UNC Research

Oct 18, 2024 | unc.edu | Maggie McIntyre |UNC Research

Growing up in the 1970s, Patricia Sawin spent her Friday nights dancing in an elementary school gym. Not hip-hop or disco like her peers, but folk dances from all over the world. Every week, people came together to teach dances from countries like Scotland, Hungary and Sweden, sharing their cultural heritage through movement. This weekly ritual of learning new moves, sewing costumes and performing eventually sparked a deeper curiosity in Sawin.

Oct 17, 2024 | unc.edu | Alyssa LaFaro |UNC Research

In the early 2000s, excavators used too much dynamite to create the foundation of Chapman Hall, blowing out an extra 6,000 square feet two stories underground. Everyone wanted to get their hands on that extra space, especially applied mathematicians Roberto Camassa and Rich McLaughlin, who were running their fluid experiments in an old kitchen in Phillips Hall.

Oct 16, 2024 | unc.edu | Alyssa LaFaro |UNC Research

Robots that mimic human skin. A wearable patch for wireless drug delivery. A device that can communicate with brain cells in petri dishes. These futuristic innovations sound like science fiction, but they are the real projects of Wubin Bai. As an assistant professor of applied physical sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, Bai works with soft and nanomaterials to create next-generation medical devices. Soft materials are “anything we can deform with our hands,” he says.

Oct 8, 2024 | unc.edu | UNC Research

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities have awarded grants to nine UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members. The grants will be used to pursue scholarly, creative or artistic pursuits and research projects. As part of the University’s strategic plan and the campus-wide pilot funding portfolio, they further Carolina’s position as a leader in foundational research, creative practice and the translation of research into social settings.

Oct 4, 2024 | innovate.unc.edu | Alyssa LaFaro |UNC Research

October 4, 2024 By Alyssa LaFaro, UNC Research Photography by Alyssa LaFaro, UNC Research Robots that mimic human skin. A wearable patch for wireless drug delivery. A device that can communicate with 3D cell structures called organoids. These sound like something from a science-fiction novel, but they are the real projects of Wubin Bai. As a professor of applied physical sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, Bai works with soft and nanomaterials to create next-generation medical devices.