Student Stories

As temperatures spike each spring, mosquitos start to swarm. They bring with them an increased risk of mosquito-borne diseases and a need to understand how to guard against these pesky – and at times dangerous – insects. Researchers at UNC Charlotte and the Mecklenburg County Health Department are collaborating on a study to determine which factors in the environment lead to hotspots of mosquito activity, in a project led by doctoral student Ari Whiteman.

Up to 60 UNC Charlotte rising seniors will gain research experience through the Charlotte Research Scholars 10-week summer research initiative. The deadline for rising seniors from all academic disciplines to apply is Friday, Feb. 24. Through CRS, high-achieving scholars receive one-on-one, faculty-guided research training and participate in professional development sessions.

Teachers lay the foundation for students to understand and embrace science. This significant role holds true whether the students aspire to scientific careers or simply need as citizens to understand how scientific research can help their everyday lives. Despite their critical role, teachers often find themselves limited in their exposure to the settings where scientific research occurs. Charlotte Teachers Institute has worked to address that gap, including through a new research experience for teachers.

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.

Squeezing years of work and thousands of words into a three-minute talk, graduate students Shayan Nazari and Danny Yonto earned first and second place in UNC Charlotte’s inaugural Three-Minute Thesis competition.

When Vasily Astratov explains complex principles of physics, specifically in the world of optics, he turns to St Paul’s Cathedral in London and its Whispering Gallery. Whisper on one side of the iconic dome, and someone standing a hundred feet away on the other side can hear the whispered words. The same principle is at work in optics, which has helped shape the groundbreaking work in Astratov's lab in the Department of Physics and Optical Science at UNC Charlotte.