Creativity

Creativity: Illuminating Color and Culture

Research UNCovered, 2019-2020

Since Fall 2019, Research UNCovered has showcased the many faces of research at Carolina, from undergraduate students to faculty, across all disciplines. So far, the series has featured 54 researchers from 10 schools, three centers and institutes, the North Carolina Botanical Garden, and UNC's research offices.

Divya Narayanan

Divya Narayanan is a junior double-majoring in neuroscience and music within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She explores the neural connections between the auditory cortex and thalamus to understand how the brain processes and reproduces sound.

Andrea Bohlman

Andrea Bohlman is an associate professor in the Department of Music within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences and a recipient of the 2020 Hettleman Award for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement. She explores the diverse music that permeates past and present cultures and why people use music during political movements.

The Joy of Chinese Cooking

Michelle T. King’s research on culinary nationalism and Chinese cuisine lands at the intersection of gender, food, and transnational Chinese identities. Her newest book project explores these topics through the life and career of Fu Pei-mei — Taiwan’s pioneering female cooking personality and cookbook author.

Food Fights

Food is so much more than what we eat, nourishing us beyond our bodies. This sentiment lies at the core of PhD student K.C. Hysmith’s research. She studies the deeply ingrained cultural meaning of food, unpacking how it affects class, gender, race, and socioeconomic status.

Local Ink, Inc.

For nearly a century, the University of North Carolina Press has been shining a spotlight on its home state and region. Conceived by its founders as an incentive for university faculty to engage in research by giving them a local outlet for publication, it soon became much more: an amplifier of voices and a tool for change.

Forging a Legacy

Over its 110-year history, journalism at Carolina has evolved from a single course in the Department of English into the internationally renowned UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. While the program has experienced exponential growth, its commitment to instilling students with innovative storytelling skills remains steadfast.

Crescendos of Creativity

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.

Emily Hynes

Emily Hynes is a PhD student in the Department of Music within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She studies women who made music within prisons of the American South from the 1930s to '40s and creates interactive digital maps to convey this information.

Rachel Despard

Rachel Despard is a senior majoring in music with minors in public policy and social and economic justice within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She studies how recorded music boosts community collaboration, affects visibility for vulnerable populations, and addresses systematic inequalities.