Waru Gichane is a PhD student in the Department of Health Behavior within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and a research assistant at the Carolina Population Center. Her research focuses on the individual, interpersonal, and institutional barriers women face in achieving optimal sexual and reproductive health.

Amanda Suchanek is a postdoctoral research fellow working in molecular and biochemical nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on how enzymes control fat production in the liver — studies that may lead to the development of new interventions to treat metabolic disorders of the liver.

Tamera Coyne-Beasley is a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine within the UNC School of Medicine, as well as director of the North Carolina Child Research Health Network at the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NCTraCS). She is the president of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Her research focuses on sexual health, vaccines, injury, and violence prevention among adolescents.

Senior Madeline Fisher is an undergraduate researcher double-majoring in environmental studies and music within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She is also a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow. Her research focuses on gathering oral histories from musicians who have come from coal-mining communities and the role environmental science plays in their lives.

Sarah Ramdeen is a doctoral candidate in the UNC School of Information and Library Science. Her research focuses on the information-seeking behavior of scientists who use physical data sources within the geosciences such as cores, cuttings, fossils, and other specimens. She successfully defended her dissertation on July 28.

Blossom Damania is the vice dean for research and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor within the UNC School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the biological mechanism behind cancer-causing viruses.

Casey Berger is a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy within the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. She is a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow and a William Neal Reynolds Fellow within The Graduate School’s Royster Society of Fellows. She uses high-performance computing to simulate interactions between particles to understand situations that arose in the early universe — and still occur inside our atoms, stars, and special materials like superconductors.

Rising senior Morgan Vickers is an undergraduate research assistant for the Community Histories Workshop in the Digital Innovations Lab. She is a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow double-majoring in American studies and communications studies, with a minor in creative writing within the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on mapping historic cities now underwater, with attention to factors like racial dynamics, changing town infrastructure, and occupations.

Carter Smith is a PhD student at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences. Her research focuses on the benefits of living shorelines, which use natural materials like plants, sand, or rock to stabilize the seashore.

Katie Stember is a PhD student in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine within the UNC School of Medicine. She is also the founder of Scientists of North Carolina, a social media platform striving to bridge the gap between scientists and the community. Her research focuses on the disease-causing role of T cells in ANCA vasculitis, an autoimmune disease that affects blood vessels throughout the body.