Student Stories

Optical Science and Engineering doctoral student Shohreh Shadalou is one of five award winners in Synopsys’ 2020 Robert S. Hilbert Memorial Optical Design Competition. Shadalou competed against graduate and undergraduate students from across North America.

As biology doctoral student Farida Yasmin advances her research into the wild soybean and its potential to address worldwide food scarcity, she continues to grow her impact and her knowledge. The wild soybean provides half the world’s vegetable oils and proteins but is susceptible to a devastating pest that Yasmin is addressing through cutting-edge omics technology.

Three College of Liberal Arts & Sciences graduate students earned the first, second and third-place places at UNC Charlotte’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

Margaret Kocherga’s story is one of a young scientist and artist who is making connections and encouraging others; discovering and sharing knowledge; and keeping a sharp eye on a dizzying array of daily tasks. Along with her research, Kocherga makes time to engage the community in science, and to also dance and teach dance.

Keeping her native land of Bangladesh close to her heart, Farida Yasmin has come to UNC Charlotte to research the woes of the soybean, which, as a critical global resource, provides more than half of the world’s vegetable oils and proteins. She is conducting research as a doctoral student in Bao-Hua Song’s lab in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Adam Reitzel’s marine sciences lab includes three National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows (and other NSF grantees). Recipients of these fellowships are high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers, who receive funding to support graduate research training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. In addition to covering students’ research and educational expenses, the NSF Graduate Fellows program provides access to diverse research experiences and research settings around the world.  

Luke Hardy, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in optical science and engineering, is an integral member of a research team focused on biomedical optics and laser-tissue interactions, mostly in the therapeutic realm. With the incidence of kidney and bladder stones increasing not only in the Southeast but elsewhere too, due to increasing obesity, diabetes, dietary factors, and even climate change, Nathaniel Fried’s research lab in the Department of Physics and Optical Science at UNC Charlotte is working to transform treatment options.

This summer, dozens of College of Liberal Arts & Sciences undergraduate students from varied majors and disciplines will gain experience in research through UNC Charlotte initiatives that emphasize learn-by-doing models. They also will benefit from professional development opportunities, mentoring and interactions with each other.

UNC Charlotte’s Devin Clegg sees a strong linkage between his selection for a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and lessons he learned when conducting biological sciences research and playing football with the Charlotte 49ers. Clegg is affiliated with the research labs of marine biologist Adam Reitzel and molecular and cell biologist Richard Chi.

Two College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students have received the first Harper-Thomas Legacy Endowment for Study Abroad awards, presented at an event at the Levine Museum of the New South hosted by the UNC Charlotte Black Alumni Chapter. The Harper-Thomas Legacy Endowment for Study Abroad honors College of Liberal Arts & Sciences emeritus professors Mary Harper and Herman Thomas and is a scholarship of the College.