Society

Society: Understanding Human Nature and Behavior

Macy Salzberger

November 20, 2019

Macy Salzberger is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She studies ethics, as well as social and political philosophy, with a focus on feminist ethics and the philosophy of education. Her dissertation is on the meaning and moral significance of domestic violence.

Michael Doucette

November 13, 2019

Michael Doucette is a senior double-majoring in information science and interdisciplinary studies within the UNC School of Information and Library Science. He studies how digital technologies influence and transform the structure of personal and social spaces.

Teshanee Williams

November 8, 2019

Teshanee Williams is a postdoctoral research associate within the UNC School of Government and a fellow in the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity. She uses mixed method approaches to examine strategic alliances between the public sector and nonprofit organizations, as well as public participation in decision-making processes.

André Keiji Kunigami

October 23, 2019

André Keiji Kunigami is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Romance Studies within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences and a fellow in the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity. He examines how film makes people feel about their bodies and the political nature of those emotions.

A Leading Research Institution

October 16, 2019

University Research Week, November 4-8, is an annual celebration of Carolina’s research excellence and an effort to increase participation by students, of all levels, in research activity. Through lectures, workshops, lab tours, and more, the campus community will become more familiar with our world-class research and the strategic initiatives that make Carolina one of the top research institutions in the world.

The Road to Reproductive Health

October 8, 2019

By the time she was 14 years old, Vaishnavi Siripurapu had already developed a passion for feminism and reproductive health. After working in a university biology lab in high school, she set her sights on a career that combined her love of science with that of gynecology. Now a sophomore at UNC, she researches ways to educate young people about sex and relationships.

Anusha Chari

October 2, 2019

Anusha Chari is a professor in the Department of Economics within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences and an adjunct professor in the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. She studies how international trade and capital markets — financial systems that raise capital via shares, bonds, and other investments — affect economic growth across East Asia and Latin America.

Puerto Rico’s Breaking Point

September 20, 2019

After Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico in 2017, millions of people lost power — some for nearly a year. But the blackout wasn’t just the work of a powerful hurricane. Decades of debt, economic dependence, and bad financial deals set up the territory and its electrical company, PREPA, for failure. To get to the root of the catastrophe, UNC anthropologist Sandy Smith-Nonini and filmmaker Roque Nonini teamed up to create a documentary about the underlying forces of Puerto Rico’s energy crisis.

Eleftheria “Ria” Kontou

August 28, 2019

Eleftheria “Ria” Kontou is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of City and Regional Planning within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She uses transportation models to uncover whether ride-sourcing platforms like Uber and Lyft affect city road crashes, injuries, fatalities, and DUI rates to help urban planners identify solutions for safe, efficient mobility.

Juan Carlos González Espitia

August 21, 2019

Juan Carlos González Espitia is an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Studies within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. In his historical study of syphilis in the Spanish-speaking world, he explores the ways the disease affects private and public life, literature, the arts, medical discourse, politics, and public policy.