[November 20 2025] Ethics of AI for Research Workshop

Our Founding Director, Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah, is the organizer and co-presenter of the workshop below. Stakeholders of the public health microbiology program are cordially invited to join the event.  The RVSP for the workshop can be made by contacting afouladk@tnstate.edu or by calling/texting (970) 690-7392. 

A Message from Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah, Founding Director of Public Health Microbiology Foundation:

I am very pleased to share with you that earlier this month, I received the Triple Crown of Tennessee Gold Award as “Distinguished Tennessean athlete who completed a total of 21.4 miles of open water swimming at the three main swimming events of the Tennessee River in a single year.” First and foremost, I would like to thank the amazing race directors and volunteers for organizing these great events. 

In the first event of this series, I completed the 5-mile current-neutral race around the Swim Hobbs Island in Huntsville on Sep. 7, 2025, with a time of 3 hours and 17:38 min. The second race was on Sep. 28, 2025, in the Tennessee Riverboat in Downtown Knoxville, TN where I was able to complete the 6.2 miles (10K) event with a time of 2 hours 55:23 min, achieving a personal best, finishing the race about 19 minutes faster than what I did last year. The last event of the series was the 10-mile (16.1 K) race started in steep canyon walls of the protected Tennessee River Gorge in Chattanooga. This was the largest event I have ever attended, and I completed the race in 5 hours and 03:10 min.

In the photo below, I am giving the “Golden Towel” as a symbolic gift to my daughter, who just turned two years old last week. I hope that in future years, she finds this as motivation to learn swimming and other athletic activities. It is possible to lead a large research group, have busy teaching responsibilities, be a father, and yet spend enough quality time for weekly exercises. 

I also hope our students and colleagues find this post motivational. According to CDC Physical Activity Guidelines, we would need to do at least 150 min of moderate-intensity aerobic activities per week and at least 2 sessions per week of muscle-strengthening activities. I am confident that nearly everyone can benefit from incorporating physical activities in their daily schedule. With more exercise, we will have more days to come, and those days will have higher quality as well. 

Link to Triple Crown of Tennessee Award:

https://www.swimthesuck.org/triple-crown-of-the-tn

Link to CDC Physical Activity Guidelines:

https://odphp.health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines

 You are cordially invited to join our 7th annual event in person or via Zoom. We have amazing keynote speakers, accomplished judges, and a very talented group of finalists presenting their work this Thursday, October 16, starting from 4:40 pm CDT. 

A message from our founding Director, Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah:

As you all may know, am serving my beloved alma mater as a regional director of the alumni association to support Yale Clubs in TN, KY, and WV. This weekend, I had a chance to attend another Yale Day of Service (YDS) organized in our region in Memphis (Shelby County). We all got together to support a great local organization, Empower Memphis, to help them renovate their new campus by painting their rooms and installing bookshelves. I would like to commend the outstanding work of colleagues in the Yale Club of Memphis for organizing the event and appreciate the important work that faculty and staff do in Empower Memphis to expose K-8 kids to various career options and prepare them for a successful college journey. 

If you are living in the greater Memphis area and have a caring heart, please consider volunteering and supporting this great organization. A few hours of your time every month can make a huge difference, especially for institutions with a thoughtful and important mission and limited funding and resources. As we all know, the savings they obtain by improving their campus with the help of volunteers could then be used for more impactful purchases and services such as buying books and computers for the kids and improving and diversifying their educational curricula. 

Please also consider joining Yale Day of Service events anywhere in the country and in many global locations; you do not need to be a Yale Alumnus to join these global events, and you can register for YDS  as a “Yale Friend.” Below are some weblinks with more pieces of information.

Empower Memphis:

https://www.empowercareerandcollegeprep.org/

Yale Day of Service:

https://alumni.yale.edu/volunteer/service-community/yale-day-service

Yale Club of Memphis:

https://alumni.yale.edu/groups/regional-clubs/yale-club-memphis

Our program is now accredited by the International HACCP Alliance in Texas to offer HACCP certification for the meat industry. The first certification event is already scheduled for Spring 2025.

This event was organized by Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah director of the Public Health Microbiology Foundation who this year serves as President of Volunteer (Tennessee) section Institute of Food technologist and Regional Director (TN, WV, KY) for Yale Alumni Association.

Co-sponsored by Public Health Microbiology Foundation, joint 2025 Yale Day of Service/ Volunteer section Institute of Food technologist Day of Service was conducted on January 18, 2025. 

Collectively, 14 volunteers were able to sort and package 4,122 lbs of high-protein food and fresh produce (equivalent to 3,435 meals) for low-income families who will receive the foods this and next week by second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah is serving as the president of Tennessee section of Institute of Food Technologists and Regional Director for Yale Alumni Association this year. This is a message from him about an upcoming service day event:

I would like to cordially invite you and your family to this below community service event on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Nashville. Last time we had a wonderful time there and we packed over 3000 pounds of mostly high-protein foods for low-income families.

We are returning to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to support their important work as volunteers. After the event, we plan to go to Nashville downtown to celebrate our contributions and enjoy the wonderful music of Nashville.

You can access more information about co-sponsors of the events below:

Yale Day of Service:

https://alumni.yale.edu/volunteer/service-community/yale-day-service

Volunteer section of Institute of Food Technologists:

http://volunteer-ift.org/officers/

Public Health Microbiology Foundation:

https://publichealthmicrobiology.education/

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee: 

https://www.secondharvestmidtn.org/