcoming
initiatives and resources available to support your scholarly work and grant pursuits.
September 18 | 3-4:30 PM | The Zone
901 AI welcome Dr. Vasileios Maroulas
Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of AI Tennessee, University of Tennessee Knoxville
Talk: AI Tennessee: From Vision to Impact: AI Tennessee is a statewide initiative to position Tennessee as a leader in the
global data economy through research, education, and workforce development. By connecting
universities, industry, and communities, the initiative fosters innovation across
several sectors, including manufacturing, health, agriculture, and transportation.
This talk will highlight how Tennessee’s assets, partnerships, and talent pipelines
can accelerate AI adoption, address societal challenges, and ensure shared economic
growth in an AI-powered future.
September 25 | 2:30 – 3:30 PM | FIT Fishbowl
Research Development Town Hall Meeting
The Research Development Town Hall is a periodic meeting with faculty to discuss research
development priorities, create a forum for sharing ideas and new research areas, and
promoting interdisciplinary engagement among faculty. An agenda will be announced
one week prior to the meeting.
September 25 | 3-4:30PM | FIT Methodist Presentation Theatre
Technology Serving Humanity Speaker Series welcomes Dr. McKay Jenkins
Talk: TBD: This talk explores the latest developments in artificial intelligence while addressing
the growing skills gap in the field. It will examine the challenges of integrating
AI into existing workflows and highlight how businesses can adapt to these changes.
In addition, the session will showcase new opportunities for collaboration between
academia and industry, with a focus on the role business schools can play in preparing
future leaders for an AI-driven economy.
Register »