Mike Schramme won't be jumping horses, and Lian Xie won't sail boats during the coming Olympic games. But if those events run smoothly, both professors can claim a tiny slice of glory. They are among a small group of local academics working behind the scenes of the XXIX Olympiad.

"The public won't see most of what we do," said Schramme, an associate professor at N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and one of four horse surgeons on an international treatment team. "But the riders and horses will see us every day."

A chance to play a role in the Olympics, even a small one, isn't something done for a paycheck.

It's a chance to build partnerships, a career highlight, and it's a lot of fun to use one's skills on a world stage.

"It is a responsibility I could not refuse," said Xie, a professor in marine meteorology at NCSU.

Like the athletes, most faculty won't work the Olympic detail unless they are well-known in their fields. But who you know also matters.

Xie, for example, has been a visiting professor in marine meteorology at the Ocean University of China much of the past decade and has hosted OUC professors at NCSU. Ocean University of China is in Qingdao and has a long working relationship with the Qingdao Meteorological Bureau.

Qingdao, which is hundreds of miles from Beijing, is the site of the Olympic sailing events.

Schramme was also tapped by a colleague, in his case to work the Olympic equestrian events at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Chris Riggs, head of veterinary clinical services at the club, worked with Schramme in Europe almost 20 years ago.

"We've been involved in many different international organizations since then, and he drew on international experts he knows for this team," Schramme said. "Some of our research here at N.C. State into tendon and ligament diseases fits well with this kind of event. And we've been friends for many years, so it kind of came together that way about two years ago."

Gigantic task

For some faculty members, the Olympic work is already done as Friday's opening ceremonies approach.

Noel Greis, director of the Center for Logistics and Digital Strategy at UNC-Chapel Hill, began organizing conferences with Chinese officials almost four year ago to discuss the gigantic task of making sure millions of spectators, 10,000 athletes, 70,000 volunteers and countless other details flow together across 302 events.

UNC-CH and Tsinghua University then hosted a second conference in 2006 on crisis management at the games, joined by Shu-Cherng Fang, a NCSU professor of industrial engineering.

For an event such as the Olympics, nothing is logistically simple.

"It is a huge organizational plan," Greis said. "It involves people, equipment, information, money, everything. It's the synchronization of all of that. You're building a huge organization and the lifespan of that organization is maybe eight years when you consider they got the games in 2000. It's like putting together a whole company like IBM, and then after the games, they dismantle it."

Simply returning all the equipment and closing facilities took nine months after the Olympic games in Athens, she said.

With the Olympic work mostly done, UNC-CH and Tsinghua University decided to launch the Research Center for Logistics and Economic Development in 2007. The center focuses on global supply-chain management research intended to improve trade between the countries, support economic development and address issues such as offshore outsourcing.

But in the coming weeks, Greis will be close to home.

Next page >

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.