Spotlight

Welcome to Carolina!

Carolina welcomes the Class of 2016 and returning students in this video that shows scenes from the first few days of fall semester and gives a musical “Welcome to Carolina.”

“Until you actually know what it means to take care of water, you won’t know the value of it. We need water. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t need water.” So says Texas resident Carlos Yescas in a new interactive film at 100gallons.org produced by students in Carolina’s School of Journalism…

Aid saves education from life’s twists

Life’s twists made financing Colby Robbins’ education tough. Like her, more UNC students than ever qualify for need-based aid. Colby Robbins first heard about UNC as a little girl in upstate New York with dreams of soccer stardom. Long before she could apply to college, she wanted to come to Carolina. “This was my top choice.…

Prutha Lavani and her mother, Ranjan Dhanani. In a single-parent home, their family's sacrifices, hard work and a financial aid package from UNC are making Prutha’s dream of a career in pharmacy a reality.

Financial aid, sacrifices launch career path

More UNC students than ever qualify for need-based aid. One is Prutha Lavani, who is traveling on a career path, thanks in part to family sacrifices. Read their stories.

Rick Luettich, Director of the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, leads a team of researchers who are improving methods of predicting the reach of hurricane storm surges.

Irene tests UNC researchers

Hurricane forecasts soon may be more accurate than ever, thanks to UNC researchers. While tracking Hurricane Irene, the scientists put years of computer model development to the ultimate test by forecasting the storm surge and inundation that would occur from North Carolina to New England. “Predicting the future is a bit scary,” says Dr. Rick…

UNC's Damian Stamer scored a NYC gallery show, rare for a student, and still gave full attention to coursework. “It’s nice to have an intense program where people are invested in your work. . . . in terms of theory and art history I still have a ton to learn and this is the best place to do it.”

Southern comfort

Student Damian Stamer shares North Carolina’s rural heart with New York’s art scene…

Travis Adams and Daniel Adams beside a grain drill at the family’s sweet potato farm in Benson, N.C.

Cash crop can’t always pay for college

More UNC students than ever qualify for need-based aid, like Daniel Adams, whose dad lost a bet on sweet potatoes. A new website tells their stories.

Sarah Browning pauses before her next Chemistry lab near some of Carolina's newest science and research buildings.

Learn, lead and innovate

After three years of fundraising, research and trials, the moment finally arrived: Jack Britt High School had made it to NASA’s 2011 Great Moonbuggy Race. Two days later, the members of the first and only team from North Carolina in the race, led by senior Sarah Browning, won the international competition. “We won the Crash and…

The worldwide decrease in activity includes America. "Children and adults in the U.S. are increasingly spending more time in front of televisions and in other sedentary activities such as playing computer games, using computers and texting on cell phones,” said Shu Wen Ng, the study's lead author.

Get off the couch!

The average American may expend as little energy as a person who sleeps 24 hours a day by the year 2020, following a worldwide trend of decreasing activity.