female scientists

Everywhere Chemical Exposure

Stephanie Engel uses scans of children’s brains to study the developmental effects of chemicals widely used in plastic products called phthalates.

Nancy Allbritton

Nancy Allbritton is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry and chair of the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on using techniques from chemistry, physics, engineering, and materials science to develop new technologies for biomedical applications.

Kaylyn Gootman

Kaylyn Gootman is a PhD student in the Curriculum in Environment and Ecology within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. Her research focuses on the interaction of groundwater and surface water, as well as geochemistry — the study of the chemical composition of rocks and minerals.

Erika Wise

Erika Wise is an associate professor of geography in the UNC College of Arts & Sciences, head of the Climate & Tree Ring Environmental Science research group, and an affiliate faculty member within the Institute for the Environment. Her research focuses on tree ring patterns and deciphering what they tell us about climate change.

Vidya Venkataramanan

Vidya Venkataramanan is a PhD student studying environmental sciences and engineering within The Water Institute at UNC. Her research focuses on understanding the application and effectiveness of sanitation behavior change interventions, specifically Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).

Wizdom Powell

Wizdom Powell is a health behavior professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, as well as a trained population health disparities research scientist and clinical psychologist. Her research focuses on addressing the social determinants of health inequities among boys and men of color.

Avery Paxton

Avery Paxton is a marine ecologist, conservation biologist, and doctoral candidate at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences. Her research uses a combination of field, laboratory, and analytical methods to address fundamental, mechanistic questions in marine ecology, such as how species use their habitat and how communities are structured.

Meaghan Nazareth

Rising senior Meaghan Nazareth is a biostatistics major and chemistry minor within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She conducts research with the UNC STARx Program, which seeks to understand self-management and transition from pediatric to adult-focused health care.

Diane Pozefsky

Diane Pozefsky is a research professor and director of undergraduate studies in the UNC College of Arts & Sciences Department of Computer Science. Pozefsky’s expertise includes software engineering and the social, legal, and ethical issues concerning information technology. She also helped build the networks for the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the IBM Corporation.

Margaret Jones

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.