Read Research and Innovation Stories - College of Arts and Sciences

Carl Rodriguez stands in front of a chalkboard with writing on it.

Physicist Carl Rodriguez receives 2022 Packard Fellowship

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced that Carl Rodriguez, who will join UNC’s department of physics and astronomy in January 2023, is one of 20 recipients of the 2022 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering.

Florence Dore is holding a guitar and singing at an outside performance.

Academia and rock ’n’ roll live in harmony for this Carolina professor

Florence Dore has a new album and a new book out this fall. She’s been touring the country singing and talking about one of her favorite topics: the intersection of literature and rock ’n’ roll.

Ashton Thorne reads zines at a table in a library. A folder filled with other zines sits in front of him, and his computer is open to make research notes.

Ashton Thorne spent his summer searching for elusive, queercore zines

The UNC senior’s research took him to libraries in Chicago and North Carolina to find transgender representation in queercore publications from the ’80s to the early 2000s.

The backs of a line of children playing outside on the grass, dressed in warm weather attire.

Early deprivation continues to affect brain development well into adolescence

A new study published on Oct. 7 in Science Advances shows that early deprivation continues to affect brain development well into adolescence. “We know … that experiences early in life shape brain development but until now, this has never been shown conclusively in humans,” says Margaret Sheridan, a clinical psychologist at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Madison Milotte stands in the fields at Peri-winkle farm with a butterfly net in hand.

UNC junior studies how climate change might disrupt butterfly life cycles

Madison Milotte used a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship to study how increasing temperatures affect the pupation of cabbage white butterflies.

Cayla Colclasure sits at a desk in Wilson Library flipping through documents related to her research.

Prison camps and the Western North Carolina Railroad

Southern Futures Townsend Fellow Cayla Colclasure is studying the prison labor that built the Western North Carolina Railroad, which weaves through Old Fort in McDowell County, North Carolina.

Photo of one of the holy lakes with a village in the distance and surrounded by mountains.

Nepal round three

An interdisciplinary team made its third trip to Nepal to study the effects of climate change on the pristine Gokyo Lakes. Once again the researchers faced daunting challenges, logged some major successes and learned new lessons about adaptability, flexibility and resilience when conducting fieldwork in challenging environments.