Uma Shankar poses in front of a lake with a fountain on campus

Uma Shankar

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.
Studio portrait of Susan Wilson

Susan Wilson

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.
Portrait of Susan Girdler on campus

Susan Girdler

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.
Picture of "The Mind Club" book on a table.

Welcome to the Mind Club

UNC College of Arts & Sciences psychologist Kurt Gray explains why we give voices to our pets, dead relatives, and God in his new book, “The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why it Matters”
Portrait of Rukmini Deva on campus

Rukmini Deva

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.
PET scan of a brain. Various regions of the brain are different colors to show activation.

Committed to Memory

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 5 million Americans — a number predicted to increase to 20 million by 2050, according to UNC researchers.
Close-up of the granular wall, green dots on a dark background

The Music of Discovery

At the intersection of art and science, music professor Lee Weisert creates sound installations that allow audiences to experience the natural world in a unique way.
Illustration of puzzle piece with smaller puzzle pieces inside of it

Another Piece of the Puzzle

UNC clinical researchers begin the largest-ever genetic study of autism to elucidate the complex genetics of the condition.
Studio portrait of Jane Weintraub

Jane Weintraub

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.
Infographic: Some Research notes on the Sharks of North Carolina by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The blacknose and Atlantic sharpenose are some of the most common shark species observed by UNC Researchers. Blacknose shark averages 8.3 feet and the Atlantic sharpnose shark averages 2.4 feet. Sharks have been on Earth over 400 million year. 50 different shark species can be found in North Carolina waters. Large sharks in North Carolina are down by 50% since the 1970s. Commercial and recreational fishing have contributed to decreasing shark populations. In the past 45 years, UNC has surveyed approximately 7,000 sharks; the average shark studies is 3 feet long. The UNC institute of Marine Sciences has studies sharks in North Carolina waters since 1972, making it the longest running shark research program in the nation. To learn more about shark research in North Carolina, visit imc dot unc dot edu.

Uncharted Territory: Using Drones to Detect Sharks

Ever since he was a kid, Martín Benavides has viewed sharks a little differently than most people.
Illustration of a silhouette of a head with a brain in the shape of a money sign in it.

Money and the Mind

A meld of finance and neuroscience helps UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School professor Camelia Kuhnen better understand the underpinnings of growing wealth inequality.
Portrait of Nancy Rodrigues-Bunn

Nancy Rodriguez-Bunn

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.