Graduate School announces 2026 Impact Award winners

White flag with the U.N.C. Chapel Hill seal flying next to the state flag of North Carolina — The Impact Award winners are leading examples of Carolina’s mission to improve the state it serves through research. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Each year, The Graduate School honors graduate students in programs throughout the University for powerful discoveries that contribute to a better future for people and communities in North Carolina.

The longstanding Impact Award recognizes discoveries with a direct impact on our state in the present time.

Meet the winners of the 10 Impact Awards for 2026.

Hanna Dingel, doctoral student in health behavior

Dingel’s research on centering Black women’s voices in mental health crisis response addresses a gap in many COVID-19 studies by using photography to include the voices of Black women and capture their lived experiences.

Sally Dowd. Sally Dowd, doctoral student in ecology

Dowd’s research on using fisher knowledge to map sharks and strengthen coastal fisheries used modeling and fisher interviews to fill key data gaps on fish distribution to support future management.

Annie Elledge, doctoral student in geography

Elledge’s research on creating weight-inclusive fitness spaces analyzes gyms and group fitness classes in North Carolina’s Research Triangle that challenge normative ideals of the body and advocate for the dignity of people of all body sizes.

Helena Garcia, doctoral student in ecology

For her research on mapping repeat flooding to better protect North Carolina communities, Garcia created the North Carolina Flood Extent Archive, a first-of-its-kind database of detailed maps for past flood events to examine who moves and who stays after floods and how recovery unfolds over time.

Cailee Harrington, doctoral student in environmental sciences and engineering

Harrington’s research on protecting North Carolina communities from arsenic in well water focuses on understanding arsenic exposure risks in well water, assisting communities that use well water and connecting arsenic exposure to health outcomes.

Khanal Kshitiz, doctoral student in city and regional planning

In his research on using artificial intelligence to strengthen utility planning, Kshitiz leveraged AI and machine learning to create datasets, models and methodological approaches to locate vulnerable North Carolina communities and infrastructure and assess their preparedness.

Jasper Mark. Jasper Mark, doctoral student in human movement science

For his research on improving stroke recovery by retraining brain-body connections, Mark examined how networks linking cognition, movement and muscle control are disrupted by stroke and how these networks can be retrained to support recovery.

Hilary Sandborn. Hilary Sandborn, doctoral student in geography

Sandborn’s research on building better data to prepare North Carolina for future public health emergencies will lead to an infectious disease modeling simulation that truly reflects the population to be protected.

Kevin Schichlein. Kevin Schichlein, doctoral student in toxicology

Schichlein’s research on developing inhaled vitamin D to fight lung diseases has the potential to reduce health disparities and improve respiratory outcomes for North Carolina’s most vulnerable communities.

Yihang Wang. Yihang Wang, doctoral student in materials science

Wang’s research on creating precision tools to control chemical delivery in the brain and body opens new avenues for discovery in neuroscience while building research capacity and fostering collaboration statewide.