For their outstanding research and scholarship, Eleonora Dávalos of Public Policy and Britney Phippen of Biological Sciences are recipients of the 2018 Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award, presented by the UNC Charlotte Graduate School.

Dávalos’ dissertation focused on the effects of the strategies used to control illicit new coca crops in Colombia. Dávalos’ says her interest in social policy research is rooted in her fieldwork experience with vulnerable communities and local government officials in developing countries. She has been involved in the design and implementation of social development projects aiming to reduce poverty and promote social equity in several municipalities in Colombia.

“Our judges thought that your findings were surprising,” said Tom Reynolds, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School. The judges, he noted, “pointed out that your topic has been rarely studied and adds a great deal to the discipline.”

Phippen researches the bacterium Vibrio vulnificus. Often found in shellfish, it is described as the most fatal seafood borne pathogen in the world. The award judges called Phippen’s work “an impressive bit of multidisciplinary work,” and “a solid and important contribution,” Reynolds said.

Phippen’s research on the opportunistic human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus is focused on a bacterium that carries a 50% mortality rate and causes 95% of all seafood related deaths in the United States each year, primarily after consumption of raw or undercooked seafood. Her research is considering how the bacterium strains differ and also how they respond to conditions around them, including climate change.

Each scholar will be entered in a national dissertation competition at the Council of Graduate Schools. That competition includes a $2,000 honorarium.

The pain can be excruciating – a stabbing sensation in the side, abdomen or back. It can start in one spot in the intestinal tract, then spread. The agony can bring people to tears – and, often, to the hospital emergency room.

This suffering is caused by stones, the pebble-like lumps of minerals and salts that can form in a person’s urinary tract. While the stones themselves can be as small as grains of sand, their impact can extend beyond the initial diagnosis and discomfort.

“Most North Carolinians have known someone who has had kidney or bladder stones,” says UNC Charlotte student Luke Hardy, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in optical science and engineering. “We’re in what is called the Stone Belt. The Southeastern part of the United States, including North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, has more kidney stone occurrences than other places, about a 50% greater prevalence of stone disease.”

Stone Incidence, And The Costs, Increase

With the incidence of 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. Hardy is an integral member of the research team.

“Luke is a highly accelerated student by all measures,” Fried says. “One of his greatest strengths is that he works extremely hard. He’s very focused and a very serious student. It’s his curiosity, his heart, his work ethic, and his productivity. He’s just done so much. He’s really a role model for other students.”

Hardy first joined Fried’s lab as an undergraduate physics student participating in the Charlotte Research Scholars program in the summer of 2013. Since then, he has been a co-author on over a dozen peer-reviewed papers and a similar number of conference proceedings. He also received a 2017 Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

“I like learning things and figuring things out, and I’ve always wanted to use that interest in helping people in some way,” Hardy says. “I felt like this work was a good way to do that.”

The specific area of research is called biomedical optics and laser-tissue interactions, mostly occurring in the therapeutic realm. “You can think about it as minimally invasive surgery using lasers, optics and/or fiber optics,” Fried says. “We do a little bit of optical imaging and what I would call diagnostics, diagnosing disease or characterizing abnormalities. But most of the work is on the therapy side for treatment.”

The research is exploring less invasive surgical options, seeking to speed recovery time, decrease complications and time spent in surgery, and reduce costs for patients and the health care system. That is where the innovative devices that Fried’s lab develops come in.

“There has been little or no evolution in laser technology for treating kidney stones in the last 30 years or so,” Fried says. “We are one of only a few academic labs that I know of in the world that is trying to introduce new laser technology for breaking up kidney stones. The conventional technology has been around for almost 30 years. The technology that Luke is working on in the lab as part of his project allows us to miniaturize the optical fiber delivery system, and perhaps the endoscope as well, that goes inside the body.”

Hardy counts his work with the Thulium fiber laser for breaking up kidney stones as some of his most productive.

“One of the major issues with the laser we are researching now is that it operates at very low pulse energy,” he says. “We were limited by that. We were able to show that what you need to do is pulse it faster, to increase the average power. You can ablate the kidney stones faster, and there’s also a reduction in the movement of the stone compared to the current lasers in use. Then, later on, we were able to show by using a fast camera why there was a reduction in the movement of the stone. There are a lot of reasons why reducing the movement of the stone is important.”

The Pinball Phenomenon

When a stone breaks up, it can bounce around, much like a pinball in a pinball machine. Pieces can be missed, requiring more surgery, or the patient has to let the fragment pass while the urinary tract is still healing. If a stone moves around during the procedure, the surgery also can take longer, which is costly and potentially more risky for the patient.

While much of his work has focused on the actual lasers and probes, Hardy also has branched into computer simulations. With this work, the team is researching treatment options that use non-invasive lasers and their thermal effect to remodel subsurface tissues to treat female stress urinary incontinence. Currently, women either learn to live with the condition or turn to more extensive surgical options, such as mesh slings.  One of the major themes in the lab’s research is developing options for the use of lasers in urology, with implications for quality of life issues.

“We currently have an NIH grant to look at female incontinence, which is a big problem,” Fried says. “Millions of women suffer from female incontinence after childbirth and in aging.”

Hardy also took a six-month turn in space exploration as an intern at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, starting last summer. “There’s the kid part of me that was drawn to this lab, and then there’s the practical side, in that I wanted to expand my research beyond what I had done at UNC Charlotte,” he says.

He is exploring whether he wants to pursue a post-doctoral research position in academia or a post in industry. Either way, the work continues to fascinate him, particularly when he stops to reflect on the power of light.

“Using light to break up a kidney stone is so cool,” he says. “We are used to ambient light – very low level light – and we don’t really think of light interacting to heat something up and then break it apart. It’s amazing. The fact that we can create enough coherent light to melt something is a testament to innovation.”

As president of UNC Charlotte’s SPIE/OSA student chapter, Hardy works with his peers in volunteer projects, such as the university’s Science and Technology Expo and visits to schools. He remembers wanting to be a sound engineer, as a high school student at the Middle College at GTCC-High Point, and he still plays bass in a band. When he came to UNC Charlotte to study physics, he realized the parallels between sound waves and light waves, and his mind opened to other possibilities.

Now, he wants to open up that understanding of the expansive nature of science for others. “I think outreach helps with the public image of science, and it helps to recruit more scientists,” he says. “It’s also fun because you show science to younger students.”

Words and Image: Lynn Roberson

Shan Yan, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UNC Charlotte, has received a $1.7 million R01 research grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Findings are expected to offer insight into how cancers develop and to open avenues to new therapeutic strategies, especially with pancreatic cancers.

Yan’s lab researches DNA damage that human cells sustain each day from internal and environmental assaults. Oxidative DNA damage and single-strand breaks, or SSBs, in the DNA duplex are critical challenges to genomic stability and can lead to the formation of tumors when the body does not repair the damage quickly or properly.

An elaborate network called DNA damage response pathway detects these abnormal DNA structures through a process called checkpoint signaling, and coordinates the repair and activation.

Yet, the processes by which this signaling and DNA repair take place are still only partly understood because of their complexity and speed, and the difficulty of studying complex interactions within living cells. Additionally, little is known about how cells sense the unrepaired oxidatively-damaged DNA in the first place.

New Work Can Help Us Understand Cancer Development

A better understanding of how the body senses oxidative stress signals for a checkpoint response could offer insights into how cancers and neurodegenerative disorders develop following oxidative stress. This knowledge could ultimately lead to new treatments via modulation of the underlying molecular mechanism.

The 5-year grant (NIH R01CA225637) Yan’s lab has received will support the continuation of the lab’s study of the mechanism of a repair protein called APE1 in DNA damage response. While APE1 is known for its critical functions in base excision repair and transcriptional regulation, it is currently unknown whether APE1 plays an essential role in DNA damage response pathway.

“In particular, this support from the NIH will drive the new direction my lab has started, to look at single-strand breaks and repair, and signaling, as we try to figure out the molecular details of how that works,” Yan said. “We hope we can come up with new methods for cancer treatment or the treatment of aging-related neurodegenerative diseases in the future.”

Using innovative biochemical and structure-function analysis in egg extracts from Xenopus – a genus of highly aquatic frogs – and mammalian cells, the Yan lab intends to demonstrate how the damage is recognized and processed. Target proteins found in Xenopus are correlated with those found in cancer patients. The researchers will also validate the findings from the Xenopus system in mammalian cells, including pancreatic cancer cells.

Yan and other researchers from his lab, including students and post-doctoral fellows, have published several peer-reviewed papers documenting earlier findings. One of the most recent papers, “APE2 promotes DNA damage response pathway from a single-strand break,” was published in January 2018 in the journal Nucleic Acids Research (Oxford University Press).

The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH, providing support for health-related research and development. The Yan lab also has been supported, in part, by grants from the NIH/NIGMS (R15GM101571 and R15GM114713) and funds from UNC Charlotte (Duke Energy Endowment Special Initiatives Fund and Faculty Research Grants).

Previous stories about Yan’s lab can be found here and here.

Words and Image: Lynn Roberson, CLAS Communications Director

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.

Over 30 College of Liberal Arts & Sciences undergraduate students who are part of the Charlotte Research Scholars Program will conduct research projects on diverse topics, including cystic fibrosis characteristics, attitudes toward immigration, body self-image, air quality, pancreatic cancer, the future of conservation through a Victorian lens, and other subjects.

As student scholars, they will join with students from across the university in this in-depth research experience. Along with the students, a similar number of CLAS faculty are serving as one-to-one mentors for students in the program.

The summer program started in 2012 for high-achieving undergraduate students to gain experience in research and professional development in their field of interest. These opportunities are not always available in the undergraduate classroom. This learn-by-doing model places an emphasis on graduate education and allows the scholars to put their experiential learning into practice, preparing them to excel in their future studies and research.

In addition to mentored research activities, scholars participate in weekly professional development training to build skills critical to professional success.  Topics include responsible conduct of research, developing a competitive research fellowship application, preparing an academic resume, professional communication tools, and a session on preparing for graduate school.

Other summer research activities also are going on in 2018 that will involve college students and faculty, including several Research Experience for Undergraduates Programs and the Charlotte Community Scholars Program, which began in 2015 as a sister program to the Charlotte Research Scholars Program. Students work directly with a faculty mentor and a community partner on an engaged scholarship project, participate in weekly professional development meetings with other undergraduate research students, and present their research findings at the annual Charlotte Research Symposium, the capstone event for all of the undergraduate research programs.

Images show students presenting at a previous Charlotte Research Symposium.

Mukulika Bose, a doctoral student in biological sciences, has received a 2018 P.E.O. International Scholarship from the P.E.O. Sisterhood, an organization focused on helping women around the world participate in graduate study in the U.S. and Canada.

Bose is a member of Pinku Mukherjee’s lab in the Department of Biological Sciences. She describes herself as being full of enthusiasm and keen about science. Her goal is to use her curiosity and knowledge to seek answers that can contribute to the welfare of society, she says.

Before joining the doctoral program at UNC Charlotte, Bose completed her master’s degree in biotechnology and was the recipient of a Chancellor’s Gold medal at Presidency University in Kolkata, West Bengal. There, she gained hands-on experience in cell biology, plant biotechnology, genetics, immunology and biochemistry. She completed her bachelor’s of science in microbiology with honors at Asutosh College, affiliated under University of Calcutta.

The International Peace Scholarship Fund is one of six philanthropies that include ownership of an all-women’s college, Cottey College, and five projects that provide higher educational assistance. Established in 1949, this specific fund provides financial support for women from other countries to participate in graduate study in the United States and Canada. The philosophy of the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) is that education is fundamental to world peace and understanding. The P.E.O. Sisterhood is an international women’s organization of about 230,000 members, with a primary focus on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide.

Bose participated in the Graduate School’s Fellowship Application Incentive Program, which provides a cash incentive and assistance for students to seek out and apply for financial support.

For more information on the Fellowship Application Incentive, please visit the Graduate School’s How Graduate Student Funding Works page.

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, who completed his bachelor’s degree in exercise science at UNC Charlotte in 2016, is pursuing a master’s degree in biology at UNC Charlotte. With the fellowship, he will receive three years of financial support over a five-year fellowship period – a $34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution. Clegg is among 2,000 awardees chosen this year from over 13,000 applicants.

Clegg is affiliated with two research labs in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences – the labs of marine biologist Adam Reitzel and molecular and cell biologist Richard Chi. Clegg’s research combines molecular biology and protein biochemistry to uncover how genomes evolve in animals.

“I am looking into an organism that is not a conventional model organism to use for my project,” he said. “I am going to use the sea anemone, a cnidarian, and since it’s not a very well known model, I think that was a big aspect of my selection for the fellowship. What I am researching is a transcription factor. It’s a protein that aids in the regulation of other specific proteins that help with things ranging from normal development to antioxidant properties and many other things.”

He joins two other NSF Graduate Research Fellows in Reitzel’s lab, which boasts three of the six GRFs currently at UNC Charlotte. Tyler Carrier, a Ph.D. student, joined the lab in September 2015, and Remi Ketchum, a Ph.D. student, joined the lab in January 2017.

Clegg first was exposed to molecular biology when Chi served a turn as the UNC Charlotte 49ers Football Faculty Coach. At a players’ meeting, Chi described his research and tossed out an offer to mentor players interested in the life sciences.

“I sat down with him when we had the team dinner, and talked with him,” Clegg said. “He was a little skeptical. I understand why. Coming from a kinesiology background, I knew pretty much nothing about molecular biology techniques and working in a lab setting, but it all worked out.”

Through hard work and determination, Clegg obtained an internship with Chi’s lab, which employs molecular biology, protein chemistry, live cell imaging and yeast genetics to study proteins involved in membrane trafficking.

Devin Clegg (left) works with UNC Charlotte Biological Sciences researchers Adam Reitzel and Richard Chi.

“When I first met Devin and saw his determination and his desire to learn, I believed he would be a strong addition to the research team in my lab,” Chi said. “He has proven that true in his time with us, as he has grown as a researcher. His research holds potential not only for him, but also for his particular field of study. I know, too, that he will continue to evolve as a scholar and also as a mentor for students who are coming behind him, which is important not only in my lab but also in modern research generally.”

As he gained confidence in the lab, Clegg felt like he had found his place. “It felt natural to me,” he said. “Everything really flowed, and it felt natural, like I was supposed to be doing this.”

The direction his research took led to him working also in the Reitzel lab, which employs evolution ecology, genetics, molecular biology, and field studies to answer questions about the evolution of proteins in marine invertebrates, such as sea anemones, jellyfishes and corals.

Following graduation in 2016, he pursued a post baccalaureate to complete courses for a biology degree and to grow his research experience and obtain a better understanding of cellular and molecular biology.

Like Chi, Reitzel quickly saw Clegg’s potential.

“I have been impressed with Devin’s curiosity and his desire to learn new skills and explore new questions,” Reitzel said. “His commitment also to mentoring others and helping them experience opportunities that may be new for them also has impressed me and fits in well with the collaborative focus among the team members in my lab. I am confident he will continue to be a strong contributor to the research and outreach we are doing, and I’m also excited about the growing collaboration he can help us foster with Dr. Chi’s lab.”

Clegg hopes others can draw lessons from his story. He will continue to join other members of the Chi and the Reitzel labs in engaging with the broader community, specifically through mentoring and encouraging younger students. He intends particularly to focus on a stereotype he perceives.

“With graduate studies I want to remove the stereotype of student-athletes and researchers,” he wrote in his application. “Being a former student-athlete, I have experienced classmates talking down as if I was incompetent.”

In his application, Clegg included details about playing football. “I think the reviewers felt I could be a good person for the fellowship because of my work ethic,” he said. “Research is like football in that you practice and practice, and then you have to be ready to deal with issues that come up.”

He already knows one important lesson he will share with others.

“If you don’t try, you’ll never know what could have happened,” he said. “That’s what my mother always told me when I was little, such as trying out for baseball. She said, “You might be scared you’re not going to make it. But don’t be afraid of the rejection. If you don’t try, it’s definitely a no. If you do put that effort forward, you might end up with a yes.” ”

Words and Images: Lynn Roberson, CLAS Communications Director
— The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

UNC Charlotte biology alumna and Cabarrus County teacher Jessie L. Enlow stood at the front of the UNC Charlotte Biological Sciences laboratory, holding up slips of paper that were marked to represent DNA sequences. As part of the NC Science Festival series of events at UNC Charlotte, Enlow was a member of a team presenting ways for public school teachers to incorporate biotechnology concepts and tools in their classrooms.

In collaboration with UNC Charlotte biological sciences faculty members Sharon Bullock, Michelle Pass and Tonya Bates, Enlow was an instructor in the free biotechnology workshop, particularly geared for high school biology teachers. The Cox Mill High School teacher was back on familiar turf, since as a North Carolina Teaching Fellow she had earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and a master’s degree in science education at UNC Charlotte. She also was a finalist for Teacher of the Year in Cabarrus County in 2015-16. 

The UNC Charlotte Biological Sciences faculty organized the workshop and invited Enlow to join them, extending a partnership they have developed with Enlow and other teachers at Cox Mill High School. Faculty in the science departments in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at UNC Charlotte have developed strong partnerships with secondary education institutions throughout the region. View more photos on the College’s flickr.

Meanwhile, on this same spring day, faculty and students in the Department of Chemistry and the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. Program were exploring chemistry concepts with children aged 7 to 14 and their parents. With the “Colors of Chemistry” workshop, participants learned about dyes, pigments, and other colorful chemicals by making their own chromatic concoctions. Young people let loose their scientific creativity with bright tie-dye and lather printing experiments. They also learned about atoms and polymers, how scientists study these materials, and how people use these materials daily.

Nanoscale Science Ph.D. student Margaret Kocherga, who is part of the Schmedake Research Group, showed students how various elements react, inviting the young scholars to participate in some experiments. View more photos on the College’s flickr.

CLAS involvement in the North Carolina Science Festival activities also has included the 6th annual UNC Charlotte Statewide Star Party on April 20 at the UNC Charlotte Observatory, as part of North Carolina’s annual statewide star party. Even more science activities presented by CLAS faculty, students and staff — along with many others from across the university — are planned for Sunday, April 29, as UNC Charlotte closes out the North Carolina Science Festival with its UNC Charlotte Science and Technology Expo.

A classroom approach in which students seek solutions to problems rooted in real meteorological data; non-traditional teaching techniques to help students grasp organic chemistry; and a focus on students choosing research projects geared to their interests are just some of the innovative, hands-on approaches this year’s CLAS Excellence in Teaching Awards recipients use to challenge students.

In recognition of their exceptional teaching, Casey Davenport, Jacob Horger and Valerie Bright have received the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ Excellence in Teaching Awards for this academic year.

Davenport, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, has received the Integration of Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award. Horger, a lecturer and organic lab coordinator in the Chemistry Department, has received the Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Lecturer. Bright, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English, has received the Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Part-Time Faculty Member. They received their awards at a college celebration on Monday, April 23 in the Halton Reading Room in Atkins Library.

Integration of Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award

Casey Davenport is described by Geography and Earth Sciences Department Chair Craig Allan as a talented educator and a rising scholar in the fields of Severe Weather Meteorology and Science Pedagogy. Her scholarship is evidenced by seven articles published or in press in top-tier journals. She also has an upcoming publication in the Journal of College Science Teaching, a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Science Teachers Association.

Casey Davenport (right) tracks the path of a weather balloon.

Students play a significant role in Davenport’s research program productivity, with seven of her 18 conference presentations featuring the work of student researchers. She uses innovative teaching approaches in a series of intensive and highly quantitative undergraduate courses that center on what is called a flipped classroom approach, where students work together to explore solutions to problems rooted in real meteorological data.

A UNC Charlotte graduate praised her for being challenging and for promoting critical thinking skills. Her approaches have resulted in her receipt of a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning grant, through which she uses a pedagogy known as worked examples to impact student learning in the atmospheric dynamics courses. The award committee was particularly impressed by the fact that this success in integrating teaching and research has been achieved within her first four years at UNC Charlotte.

Finalists for the Integration of Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award were Heather Perry, an associate professor in the Department of History and Shan Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Perry is a highly innovative instructor in the classroom who has developed new pedagogical approaches to engage undergraduate students in the study of history. These novel approaches include the History Avatar Project, in which students impersonate historical or fictional actors to acquaint themselves with lived history, as well as the use of primary sources in many of her classes.

Biological Sciences Department Chair Pinku Mukherjee and colleagues have described Yan as an effective teacher for undergraduate students in the classroom and an attentive and dedicated mentor. This is evidenced in part by student authorship of research articles in prestigious peer reviewed scientific journals and their performance in university undergraduate research fairs.

Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Lecturer

Jacob Horger has been a lecturer and the organic lab coordinator in the Chemistry Department at UNC Charlotte since fall 2010. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of South Carolina in 2010. While a doctoral student, he was a three-time winner of the Joseph Bouknight Teaching Award.

Jacob Horger frequently works in the labs with students.

At UNC Charlotte, Horger teaches a number of organic chemistry courses and labs. In these, he uses a variety of different pedagogical strategies to reach his students. These include active learning activities, in-class problem solving, specification grading, and collaborative laboratory projects.

The efficacy of his unorthodox pedagogy was a common theme in his many award nominations by his students. “I have never had a teacher so passionate and dedicated to making sure their students succeed,” one student wrote. “Organic is such a difficult topic but I feel Dr. Horger he makes it much easier to (comprehend). He utilizes different methods in class to be sure we understand the topics.”

The awards committee was impressed by Horger’s willingness to continually revamp his courses for his students’ benefit, by his deployment of non-traditional approaches in the classroom, and by his genuine concern that students master skills necessary to continue their studies.

Finalists for the Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Lecturer were Peta Ann Katz, a full-time lecturer in the Anthropology Department, and John Russell Taylor, a full-time lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

In her courses, Katz offers a mixture of tried-and true and cutting-edge scholarship. She encourages her students to actively engage with assigned material, pushing them to generate their own questions and write on topics of their own choosing. She also is committed to opening her students up to new perspectives and new global realities, centering her teaching in a real-world, student-centric approach.

Taylor works hard in all of his classes to create a productive learning environment. He begins by trying to gauge which learning style and pace will work best for each particular group of students or individual student. He also encourages students to engage actively in their own learning and makes himself available outside of class as much as possible.

Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Part-Time Faculty Member

Valerie Bright is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English, teaching in the department since 2012. English Department Chair Mark West has called Bright one of the department’s strongest undergraduate teachers.

Valerie Bright teaches a children’s literature class.

Students frequently comment on her high energy, her enthusiasm for the course material, and her creativity in the classroom. The awards committee was particularly impressed by Bright’s focus on critical and imaginative thinking and her attention to small details. Impressive too is the way she structures her classes, so that students can be self-directed learners. Students can choose their own research subjects, encouraging them to be more personally involved with their work.

A major goal is to help students improve their active listening and develop critical thinking skills. Bright said she wants her students to leave the classroom with more information about the subject matter, and she also wants them to show overall growth as individuals. She particularly wants them to appreciate diversity and gain confidence.

Bright regularly has taught two of the core liberal studies courses the department offers for the general education program as well as core courses in the area of children’s literature, Literature for Young Children and Adolescent Literature. In 2012, she received her master’s degree in English at UNC Charlotte, and in 2016, she completed her Master of Library and Information Sciences at UNC Greensboro.

Finalists for the Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Part-Time Faculty Member are David Clausen, an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Felecia Harris, an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

In the classroom, Clausen approaches the material that he teaches as both an instructor and a student. As he writes in his teaching statement, “For me, teaching begins with the acknowledgement that I am, and always will be, a student. In this, my students seem to recognize that they are being guided by a kindred spirit, a fellow seeker who continues to ask the same questions they bring with them to class.”

About her teaching, Harris writes, “all students are unique and have something special that they can bring to their own education. I will assist my students to express themselves and accept themselves for who they are, as well embrace the differences of others.” Students routinely identify her as the one person at UNC Charlotte who made the most significant, positive contribution to their education on senior exit surveys.

Images: Lynn Roberson | Top Image: Valerie Bright (from left), Jacob Horger, Casey Davenport at the awards ceremony.

Academically talented, low-income students who want to study biological sciences can find life-changing opportunities through a new regional partnership among UNC Charlotte, Gaston College and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

This innovative initiative is possible as a result of $4.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. The collaborative effort seeks to increase the number of students who complete both associate of science and bachelor’s of science degrees in the biological sciences.

The initiative – called the SPARC4, or STEM Persistence and Retention via Curricula, Centralization, Cohorts, and Collaboration Project – will provide 156 scholarships over five years, beginning in fall 2018. The initiative is an expansion and scale-up of a project at Gaston College called SPARC³ that resulted in improved academic scores for the participating students and higher percentages of that college’s students completing their associate degrees when compared to the college’s general population.

For each year of the new initiative, 10-12 students at each community college will be chosen for one-year renewable scholarships, faculty and peer mentoring, and targeted advising designed to promote successful transfer to the biology or pre-biology major at UNC Charlotte in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Students will be eligible for continued scholarships and academic support when they transfer to UNC Charlotte.

Students in a cell biology lab at UNC Charlotte conduct experiments as part of their class. SPARC4 scholars will benefit from similar hands-on research and collaboration.

While the initiative will work with specific students at the three institutions, knowledge gained from the partnership holds the potential for broader impact, academic leaders say. This anticipated impact particularly relates to upward mobility, which can be linked to educational attainment levels.

“This partnership will accomplish much more than helping these specific students,” said Dr. Joan Lorden, UNC Charlotte Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. “The initiative will help all three partners implement and then study interventions to find out what works best to help these students, and others like them, succeed. We can then apply these proven interventions more broadly, with far-reaching impact at our institutions and elsewhere.”

The successful SPARC³ project at Gaston College began in 2009 and has shown increased rates of students transferring into STEM majors at North Carolina universities, in addition to improved academic scores and associate degree completion by those students. The new initiative will draw from that work and the efforts of SPARC³ program leaders at Gaston College: Ashley Hagler, SPARC³ Director, Dr. Melissa Armstrong, Science and Mathematics Chairperson, and Dr. Heather Woodson, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Gaston College saw improved academic scores and higher degree completion rates with its SPARC3 project.

“We expect to see additional students finishing their degrees and transferring to UNC Charlotte as a result of this grant,” said Dr. Heather Woodson, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at Gaston College. “The impact on Gaston College and our partner institutions in this initiative will be very positive, and the effects on individual students in our community will be profound. The new partnership will allow community college transfer students to benefit from an enhanced student experience and significant financial support at both the community colleges and UNC Charlotte. We also will be able to more closely track student performance after transfer.”

Students who were part of the SPARC³ project at Gaston College and who transferred to UNC Charlotte call the support they received transformational.

“SPARC³ was the best experience in my educational journey,” said Erin Spurrier, a biology major at UNC Charlotte. “This program provided me with new skills, support, opportunities, experiences and an environment that not only helped me succeed, but provided me with a new and exciting outlook on higher education. To me this program represents the future and a way schools can encourage their students to enjoy learning.”

The SPARC4 partnership effort is expected to expand participation in STEM fields by a more diverse population.

“We are proud to work collaboratively on this initiative. Increasing the number of students pursuing careers in STEM fields is critical to diversifying the science and technical expertise in our region,” said Dr. Carol S. Spalding, President of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. “This grant will help support students who will really benefit from additional mentoring and financial resources.”

The students will be members of discipline-based learning communities at the community colleges and UNC Charlotte. They will participate in hands-on research opportunities and inquiry-based activities in STEM courses. Each of the partner institutions will also emphasize student-centered learning by redesigning STEM courses in which students frequently struggle. With the course redesigns, the project will directly benefit more students than just the scholarship recipients.

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College is focused on students gaining the skills and knowledge necessary for careers in the life sciences.

At UNC Charlotte, the scholarship recipients will benefit academically from enrolling together in sections of required courses outside the biology major where those majors have historically struggled. These courses will feature the use of peer mentors trained specifically to address transfer student issues. They also will have the opportunity to work on research projects with UNC Charlotte biological sciences faculty and to present their work at professional conferences.

“Students who transfer to UNC Charlotte in the biological sciences from community colleges can find the transition difficult, and many drop out, particularly those who have not completed their associate degrees,” said Dr. Elizabeth Stearns, SPARC4 Project Director and UNC Charlotte sociology professor. “Academic, financial and social support can increase the graduation rate for these students, and we believe our new partnership will allow us to use that support to intervene at critical moments for these scholars at all three institutions.”

The regional partnership is expected to contribute to the nationwide conversation around the issue of what helps – or hinders – community college students as they strive for careers in STEM fields, particularly in the life sciences.

Collaborators at each institution include faculty from diverse disciplines, as well as institutional leadership. At UNC Charlotte, in addition to the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, partners include the University Transfer Center, which is a resource for transfer students. Each year, UNC Charlotte welcomes more community college transfers than any other North Carolina college or university.

The contact person for fall 2018 scholarships for students at Rowan Cabarrus Community College is Biotechnology Program Chair Dr. Carol Scherczinger. At Gaston College, the contact is Chief Development Officer Julia P. Allen. At UNC Charlotte, qualified students will be invited to participate.

About the Collaborators:

UNC Charlotte is North Carolina’s urban research university. With fall 2017 enrollment of more than 29,300 students, the University leverages its location in the state’s largest city to offer internationally competitive programs of research and creative activity, exemplary undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, and a focused set of community engagement initiatives. As the largest and most diverse college at UNC Charlotte, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences advances the discovery, dissemination, and application of knowledge and creativity and – by building the academic programs for tomorrow – educates students to be critical and imaginative thinkers and engaged citizens for a world increasingly characterized by diversity and change. We are committed to developing an inclusive environment where diversity, in all its forms, is valued and incorporated in the full-range of college activities.

Opening its doors in 1963, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College is one of 58 colleges in the state-supported North Carolina Community College System. Rowan-Cabarrus is a comprehensive, community-focused institution of higher learning, serving the residents of Rowan and Cabarrus counties at multiple campus locations and through on-line programs. Rowan-Cabarrus offers fully-accredited associate degree programs in more than 30 areas of study, including arts and sciences, business, information technology, health and public services, engineering technologies, and biotechnology, as well as dozens of diplomas and certifications. Rowan-Cabarrus provides more than 2,000 course offerings, serving a yearly overall enrollment of more than 20,000 students. In addition, Rowan-Cabarrus provides the education and job-training programs needed to meet many of the workforce demands of the North Carolina Research Campus being developed in Kannapolis.

Gaston College is one of 58 community colleges in the North Carolina Community College System. Serving both Gaston and Lincoln counties, Gaston College enrolls approximately 8,000 students each term in curriculum programs and averages over 17,000 annually in its Economic and Workforce Development and Continuing Education programs. Gaston College offers over 100 fields of study to obtain a degree, diploma or certificate.

Images: Lynn Roberson and courtesy of Gaston College and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. First image: Current students conduct research in a UNC Charlotte biological sciences lab; SPARC4 scholars will benefit from mentorship and hands-on research, such as shown here.