Provost column: more signal, less noise

I have now spent close to a month on Carolina’s beautiful campus as provost and executive vice chancellor. Apart from day-to-day “provosting,” I’m spending time on a listening tour. The purpose of this tour is three-fold.

First, I’m trying to learn as much as possible. Carolina is the nation’s oldest public university, home to truly remarkable programs, people and traditions. I want to get to know them all — impossible, I know — but I’m doing my best. To that end, I have started curating a bucket list, and people can propose ideas for experiences on campus and beyond. So far, I’ve checked off a sip from the Old Well, selfie with Rameses, lunches at Merritt’s and Sutton’s, and the Wilson Library reading room.

I’ve also started visiting each school. I’m absolutely blown away by the academic excellence, energy, passion and creativity in our academic units. I’ve met social work researchers, saw our journalism and media students produce a live morning show, toured a public health air quality lab and so much more.

Egerstedt has been visiting each school on campus, even dropping in to see the production of a live morning show, courtesy of journalism and media students. (Submitted photo)

But beyond learning about Carolina, the second reason I’m spending time across campus is to avoid becoming an abstraction. In my experience, most people have no idea what a provost is. (Trust me, I’ve asked.) My ambition is that not only should the broader campus community know who their provost is — but also what a provost does.

The short answer: The provost is the chief academic officer. My office oversees anything that has to do with the academic mission of the University, from students and faculty to classes and research.

The third, and perhaps most important, reason for my listening tour is for me to collect stories. You only get to be new once, and I’m taking the opportunity to tell our story to the world — to explain why what we do every day in our labs and classrooms matters. Because it does, big time!

Egerstedt visiting the School of Nursing’s Simulation Lab. (Mariah Keller/UNC School of Nursing)

I am an electrical engineer, and a key concept in signal processing is the Signal-to-Noise Ratio. The “signal” is the real information; the “noise” is everything else. Across higher education, the SNR has shrunk — too much noise, not enough signal. I want to refocus on the signal while reducing distractions so we can look to the future: Where is higher education going? How is our work helping individuals, communities and the planet become healthier, more creative, safer and more productive?

I will use this column to share what I’m learning during the listening tour and beyond, celebrating our campus rockstars. You can think of this as a travel log if you will, as this new guy — a Swedish robotics engineer — shows up and travels across campus and discovers its many gems.

One example is Nicholas Law, professor in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ physics and astronomy department. He’s leading the construction of the Argus Array, a revolutionary telescope system that will be the first large telescope capable of observing the entire Northern nighttime sky at once and identifying rare cosmic events in real time.

In his first month as Carolina’s chief academic officer, Egerstedt has been celebrating “campus rockstars” such as Nicholas Law, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ physics and astronomy department. (Submitted photo)

The Argus Array is made possible by a transformational commitment from Schmidt Sciences and Alex Gerko, founder of XTX Markets. The Argus will change how scientists study the dynamic universe. I was lucky enough to sit next to Professor Law at a men’s basketball game and learn about this system being developed and built by UNC-Chapel Hill astronomers and engineers, working with contractors across the U.S.

Thank you for welcoming me to the Carolina family. It has been a busy and energizing first month. Stay tuned as I swing by your school, lab, arts venue or athletics facility.

I look forward to discovering more signals (and less noise) together!

Provost’s log, stardate March 31, 2026.