Student Stories

Adam Reitzel’s marine sciences lab includes three National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows (and other NSF grantees). Recipients of these fellowships are high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers, who receive funding to support graduate research training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. In addition to covering students’ research and educational expenses, the NSF Graduate Fellows program provides access to diverse research experiences and research settings around the world.  

Luke Hardy, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in optical science and engineering, is an integral member of a research team focused on biomedical optics and laser-tissue interactions, mostly in the therapeutic realm. With the incidence of kidney and bladder stones increasing not only in the Southeast but elsewhere too, due to increasing obesity, diabetes, dietary factors, and even climate change, Nathaniel Fried’s research lab in the Department of Physics and Optical Science at UNC Charlotte is working to transform treatment options.

This summer, dozens of College of Liberal Arts & Sciences undergraduate students from varied majors and disciplines will gain experience in research through UNC Charlotte initiatives that emphasize learn-by-doing models. They also will benefit from professional development opportunities, mentoring and interactions with each other.

UNC Charlotte’s Devin Clegg sees a strong linkage between his selection for a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and lessons he learned when conducting biological sciences research and playing football with the Charlotte 49ers. Clegg is affiliated with the research labs of marine biologist Adam Reitzel and molecular and cell biologist Richard Chi.

Two College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students have received the first Harper-Thomas Legacy Endowment for Study Abroad awards, presented at an event at the Levine Museum of the New South hosted by the UNC Charlotte Black Alumni Chapter. The Harper-Thomas Legacy Endowment for Study Abroad honors College of Liberal Arts & Sciences emeritus professors Mary Harper and Herman Thomas and is a scholarship of the College.

The Helping Hand Project is a student-led and faculty-backed nonprofit organization that uses 3D printers to create recreational prosthetics for children, at no cost. These forward-thinking students are using their innovative, collaborative minds and the equipment in UNC Charlotte’s
Makerspace to create the life-changing devices.

The health of the world’s coral reefs garners much media attention, especially related to bleaching and global warming and concerns about chemicals, such as sunscreens and other toxic elements, that could be causing damage to these fragile ecosystems. Two undergraduate students this summer worked with mentor Amy Ringwood, UNC Charlotte associate professor of biology, to research coral restoration and conservation issues.

More than 100 undergraduate students competed in the 2017 Summer Research Symposium, with three College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students named the winners. “These are the agile minds that will advance understanding in many areas that affect our lives,” distinguished researcher Pinku Mukherjee said of the participants in the university’s research programs.

Undergraduate students Mary (Tess) Overton and Nemah-Allah Saleh have received Goldwater Scholarships, as only the second and third students at the University ever to receive this award. The scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Beneath the surface of the sea exists a vast world that UNC Charlotte student researcher Tyler Carrier seeks to explore through research at the intersection of evolutionary ecology, oceanography, and microbiology. “The questions I am attempting to answer are deeply rooted in fundamental evolutionary and ecological processes, and are also vastly unexplored,” Carrier says.