PhD

Healing with Art

May 22, 2023

Denise “Dee” Yookong Williams uses art to help LGBTQ youth and youth of color process their experiences around suicide.

Kaylyn Gootman

August 31, 2016

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.

Vidya Venkataramanan

August 17, 2016

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).

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.

Tojan Rahhal

April 27, 2016

Tojan Rahhal is a fourth-year PhD student studying pharmaceutical sciences in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Under the guidance of Joseph DeSimone, her research focuses on the delivery of therapeutics to the lungs. She is also the chair of UNC’s Women in Science group.

Yesenia Merino

March 30, 2016

Yesenia Merino is the outreach coordinator within the Office for Undergraduate Research and a PhD student studying health behavior in the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on social justice issues in public health.

Sarah Schmitt

March 23, 2016

Sarah Schmitt is a PhD student in the Department of Geography atUNC-Chapel Hill. Her research examines the strong coupling between hydrology and ecology in tropical islands. She is funded by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the Geological Society of America, and National Geographic’s Young Explorers Program.

Woman On Board

March 14, 2016

Deborah Dexter, the first person to earn a PhD at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, reflects on a lifetime of travel, teaching, and trailblazing.