Margaret Jones
July 13, 2016
Margaret Jones is a graduate student studying geological sciences in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. Her thesis work involves developing a shoreline-change model to determine coastal responses to climate change.
Women in Science Wednesdays
While women fill close to half of all jobs in the United States, they hold less than 25 percent of positions within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Even as college-educated women have increased their share in the overall workforce, our country’s science and technology sectors continue to lack a female presence.
To help close this gap, UNC research is sharing their stories — from the depths of the ocean to the crest of a mountain, with projects that impact our state, the nation, and the world. Carolina’s female scientists from all areas of STEM are making waves in the world of research. Join us each week as our scientists share their unique perspectives on the rigors of research, and advice for other women in their fields.
 |
 |
 |
Uma Shankar
July 6, 2016
Uma Shankar is a research associate in the Center for Environmental Modeling for Policy Development within the UNC Institute for the Environment. Her research focuses on air quality and its climate impacts.
Susan Wilson
June 29, 2016
Susan Wilson is an associate professor of neurology in the UNC School of Medicine and a stroke nurse practitioner at the UNC Comprehensive Stroke Center. Her research focuses on early screening, treatment, and healthcare quality improvement for strokes, as well as post-stroke depression.
Susan Girdler
June 22, 2016
Susan Girdler is a psychiatry and psychology professor and director of the UNC Psychiatry Stress and Health Research Program within the UNC School of Medicine. Her research focuses on reproductive mood disorders in women. She helped create the Women in Science Deserve Opportunities and Mentoring (WISDOM) program and is president of the Association for Professional Women in Medical Sciences.
Rukmini Deva
June 15, 2016
Senior Rukmini Deva is a SURF recipient and undergraduate researcher in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences majoring in biology, with a minor in religious studies. Her research focuses on monastic silence — a lifetime of voluntary commitment to silence and/or “stillness.” Last summer, she traveled to a Trappist monastery in South Carolina and a Yogoda ashram in India to explore why silence is used as a vehicle of deeper thought and spiritual experience.
Jane Weintraub
June 8, 2016
Jane Weintraub served as the dean of the UNC School of Dentistry from July 2011 through June 2016. Upon exiting, she returns to her joint appointment with School of Dentistry’s Department of Dental Ecology and the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research has helped shape scientific guidelines regarding the sealants and fluoride that have become a part of mainstream dental and public health practices.
Nancy Rodriguez-Bunn
June 1, 2016
Nancy Rodriguez-Bunn is a mathematics professor within the UNCCollege of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on mathematical modeling and analysis to shed light on topics like urban crime, segregation, cell movement, and ecology.
Laura Villa-Torres
May 25, 2016
Laura Villa-Torres is a PhD student studying health behavior in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on how immigrant communities keep their resilience and sustainable community-based interventions that improve their health and lives.
Kriti Sharma
May 18, 2016
Kriti Sharma is a PhD candidate working in the Shank Lab. Her research focuses on understanding the microorganisms in soil that are quietly working to make life above ground possible. As a UNC microbiome researcher, she recently represented the university at the White House’s National Microbiome Initiative launch.
Molly Fisher
May 11, 2016
Senior Molly Fisher is an undergraduate researcher in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Geophysics and Climatology Lab. Over the past three years, Fisher has modeled renewable energy sources across North America based off of energy production and cost. She is currently studying the potential of biomass as an energy resource in northeastern North Carolina.