Whether we’re working directly with communities to overcome challenges or translating research from the lab to communities, Tar Heels at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are dedicated to serving the people of our state.
Public service is at the core of our mission.
While we are formally known as the University of North Carolina, we might better be known as the University for North Carolina. We want our state to be a place where small towns and cities live side by side, working together and benefiting one another. We want the people of our state to live healthy, productive, secure lives.
Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz
Learn more about Carolina’s goal to serve to benefit society
From student service projects to cutting-edge research to UNC-Chapel Hill's impact on the state economy, Carolina serves North Carolinians from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Crystal Coast.
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center’s Virtual STEMville program bolsters remote science learning for K-12 students by virtually bringing experiments and scientists to children wherever they are.
Graduate student Rachel Woodul spent two years researching what might happen to hospital capacity when the next pandemic strikes. When it arrived, she compared what her model — and others’ — got wrong to improve how we react to public health crises in the future.
Whether it's finding ways to personalize nutrition and diets or helping shape policies on nutritional food labels, Tar Heels are working to improve and enhance the health of North Carolinians and people around the world through better nutrition.
Toxic blue-green algae has long proven to be harmful to the environment, human and animal health. While many studies examine the effects of ingestion or skin contact, doctoral student Haley Plaas looks at a different angle: aerosol.
The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, a leading health services research group based at UNC-Chapel Hill, finds that oral hygiene training can significantly reduce pneumonia in nursing homes.
The Scientific Research and Education Network connects educators and researchers to enhance STEM learning in classrooms across the state. Through the program, better known as SciREN, graduate students work with K-12 teachers to design school lesson plans on their own research that teachers can bring to their students.
When the pandemic hit North Carolina last year, our researchers were already sprinting toward solutions.
Tar Heels quickly worked to find practical and innovative solutions to the new challenges created by COVID-19. They found new medicines and developed tests that provided fast results to better prepare, protect and treat our state. Carolina later served as a vaccine trial site, and when the vaccines were ready for distribution, nursing and pharmacy students stepped up to help deliver the shots.
Our experts aren't just in the labs finding answers, though. They are also in communities taking on the pandemic from all angles. While many researchers are working tirelessly to address the crucial medical challenges, other Tar Heels are studying the various current and future hurdles caused by COVID-19 to help our state respond to the crisis holistically and help all North Carolinians thrive.
In nearly every school and department across UNC-Chapel Hill, researchers are examining the myriad of issues raised by the coronavirus pandemic. They are at the forefront of developing tests and therapeutics, monitoring the genetic evolution of the virus, and exploring future health impacts faced by COVID-19-positive patients.
Undergraduates from the UNC School of Nursing are assisting in North Carolina's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and gaining hands-on experience by delivering vaccines and volunteering at Carolina Together Testing Program sites on campus.
Carolina Nursing students are fighting COVID-19, one vaccine at a time
As part of national-level programs such as Operation Warp Speed and the COVID-19 Prevention Network, experts from Carolina's Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases have advised top federal, state and local leaders throughout the pandemic.
Carolina’s impact goes far beyond its world-class researchers. Service to our state is a passion that our students share. Each year, our Tar Heels spend thousands of hours volunteering in the community, using their talents and skills to strengthen our state.