After the naming of Klein Hall and the College last year, this year the Dean’s Office in the Klein College of Science declared Sept. 22-26 “Klein College of Science Week.”

KCOS observed the one-year anniversary with different events each day for networking, idea sharing and celebrating the research, community building and teaching within the College.

Monday: The Innovation Brew

On Monday, Sept. 22, faculty and staff met up to exchange ideas over breakfast treats and morning coffee for the monthly event called The Innovation Brew, “where ideas percolate.”

Attendees answered poll questions placed around the room to start conversations with their colleagues about the topic of the day: artificial intelligence, and its use in classrooms and with their teaching.

Ellen Wisner, teaching professor of biological sciences, gave a presentation about how she uses AI with students in her courses, and offered best practice ideas for encouraging them to use AI in specific ways as a study tool.

Tuesday: Celebration of KCOS Students

Hundreds of students gathered on the Klein Lawn on Tuesday, Sept. 23 for free pizza, KCOS t-shirts and giveaway items, and to learn more information about the variety of student organizations affiliated with the Klein College.

Students played games on the lawn and networked with KCOS faculty, staff and students.

Wednesday: Klein College of Science Day

The Dean’s Office hosted a drop-in event on Sept. 24 to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the naming of the Klein College of Science and the dedication of Klein Hall.

The KCOS Dean’s Office provided some light snacks and drinks and faculty and staff reflected on the success of the past year while in their “Wear Green Wednesday” attire.

Thursday: KCOS in the Greenhouse

The weather on Sept. 25 shifted a planned tour and stroll through the Botanical Gardens to an afternoon in the McMillan Greenhouse. Attendees explored the wide range of plants housed within the various rooms, including the orchids, carnivorous plants, the tropical room and more.

KCOS faculty and staff went to the Dinosaur Room to see Cadavera, a titan arum, often called a corpse flower. This visit was nearly a week before it bloomed, and on this day Cadavera was just over five and a half feet tall, as measured from the top of the soil.

Friday: Actuarial Science Day

On Sept. 26, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics hosted the annual Actuarial Science Day for students to learn from alumni about the in-demand career opportunities and to connect with industry partners in the field.

Greg Gbur, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physics and Optical Science, was among the experts interviewed for the BBC’s CrowdScience podcast episode, “Answers to even more questions.”

In this episode of CrowdScience, presenter Caroline Steel called upon experts to help answer bonus questions submitted by listeners. After listening to the episode “Why can’t my dog live as long as me?” a listener asked, “When cats fall, why do they always land on their feet?” 

Gbur is the author of the book, “Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics” (Yale University Press, 2019), which explores this exact question. He traces the history of physicists perplexed by cats always landing on their feet, beginning with the first scientific paper in 1700.

“Scientists got this view of angular momentum that if you’re in free fall, and there’s nothing to twist against, then there’s no way you could turn over because that would be a change of angular momentum,” Gbur explained. “So they assumed that cats must be pushing off of something just at the moment they start to fall in order to get themselves starting to rotate.”  

This could sometimes explain how cats are landing on their feet, but it’s not the main explanation. Cats can use different parts of their bodies to twist to complete the motion to land on their feet. This increases their ability to land safely, even when falling from large heights such as windows.

Studies have shown that cat injuries increase the higher the height of windows they fall from, up until about the 8th floor. From there, injuries actually begin to decrease dramatically. 

“The best hypothesis is they realize they’re in trouble, they tense up and are a little bit freaked out. But then they reach terminal velocity at about the 7th or 8th floor,” said Gbur. “Then they feel their normal weight, they have a good sense of what way is up and down, and they’re able to have a few critical seconds to relax and absorb it.”

Listen to the full podcast to learn more.

Danillo Augusto, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, discussed his lab’s new $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in The Charlotte Post.

The Augusto Lab is working on an immunomics project using new methodology and approaches to study human immune responses and autoimmune disease. The team is using a novel method of long-read sequencing technology, a first of its kind in how it examines complex portions of the human genome, and studying how it reacts with pathogens.

“I think my ultimate goal is to actually identify specific markers that are candid for specific [gene] therapy,” Augusto said. “I’m not a physician, but at least we want to find what could be used for better therapy for this disease. The other thing is being able to identify if there is an environmental factor. We know there is something in the environment that triggered the disease, but we want to know what. Is it a virus? Is it a pathogenic virus or non-pathogenic virus? So, understanding that could also be ways we can help prevention.”

Read the full article here.

Learn more about the Augusto Lab’s research here.

The Klein College of Science invites you to celebrate with us as we mark the one year anniversary of the naming of our College.

KCOS students, faculty and staff are welcomed and encouraged to stop by any or all of these events held through the week.

Join us to meet your friends or make new ones and network with employees and students from KCOS.

Monday, Sept. 22

The Innovation Brew: Where Ideas Percolate

9:05 – 9:55 a.m.
Mebane Hall 007 (updated location due to overwhelming interest!)

Join us for the inaugural KCOS Educational Innovation event, hosted by Tonya Bates and Kathy Asala, co-directors of KCOS Educational Innovation.

Tuesday, Sept. 23

Celebration of KCOS Students

11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Klein Field (grassy area adjacent to Klein Hall and Lot 16)

Free pizza, t-shirts and games. Student clubs and organizations will be be present so you can find opportunities to get involved. Enjoy food and fun with your KCOS family to celebrate our students.

Wednesday, Sept. 24

“Klein College Day” Coffee

1 – 2:15 p.m.
Klein Hall 115

Celebrate the anniversary of the naming of our college on Klein College Day. Stop in for coffee and networking.

Thursday, Sept. 24

Celebrate in the Greenhouse

4 – 6 p.m.

The Botanical Gardens are an important part of the Klein College of Science. Join us for a celebration in the McMillan Greenhouse!
(We are eagerly anticipating the bloom of corpse flower Cadavera.)

Friday, Sept. 25

KCOS Employee Meet up at Armored Cow

4:30 – 7 p.m.

UPDATE: As of Oct. 1 at 2:30 p.m., Cadavera is opening. The McMillan Greenhouse will be open extended hours for viewing (and smelling!) until midnight on Oct. 1. Visitor parking after 5 p.m. will be free in East Deck 1 and Lot 5. (Limited ADA parking is available in Lot 16A with a placard).

The UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens team is awaiting the bloom of a fast-growing titan arum, often called a corpse flower due the pungent smell it emits during a bloom. 

“Cadavera,” was recently named through a contest on social media and is projected by experts to bloom in the next three to 12 days. Once Cadavera blooms, it will stay open for a brief time, approximately 12 to 24 hours. 

Amorphophallus titanum’s smell is often compared to rotting meat. The scent attracts pollinators such as beetles and flies to the plant. As Cadavera blooms, it will be at peak-stink for approximately 12 hours, with the smelliest time coming in the evening hours.

Likened to the watchful waiting of childbirth, the bloom is on its own schedule and has been growing steadily at the rate of at least one inch daily. The tropical plant is native to Indonesia and is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom, with the ability to grow up to eight feet or more. 

Cadavera is behind a green velvet rope in the Dinosaur Room of the McMillian Greenhouse, which is open to the public and free to visit. Donations are welcomed. 

“It’s very exciting and I love it when we have a bloom. We typically have livestream viewing available, and it’s so exciting to know that we will have people watching from all around the world,” said Tammy Blume, greenhouse manager. “They’re keeping an eye on it just like we are and I love that other people are enjoying it.”

The Botanical Gardens will announce extended visiting hours around the day of the bloom in order to allow the maximum number of visitors to see and smell Cadavera. A corpse flower bloom typically attracts thousands of visitors to the greenhouse. A video livestream is available.

Jeff Gillman, Ph.D., director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, explained the importance of keeping the corpse flower in the gardens, despite its lengthy lifecycle and the large amount of space it occupies in the greenhouse. “People love it, and we want everyone to get excited about plants,” said Gillman. “It’s important for botanical gardens to study these plants for conservancy efforts.” 

Cadavera is the sibling of “Stinkerbell,” which was the gardens’ last titan bloom in 2023. Now in its leaf phase, Stinkerbell is also available for viewing inside the McMillan Greenhouse. 

This is the first bloom for Cadavera, which was pollinated from a seed in 2015 by the Botanical Gardens staff. Cadavera is the offspring of Odie, a previous titan arum in the McMillan Greenhouse, and Morpheous, a corpse flower from the Daniel Stowe Conservancy. 

Know before you go:

The McMillian Greenhouse on UNC Charlotte’s campus is located at 9026 Craver Rd., Charlotte NC, 28223. The greenhouse is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the closest visitor parking is in East Deck 1. Explore the interactive UNC Charlotte web map.

UNC Charlotte’s Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science (CBES) and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech) hosted the 2025 Biomedical Sciences Symposium on Monday, Sept. 15 at the Dubois Center.

The event kicked off North Carolina Life Sciences Week as proclaimed by North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, bringing together over 300 representatives from 70+ institutions to share research and advance discovery across the state.

“We are proud to host this important symposium, and we are proud to fuel innovation and discovery in the state’s largest and most dynamic city,” said Chancellor Sharon Gaber in the opening remarks.

Researchers at UNC Charlotte are solving urgent, real-world problems and finding breakthroughs in cancer, gene therapies, drug detection, vaccine efficacy and water purification. As a nationally recognized leader in collaborative science, UNC Charlotte ranks third for new startup companies created and fifth for new patents filed, per research dollar.

Charlotte Is Leading Collaborative Science

“UNC Charlotte is no stranger to partnerships, and those partnerships have fueled our rise in rankings, research and enrollment,” said Vice Chancellor for Research John Daniels. “Our current active award portfolio is $247 million — and if you do the math on the multiplier effect — that has a billion-dollar impact right here in the Charlotte region and beyond.”

“60% of UNC Charlotte graduates live and work in the Charlotte region, which provides valuable talent to Charlotte’s growing corporate and life sciences community,” said Dodson, who earned a bachelor’s degree from UNC Charlotte in 1998. “Through innovative corporate partnerships, UNC Charlotte connects students with employers, which is why so many students choose to stay.”  

As the academic anchor for the North Tryon Tech Hub, UNC Charlotte’s CO-LAB is providing a dynamic space for life sciences entrepreneurs and industry professionals to convene with faculty and students to develop practical, use-inspired solutions.

John Hardin, Ph.D., executive director of the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology & Innovation, showcased North Carolina’s ranking as second in the nation for employment in the life sciences industry and first in education and workforce training in the life sciences.

“This region is quickly becoming a hotbed of innovation for life sciences, and this symposium highlights that,” said Hardin. “There are more people at this symposium than ever before, and that’s not an accident, that’s a reflection of great things.”

Daniel Janies, Ph.D., Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics at UNC Charlotte and director for the Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER), presented the Center’s research aiming to prevent the next pandemic.

CIPHER brings together cross-disciplinary expertise in computer science, bioinformatics, software and information systems, biological sciences, mathematics, geography, public health, data sciences, education and communications.

The symposium’s mid-morning session featured more insightful presentations, beginning with Brad Bower, Ph.D., chief AI and data science officer at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who presented the keynote “Bench to Bedside: Translating Trustworthy AI.”

Continuing in the theme of AI, Metin Gurcan, Ph.D., from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine discussed its role in medical imaging. Wrapping up the plenary session, Rob Keynton, Ph.D., dean of the William States Lee College of Engineering, spoke about the process of distilling bioengineering research into innovation.

Researchers and students from universities and biotechnology companies across North Carolina presented their research throughout the afternoon. The event featured 113 research projects, including 65 poster presentations and 40 oral presentations. Eleven prizes were awarded to the poster presenters, with seven UNC Charlotte students taking home awards.

“The symposium successfully brought together life sciences experts to showcase the current research and innovation taking place across the region. The impressive plenary speakers drew an enthusiastic crowd, as well as a wide one, representing so many different institutions,” said Bernadette Donovan-Merkert, founding dean of the Klein College of Science. “I loved seeing our students’ pride as they shared their work, and I’m excited for the future collaborations this event will spark.”

UNC Charlotte faculty members from the Klein College of Science, the William States Lee College of Engineering and the College of Computing and Informatics also presented during the afternoon session, sharing research spanning the life sciences. 

Topics included:

• Cancer and translational medicine
• AI and medical imaging
• Regenerative medicine
• Host-pathogen interactions and health/medicine
• Infectious disease and health
• Biomaterials and translational medicine

The symposium was made possible due to the efforts of the event organizers Christine Richardson, Ph.D., director of CBES and professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and Megan Mitchem, M.S., as well as UNC Charlotte faculty and staff members Didier Dréau, Juan Vivero-Escoto, Ahmed Hemby, Ahmed El-Ghannam, Taufiquar Khan, Don Jacobs, Dan Janies, Brittany Johnson, Brigid Mullany, Adam Reitzel, Nigel Zheng, Sharon Bullock, Anika Green, Lucy Chen, Lisa Johnson and David Lloyd.

Special thanks to the 2025 symposium sponsors

• North Carolina Biotechnology Center
• UNC Charlotte Division of Research
• SARSTEDT Group
• Carolina BioOncology Institute
• BioCytics Inc
• Cytiva
• Thermo Fisher Scientific 
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Hunt Optics & Imaging
• UNC Charlotte Office of Undergraduate Research

The 2025 Biomedical Sciences Symposium kicked off North Carolina Life Sciences Week on Monday, Sept. 15 at the Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City, where students from universities across North Carolina presented their research throughout the afternoon. The event featured 113 research projects, including 65 poster presentations and 40 oral presentations.

UNC Charlotte’s Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science (CBES) and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech) hosted the event, where over 300 representatives from 70+ institutions convened to share research and advance discovery across the state.

Posters were judged prior to the symposium by panels of researchers in the field and the winners were announced at the end of the day.

Poster Winners

Regenerative Medicine

First place: Khayzaran Qubbaj, UNC Charlotte

Second place: Caleb Aguayo, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Host-Pathogen Interactions and Infectious Disease

First place: Erin Mills, UNC Charlotte

Second place: Loren Cocciolone, UNC Charlotte

Cancer and Translational Medicine

First place: Madeline Childress, UNC Chapel Hill

Second place: Halle Meyers, UNC Chapel Hill

Big Data and AI in Life Sciences

First place: Isha Jain, UNC Charlotte

Second place: Javier Avalos Nuñez, UNC Charlotte

Medical Devices and Nanomaterials and Structure Based Design

First place: Ana Espinosa-Momox, UNC Charlotte

Second place (tie): Jacob Ortega, Campbell University, School of Osteopathic Medicine and Udayakumar Karuppanan, UNC Charlotte

Madison File, a junior Levine Scholar majoring in chemistry and psychology, has been named a 2025–26 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, recognizing her dedication to campus leadership and community-focused research.

File’s outreach spans support for families facing serious illness, those experiencing homelessness and heart disease in communities of color.

On campus, she’s actively involved in campus events and student organizations including Ninerthon, Students Against Melanoma, Niner Guides, and Health Care Justice.

Through her research with the Academy for Population Health Innovation (APHI) and the Collective Wellness Lab, File has worked to improve behavioral health services in underserved communities and mitigate access barriers to youth psychiatric care.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program recognizing students for their leadership potential and commitment to creating positive change in communities. The fellowship provides students opportunities for leadership development, networking, and access to grants, scholarships, and post-graduate pathways.

Read more about Madison File and the Newman Civic Fellowship.

Andrew Goff, lecturer of biological sciences in the Klein College of Science, is a finalist for the 2025 UNC Charlotte Teaching Excellence Award for non-tenured faculty.

Goff is an energetic educator whose passion for biology and dedication to students have shaped him into a standout instructor and mentor at UNC Charlotte.

Trained as a scientist and called to be a teacher, Goff uses his real-world experience and passion for learning to engage students both inside and outside the classroom.

“Teaching is relentless, infinite and wonderful,” Goff said. “As an educator, I strive to be the person that my students will approach with questions when seeking guidance during their academic careers.”

Goff is known for redesigning courses like general zoology and coordinating anatomy and physiology labs, always with a focus on improving student learning.

“The ability to recognize struggling pupils and implement effective language and deliver sensitive, yet poignant, comments is important for all educators,” said Goff.

Whether guiding students in introductory courses or mentoring them through advanced work, he consistently earns praise for his creativity, his approachable nature and his ability to make challenging material accessible and engaging.

Goff also serves as an academic advisor and mentor, known for his open-door policy and willingness to support students beyond academics. His office hours often draw lines of students eager for guidance, advice or simply conversation. Goff’s approachable nature and genuine investment in student success have made him a trusted mentor and advocate at UNC Charlotte.

“Andrew is constantly improving the educational experiences of our students,” said Christine Richardson, professor and chair of biological sciences. “His efforts have made a huge impact on student learning outcomes, using innovative teaching techniques and creating a successful learning environment.”

Beyond the classroom, Goff actively fosters student growth through co-curricular engagement. He co-founded the Student Biology Club, leads creek cleanups across Mecklenburg County and participated in a student-led aquaponics project funded by the Charlotte Green Initiative.

“Mr. Goff has great energy in the classroom and knows how to keep students engaged,” said Emily Ramirez, a student of Goff’s. “His energy is truly a sign of his passion and commitment to teaching.” 

The other two finalists for the award are Nadia Najjar, teaching associate professor of software and information systems and Susana Cisneros, senior lecturer of Spanish. 

Ali Koohang, part-time lecturer in chemistry, was also named as an honorable mention finalist from the Klein College of Science.

The faculty will be recognized at an awards ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 11.

UNC Charlotte researcher Danillo Augusto, Ph.D., was recently awarded a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for an immunomics project that is using a new approach to study human immune response and autoimmune diseases. 

Augusto and his team of researchers are employing a novel method using long-read sequencing technology. The research design is among the first of its kind to examine an extremely complex portion of the human genome to map how it interacts with pathogens, eliciting autoimmune response.

Understanding the host-pathogen interaction could unlock more discoveries for mitigating autoimmune diseases.

“The genomic region that we are studying is like a hot spot for disease association,” said Augusto. “In this very large region, there are approximately 170 genes and about 50 percent of them are directly related to the immune system. The research could have a large impact on how we understand human immune response and multiple diseases.” 

This type of research, called immunomics, studies how differences in the genes of an individual’s immune system affects the way we respond to pathogens, like viruses and bacteria. These genetic differences can influence whether our body fights off an infection effectively or, in some cases, reacts in a harmful way that causes disease.

The research uses advanced gene sequencing techniques and laboratory analysis, and requires enormous computing power to analyze the large, complex datasets. 

The Augusto lab in the Klein College of Science is home to the world’s largest repository of samples from patients with Pemphigus Foliaceus, an autoimmune condition that causes painful blisters in the skin. 

“It’s like a puzzle, and we have to align all of the gene sequences to find where they overlap to create the whole picture,” said Augusto, assistant professor of biological sciences. “We sequence the entire region and we can compare individuals or groups of individuals to find commonalities in their gene expression.” 

The grant application scored in the top two percentile for all the grants under consideration from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) within the NIH and is currently the largest active NIH grant at UNC Charlotte.

The research is underway with Augusto’s collaborator Stephen Francis, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of California San Francisco, and the team of UNC Charlotte researchers in the Augusto lab: 

• Ticiana Farias, Ph.D., assistant research professor
• Kary Ocaña Gautherot, Ph.D., assistant research professor
• Verónica Calonga Solís, Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher
• Ivan Rodrigo Wolf, Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher
• Javier Avalos Núñez ’22, doctoral biology student
• Jonathan Beaumont ’23, doctoral biology student
• Sarah Jafrin, doctoral biology student
• Savannah Poston ’24, masters biology student
• Aniqa Azam, ’24 post-baccalaureate researcher
• Bryce Anderson, ’25 post-baccalaureate researcher
• Efupom Fang, undergraduate biology student