women in science

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.

Laura Villa-Torres

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

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

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.

Stephanie Zerwas

Stephanie Zerwas is an assistant professor of psychiatry within the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders. Her research focuses on genetic risk factors, early screening and detection, and using technology to improve treatment for eating disorders.

Tojan Rahhal

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.

Blake Hauser

Senior Blake Hauser is double-majoring in environmental health sciences and biology, with a minor in chemistry. In January, she received the Churchill Scholarship, a research-focused award that provides funding to American students for a year of master’s study in science, mathematics, and engineering at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the continuum of care for mothers diagnosed with HIV during pregnancy and the implementation of antiretroviral drugs that can help suppress the virus.

Anna Cliffe

Anna Cliffe is a postdoctoral research fellow in the UNC Neuroscience Center in the School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the herpes simplex virus (HSV) and the effect stress has on reactivation of the virus.

Kaitlyn Tsai

Senior Kaitlyn Tsai is an undergraduate researcher in the College of Arts & Sciences majoring in chemistry with a biochemistry focus and minoring in medical anthropology and biology. Her research involves conducting complex chemical reactions to better understand the chemistry behind biological processes such as cancer. After graduation this May, she will pursue a PhD at the University of California, San Francisco.

Yesenia Merino

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.