Video

Taking Research to New Heights

From surveying glacial melt to managing wildfires, there are endless ways drones can be used in research. Over winter break, UNC faculty and students completed a drone workshop ­— the first of its kind at the university — developing aeronautic expertise to apply to their research.
UNC graduate student Lauren Woods draws out a pattern for a cheetah-print crop top in the costume shop at PlayMakers Repertory Company.

A Stitch in Time

Most of what you see at a theatrical performance can’t be purchased in a store. Each piece is specifically designed, created, and modified for the actor who will wear it on stage. What does that involve? Just ask the team at the PlayMakers Repertory Company costume shop.
South Building on UNC's campus

A Leading Research Institution

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.
Seniors Maribel Herrera and Chloe Schneider and junior Nehemiah Stewart use an infrared gas analyzer to measure carbon dioxide levels in the peatlands of the North Andean páramo.photos & video by Alyssa LaFaro

Climate Game-Changers

For thousands of years, the northern Andes Mountains have acted as a carbon sink, preserving organic matter as thick soil. As the planet warms, what will happen to all that carbon? This past summer, Carolina undergraduates traveled to Ecuador to take a closer look.
John Bechtold holds a camera and shoots up

A Dual Focus

After a 21-year career in the U.S. Army, John Bechtold is now a PhD student in UNC’s Department of American Studies, using photography as a means to discuss American public memory and cultural perceptions of war.

Tuned into Neuroscience

There are a host of ways neuroscientists can study the brain. Some analyze its chemistry, others its structure. UNC researcher Flavio Frohlich examines its electrical system, what he calls the "language of the brain," and investigates how miscommunication in these signals can play a role in psychiatric illnesses.

The Known Unknowns

In 2016, a group of North Carolina researchers published evidence of high rates of PFAS in the Cape Fear River basin. While this unregulated family of chemicals is used in the production of everyday goods, its impact on human health is largely unknown. For the past year, scientists from UNC-Chapel Hill, five other UNC system universities, and Duke University, have researched these potentially dangerous chemicals found in drinking water sources across the state.
Reuben Mabry

A Veteran’s View

During his deployments to Afghanistan in 2012 and 2014, Reuben Mabry relied on his artwork for respite. Now a master’s student in UNC’s studio art program, he uses his eight-year career in the U.S. Army as the foundation for his work, creating paintings about the indoctrination of military members.
a girl wears an augmented reality headset while controlling long rods on a simulator that mimics laparoscopic surgery

Augmented Health Care

Henry Fuchs is always looking 20 years ahead, and two decades from now the computer scientist thinks augmented-reality eyeglasses will be the norm. Fuchs and his team of students and colleagues are developing an augmented-reality program to aid in laparoscopic surgery training and, maybe one day, revolutionize minimally invasive surgery.

Sprains and the Brain

Most people don’t think a sprained ankle is serious, but Erik Wikstrom disagrees. The UNC exercise and sports scientist studies the mechanisms and long-term impacts of lateral ankle sprains — exploring not only how they affect local tissues, but how they change the way the brain programs movement.