Alyssa LaFaro

On any given day, Alyssa can be found photographing the effects of climate change, digging up long-lost information in the University Archives, or writing furiously in her Bynum Hall office. As the editor of Endeavors, she’s mastered the art of “wearing many hats.” When she’s not behind a camera or a computer, she’s meeting regularly with communicators, students, and faculty from across campus to learn about the latest research projects and unlock new opportunities for collaboration.

Posts by Alyssa LaFaro:

An Active Storm Season

June 18, 2020

June 1 marked the start of the 2020 hurricane season — and it’s slated to be an active one. In this Q&A, UNC researcher Rick Luettich talks about this year’s above-average hurricane forecast, the impact these storms have on inland populations, and how COVID-19 may affect vulnerable communities.

For the Love of Language

June 17, 2020

Since 1984, over 100,000 Karen refugees have fled their homeland of Myanmar to escape civil war. Since then, more than 40,000 have resettled in the U.S., and more than 5,000 live in North Carolina. Such displacement greatly affects lives, and even language — within just three generations their native tongue is barely spoken. Linguistics PhD students Amy Reynolds and Jen Boehm strive to understand this shift and hope to preserve the Karen people’s histories in the process.

Crescendos of Creativity

June 15, 2020

Give Marc Callahan an opera and, in return, you’ll get an explosion of color, empathy, and sound — and a bit of mid-century flare snuck in for good measure. As the director of UNC Opera, Callahan teaches his students and audiences that this age-old art form offers so much more than singing on a stage: It’s a craft that requires creative research and a team of people to bring it to life.

Machine Morality

May 19, 2020

As machines become more autonomous, humans must define the limits of their decision-making. UNC postdoctoral researcher Yochanan Bigman addresses this topic, suggesting where to draw the line when self-governing technology is required to make life-or-death decisions.

Navigating Ethics in Animal Research

May 13, 2020

How do people distinguish between what’s right and what’s wrong in the world of animal research? It’s not simple, says UNC bioethicist Rebecca Walker. Like most complex issues, this topic has a lot of gray areas — which Walker explores using the ancient philosophical approach called virtue ethics.

Boosting Teen Spirit

March 24, 2020

More than 13 percent of U.S. teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 experience a major depressive episode, which can follow them into adulthood. How can families protect their teens’ mental health as they grow? More fun and family time are just a few ways, according to researchers from the UNC Carolina Population Center.

Self-Care Success at Work

March 11, 2020

American work culture can be demanding and intense — so much so that people often put their jobs before their physical and emotional needs. But taking care of ourselves makes us better workers and improves how companies function, according to organizational behavior professor Mike Christian.

Mastering Mandarin for Business

February 13, 2020

With nearly 1 billion speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. That’s almost 15 percent of the global population — and why UNC Asian studies professor Yi Zhou has spent the past decade teaching advanced Mandarin courses to undergraduate and MBA students.

Unseen Science

January 21, 2020

RENCI is a hub for supercomputing and data science power at Carolina. The institute is the backbone for a slew of successful projects, from the data management software used by the National Library of France to a storm surge modeling system relied upon by FEMA and now a global platform for researchers to develop and test new internet architectures.

The Head and the Heart

January 7, 2020

Todd Cohen and Jonathan Schisler — a neuroscientist and a heart researcher — began working together in 2016 after meeting for coffee in Marsico Hall. By combining their expertise in protein studies, they strive to develop a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.