College of Science

Two new colleges have formed from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, creating new pathways for student and research success — the College of Science and the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences. The colleges’ names are pending approval from the Board of Trustees at its next meeting. Bernadette T. Donovan-Merkert has been named interim dean of the College of Science; John Smail will continue as interim dean of the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences.

For their exceptional teaching and student engagement, Paola Lopez-Duarte, Samantha Suptela and Lennin Caro have received the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ 2023 Excellence in Teaching Awards. Six other faculty were honored as finalists for three awards.

Charlotte optical physicist Gregory J. Gbur turned to stacks of science fiction stories, a treasure trove of horror films, and his scientific expertise and discoveries when writing his new book, “Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not to Be Seen.”

The five inaugural recipients of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) Distinguished Leadership Awards have helped make the college strong, leaders say. Honorees are Twig Branch, Nancy A. Gutierrez, Margaret Kocherga, Boris “Bluz” Rogers and Shawn Long, who was honored posthumously.

Scholarship recipients Zach Bessant and Toni Moss have benefitted from scholarships and other life-changing opportunities offered through OASES. They shared their stories at the recent OASES scholarship event.

Risk management and data analysis are critical life skills for Grayson Dill, ’11. Students, faculty and staff at UNC Charlotte have benefitted from Dill’s expertise and vision over the past months, as he brought risk management to life in his work as the inaugural mathematician-in-residence in Charlotte’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

A new academic division of four STEM departments will form within CLAS in January 2023, led by Interim Divisional Dean Bernadette Donovan-Merkert. The division’s creation will address needs the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics and Optical Science have expressed for identity, advocacy and research support. Meanwhile, study of the college’s structure will continue over the next 10 months.

Pinku Mukherjee, who currently is the Irwin Belk Distinguished Professor for Cancer Research and associate dean for research and graduate education in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, will serve as the interim associate provost and dean of the Graduate School effective Jan. 3, 2023, succeeding Tom Reynolds, who will retire after 40 years of service to the institution. 

An antibody that was invented at UNC Charlotte could be used to curb pancreatic cancer relapse and metastasis, a new UNC Charlotte study has found. Pancreatic cancer is particularly cruel  — and deadly. Yet, there is hope for improved treatment options. UNC Charlotte researchers are among those leading the search for solutions, including research by Mukulika Bose ’22 Ph.D. and collaborators, including Bose’s mentor Pinku Mukherjee, published in the journal Translational Research.

The Charlotte community mourns the Sept. 12 death of UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens Executive Director Emeritus Thomas Lawrence (Larry) Mellichamp ‘70, known by many affectionately as Dr. M.