UNC Charlotte Magazine - Fall 2022

Peter Giannatos ’14 makes a bold move to capture Charlotte’s place in the world of chess

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

Niner momentum continues

This fall, Niner Nation returned to campus ready to embrace all that UNC Charlotte has to offer with renewed optimism. Despite the challenges COVID-19 presented, UNC Charlotte has emerged remarkably strong, breaking records that have prompted high expectations for the coming year. A banner year for enrollment, athletics, degrees awarded, fundraising and scholarship support, 2021-22 reaffirmed Niner Nation’s exceptional brand of resilience, strength and momentum.

The momentum continues for 2022-23 as we are launching several new programs and initiatives that keep our research efforts in the forefront and prioritize our students’ well-being and overall Niner experiences:

The Center for Integrated Care, a one-stop, needs-driven student resource for mental health referrals and care

As the need continues to care for ourselves physically and psychologically, this new center is offered as part of a menu of comprehensive support services for students.

CIPHER — UNC Charlotte’s Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (p. 4)

CIPHER incorporates and elevates the University’s Bioinformatics Research Center, focusing on computational and empirical research to counter the spread of current and emerging infectious diseases, and address societal challenges such as antibiotic resistance, food safety and ecosystem health. Our efforts in STEM are further bolstered by the state’s historic $134 million investment in UNC Charlotte to fund education growth and capital renovations.

ArtxSci to foster artistic and scientific discovery

The Division of Research and the College of Arts + Architecture are partnering on an initiative titled ArtsxSci to encourage cross-disciplinary research and identify opportunities for innovation between artistic and scientific discovery. A call for proposals for Collaborative Explorative Grants is underway.

The 49th Acre, a new outdoor complex for campus events and tailgating

Made possible by an anonymous gift, the 49th Acre — named by our students — was previewed late in the 2022 football season.

A magazine refresh

Starting with this issue of UNC Charlotte Magazine, you will be able to follow the progress we are making toward realizing our highest-level institutional goals. Inspired by the pillars of “Shaping What’s Next,” our bold 10-year strategic plan, the magazine’s refreshed approach will feature compelling stories and images that depict the ways our outstanding faculty and staff, motivated students and extraordinary alumni are transforming students’ lives through opportunity and excellence, powering the future through research and creative discovery, driving progress in North Carolina and beyond and living our guiding commitments by leading in equity and inclusion.

I invite you to visit our campus for a firsthand look at Niner Nation in action. Research, cultural events, 49ers athletics, new facilities — and our talented students — make UNC Charlotte one of the Queen City’s most vibrant places.

Go Niners!

Sharon L. Gaber Chancellor

6 GOING FOR GOLD

Punter Bailey Rice’s journey to Charlotte began in Australia playing rugby; the 25-year-old sophomore returns for a second season with Charlotte 49ers football. 15

ACCESS

Brayden Vanmilligan ’22 turned data analytics experience with the 49ers women’s soccer program into an internship with Charlotte FC. 18

OPPORTUNITY

Megan Mitchem ’21 is maximizing a nontraditional higher education journey as she defines for a new generation what it means to be a research scientist.

24

ALL-IN-C

Kevin Donaldson ’21 went all-in-Charlotte with community organizations and neighborhood leaders to restore the sacred space of historic Cedar Grove Cemetery.

38 FIRST GENERATION

49er Lisa Insixiengmay, a transfer student, shares in her own words what she’s discovered in Charlotte’s supportive community. 40

MOMENTUM

Transforming the lives of students through educational opportunity and excellence Powering the future through inquiry, research and creative discovery

DISCOVER

Researchers Dan Janies and Adam Reitzel — with a team of interdisciplinary experts — are cracking the viral code to protect public health. 12

INNOVATE

Mechanical engineering majors Abby McConnell and Allison File traveled to Germany to learn more about renewable energy — and returned with their energy renewed. 20 CENTER

SPREAD

Plant molecular biologist Bao-Hua Song studies the adaptability of wild soybeans as a key to understanding and improving human health. 26

CREATE

CarlosAlexis Cruz, associate professor of theatre, delivers “circus with a purpose” to tell the migrant experience.

Five-year-old Sydney Prince ditched dance for racing. Now the 2022 graduate is on the fast track as a junior engineer with Petty GMS.

8 METRO

Keeping independent film alive in the Queen City is a priority for theatre and film professor Jay Morong.

16 CONNECTED

Charlotte alumna Alyson Craig ’13 is planning for the long term as she helps to shape the Queen City’s future.

22 93001

Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert ’94 is driven by a desire to leave the world a better and healthier place. 36 49ER FOCUS

Management Professor Janaki Gooty is directing the new online MBA program through an inclusion, values and ethics lens.

PHOTO BY KAT LAWRENCE

Leading in equity and engagement

10 VOICES

Described as “on the cutting edge of positive change,” Professor Tamara Williams is dancing with the past to preserve history and culture.

30 ENGAGED

Peter Giannatos ’14, founder and executive director of the Charlotte Chess Center, is extending the iconic game’s reach in Charlotte — particularly among groups lacking access to learning it.

33 FIRST PERSON

Emery Ngamasana is applying knowledge acquired as a Ph.D. student in public health sciences to make life-changing differences in his native country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

34 NUGGET

Tiwana Anderson ’90 returned to Charlotte for a master’s degree, which redirected her career and life’s path. Now, she is ready to assist others with their higher education aspirations.

MISSION

UNC Charlotte Magazine, the University’s principal print publication, aims to engage, inform and inspire its diverse readership about students, faculty, staff and alumni whose experiences represent the opportunities, creative and scholarly research, and diversity of Niner Nation, and its impact on the city of Charlotte and beyond. Storytelling is guided by the goals of UNC Charlotte’s strategic plan.

FEEDBACK

We want to hear from you. Email questions and comments to univcomm@uncc.edu

During Niner Nation Week 2022, uptown Charlotte’s iconic statues at Trade and Tryon streets were among the city’s celebration to “paint the town green.”

www.charlotte.edu Vol. 28 • No. 2

Jennifer Ames Stuart, Ph.D. Associate Vice Chancellor for University Communications

EDITOR

Phillip Brown Assistant Director of Strategic Content

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Phillip Brown

Christy Jackson Lindsay Lennon

Jenny Matz

Susan Messina

Lynn Roberson Gavin Stewart Meg Whalen

Tom Whitestone

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Ryan Honeyman Director of Creative Services

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Wade Bruton Ryan Honeyman Kat Lawrence

UNC Charlotte Magazine is published by The University of North Carolina at Charlotte 9201 University City Blvd. Charlotte, NC 28223-0001

ISSN10771913

EDITORIAL OFFICES

Foundation Annex, UNC Charlotte 8730 University City Blvd. Charlotte, N.C., 28223 704-687-7214 Email: univcomm@uncc.edu.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is open to people of all races and is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students or employees based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability.

25,000 copies of this publication were printed at $1.36 per piece for a total cost of $33,900.

COVER PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

CRACKING THE VIRAL CODE

CIPHER researchers take a collaborative approach to protect public health

BY PHILLIP BROWN

“We’ve proven the effectiveness of bioinformatics and genomics as scientifically important fields of study. Through CIPHER, we continue to build upon this work to have an even greater impact on society and public health.”

Dan Janies

CIPHER co-director

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

As the world continues to grapple with SARS-CoV-2, the highly transmissible coronavirus that has killed millions, who is looking ahead? It has been a century since the great flu pandemic of 1918, and the scientific community insists we won’t have that much time to prepare for the next one.

Fortunately, researchers Dan Janies and Adam Reitzel are up to the challenge; they are leading UNC Charlotte’s Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks, or CIPHER. Its mission, they explain, is to better understand the link between the world’s natural environment and how peoples’ interactions with animals affect human health.

“Two years ago, genomics was hardly mentioned, and now, with COVID, it’s talked about every day,” said Janies, the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics. “Historically, we go through epidemics and pandemics, and we think they’re done. But microbes come roaring back.”

DAN JANIES/DIGITAL DETECTIVE

Scientific researchers use myriad techniques in their search to discover the unknown. Some observe organisms in their natural environment, bringing back samples from the field for further investigations in labs. Most often Janies, rather than peering through a microscope, can be found analyzing the digital equivalent of reams of data. One of the world’s leading digital detectives, he is an expert in bioinformatics and genomics.

Janies’ command of zoonotic diseases, those that start in animals before jumping to humans, dates to 2002 when at The Ohio State University’s Medical School he began studying SARS (sometimes referred to as SARS-1). His work in genetic data analysis enabled researchers to trace SARS’s origins to bat species. This pioneering breakthrough continues to change how epidemiologists track viruses.

“Molecular epidemiology is altering how doctors and epidemiologists treat patients’ symptoms and classify and count the cases,” Janies said. “Identifying COVID variants — alpha, beta, delta, omicron — is based upon molecular technology and genetic sequencing.”

At Ohio State, Janies’ fascination with animals and viruses led to using genomics and phylogenetics to build evolutionary trees. SARS seemed to appear out of thin air, and researchers worldwide rushed to find its origins. He compiled an abundance of viral genomic data — from humans who contracted SARS, from animal hosts infected with SARS, even from animal hosts with coronaviruses related to SARS — to “root” SARS’s evolutionary tree.

“Rather than creating a tree to fit a hypothesis, I used data to better discover the evolutionary history of the origins of SARS — from bats to humans to civet cats,” said Janies.

COVID, caused by SARS-CoV-2 that originated in bats, is changing public perception on an increased need to explore the link between our natural environment, its organisms and human health; the North Carolina General Assembly

awarded Charlotte $9 million to establish CIPHER on the fourth floor of the University’s Bioinformatics Building. The University also invested $10.5 million to retrofit the facility.

“We know agents of disease come from animals, but we really don’t know the drivers of zoonotic shifts,” Janies stated. “CIPHER will enable teams of researchers to work together to study many organisms in many environments and how they interact with humans.”

ADAM REITZEL/COLLABORATIVE CO-DIRECTOR

“I have an innate curiosity about how things work and where they come from,” said Adam Reitzel, professor of biological sciences.

A self-described small-town Midwesterner, Reitzel has an all-consuming quest for knowledge, a trait his mother can affirm. In fact, they recently discussed how his favorite childhood activities were reading and learning. Today, he’s a noted marine biologist who specializes in studying the phylum Cnidaria — sea anemones, corals and jellyfish. Quite an accomplishment, given his first glimpse of an ocean came at age 20.

He credits an exceptional high school biology teacher, Scott Lynn, for starting him on the path of inquiry-based scientific exploration.

At Illinois Wesleyan University, faculty member Susie Balser cultivated his sense of discovery, encouraging him to apply for the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. This resulted in a life-changing chance to spend a summer at Western Washington University, studying coastal invertebrates. Balser also led a spring break trip to Florida’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute for Reitzel and a group of classmates.

“We immersed ourselves in Florida’s coastal biodiversity, and Susie knew everything about these organisms,” said Reitzel. “I admire people who have this wealth of knowledge they share so freely and passionately.”

Reitzel brings his own passion and enthusiasm into his role as CIPHER’s co-director. His expertise in biodiversity and local adaptation, how organisms evolve in response to their environments, provides value to the scientific community as it grapples with how to respond to unprecedented changes across the globe that are impacting all species.

TAKING THE TEAM APPROACH TO RESEARCH

Charlotte’s strength, Janies and Reitzel agree, is its innovative and agile research culture that values an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. Forward-focused in regard to bioinformatics and genomics, Charlotte created a department and Ph.D. program decades ahead of most universities.

“Collaboration makes science fun,” Reitzel stressed. “While research can be done individually, the results are better through teams. We ask better questions. We take better approaches. Discoveries happen faster.”

Phillip Brown is assistant director of strategic content for University Communications.

“I was used to playing without any gear at all.

But I adapted pretty quickly. In America, a lot of kids grow up throwing a ball. I grew up learning to kick a ball, so for me it’s natural.”

Bailey Rice

ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER

UNC Charlotte punter Bailey Rice’s unusual journey to the 49ers

BY TOM WHITESTONE

PHOTOS BY WADE BRUTON

He’s playing a sport truly foreign to him and in a city halfway around the world from his native Australia. But for Bailey Rice, it’s just another walk in the park.

Rice grew up playing football — Australian Rules football, a sport that more closely resembles rugby than American football. As it turns out, he excelled, playing professionally for St. Kilda Football Club, a team for which his father once starred.

After four years with St. Kilda, Rice connected with Melbourne’s Punt Factory where he spent seven months learning the differences between kicking an Australian Rules football and an American football. He discovered he was a pretty good punter, so much so that in 2020, he started fielding recruiting calls from the United States, including the Charlotte 49ers.

“It was different when I first arrived in Charlotte,” said Rice, who had never played a game in a helmet and pads. “I was used to playing without any gear at all. But I adapted pretty quickly. I had to switch to smaller shoulder pads. If I need to make tackles — it was a bad kick.”

And most of his kicks are good — or better. After all, he has had a ball around his feet practically from birth.

“In America, a lot of kids grow up throwing a ball,” he said. “I grew up learning to kick a ball, so for me it’s natural.”

DIFFERENCES IN KICKING

“It’s very technical. In Aussie rules football you run around kicking it, which is more my style. I’d say rolling out and kicking are my strengths. To learn to put a spiral on a ball — it was frustrating at the start. I thought it would be an easy transition. At the Punt Factory, I struggled to kick a spiral, and it definitely took longer to learn than I anticipated, but I started getting better. I’d relate it to developing a golf swing and mastering the proper mechanics,” Rice said.

His mastery of the difference is obvious. An athlete who also played basketball and cricket in Australia, Rice was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team for the 2021 season after posting a 42.2 yard punting average, third-best in 49ers history. This year, Phil Steele, the sports writer and college football guru,

BAILEY RICE #37

Punter/Sophomore

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

High School: Hallam Senior College

2021 CUSA All-Freshman team

Third-best punting average (42.2 yds.) in school history

tabbed him as a choice for third-team preseason All-C-USA. Although he’s the oldest player on the team — a freshman at 24 and now a sophomore at 25 — Rice does not struggle with the age difference any more than he does with living in a new home nearly 10,000 miles away.

“The transition has been really good,” said Rice. “I’m loving college life. At first, it was a little hard moving away from family and friends — I got a little homesick — but I’m enjoying my time here and have created some really good friendships.

“I definitely don’t feel like I’m 25 — the only way is how my body is feeling,” he added. “Some of the other specialists are 19 years old, so I’m six years older — but I get along with everyone.”

Rice, a health systems management major whose post-college football plans are still developing, is quick to point out a few key differences between his home in the southern hemisphere and relative new surroundings in the New South city of Charlotte.

“In Australia, I lived 20 minutes from the ocean, so I do miss the beach. And I miss certain foods — in Melbourne, the coffee is 100% better,” he joked. “But Charlotte is a beautiful university and a nice campus. I really love being here. I enjoy the college game. I had traveled to America before, so I’ve been to my fair share of college games. The atmosphere is different. The tailgating — it’s super fun. A packed crowd at Jerry Richardson Stadium is a very good environment; it’s great fun to play in front of 49ers fans.”

Tom Whitestone is associate athletics director for media relations for the Charlotte 49ers.

REEL LIFE

Theatre and film professor Jay Morong helps keep independent film alive in NoDa

BY JENNY MATZ

Jay Morong, a proud member of the IATSE Stage and Picture Operators Local 182, has taught in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies Program since 2005. Other credits include creative director, Charlotte Film Festival; special events programmer, Somerville, Massachusetts; and board member for Charlotte Film Society and VisArt Inc., Charlotte’s last video rental store.

“Art matters — it’s what teaches us to be human.”

PHOTOS BY KAT LAWRENCE

Charlotte film lovers were dealt a blow in May 2020 with the closing of the iconic Manor Theater, the city’s last remaining arthouse cinema. Enter UNC Charlotte Theatre and Film Studies professor Jay Morong. With Charlotte Film Society Executive Director Brad Ritter, Morong sprang into action to fill the cultural void.

“We’re the 16th-largest city in the country and to not have a dedicated art house and independent movie theater would be a huge blind spot — especially for a city trying to become more diverse and culturally rich,” he said.

This June, their vision became reality when The Independent Picture House celebrated its grand opening in Charlotte’s hip NoDa neighborhood. IPH, as it is known, is part of the new Trailhead District, just one block from the LYNX Blue Line Sugar Creek Station, and a 10-minute ride from campus. The area, developed by alumnus and Flywheel Group founder Tony Kuhn ’07, also houses the Charlotte Art League, with restaurants and breweries in the works.

A PASSION FOR FILM AND THEATRE

Coming to this project has been a lifelong journey — Morong has film in his DNA, he says. “I was interested in movies from an early age — it was baked into my childhood growing up in the late ’70s and early ’80s during the rise of both video stores and cable television. So by the time I became a teenager, it was an indelible part of me. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to wrap my passion for theater, film and philosophy/theology into a program at Boston University, which allowed me to really explore the value of these art forms.”

Morong, who serves as creative director for IPH, is particularly energized about what this means for the community.

“Beyond offering incredible foreign, independent and classic film, I’d love to host workshops and classes for our students and the community — provide access to industry professionals and filmmakers,” said Morong. “We could host post-show discussions about various topics from a variety of faculty. UNC Charlotte experts in all fields can speak to the complex historical, cultural and regional impacts that many films explore. Additionally, I would love to hold film courses in this theater — it’s so easy for UNC Charlotte students to ride the light rail from the main campus or The Dubois Center in Uptown.”

This fall, the IPH hosted the 2022 Charlotte Film Festival, which was was created in 2006 to give established and emerging filmmakers a weekend to showcase their works for industry peers and independent film enthusiasts.

INSIDE THE IPH

The Independent Picture House is original and authentic. The main lobby wall, designed by local artist Scott Weaver, includes a real inset camera lens from the Manor Theater, while another colorful wall is adorned with actual film reels. Concessions feature the expected goodies (including fresh popcorn from the Manor’s popper) along with local draft brews and baked goods.

The nonprofit community cinema offers a variety of foreign, classic and independent flicks that change regularly — in three theaters: a 17-seat micro-cinema with leather recliners, and two traditional theaters with rocker-style seating for 77 and 105.

In a unique twist, each restroom features an accent wall with movies that played at the Manor, the Albemarle Road Drive-In, the Tryon Mall theater and other former cinemas in Charlotte.

“During its last 18 years, the Manor really was an arthouse theater. But most of its time, it was a neighborhood theater. Star Wars and Halloween played there as well as Disney movies in the ’50s and ’60s,” said Morong.

Another section of the lobby pays homage to more theaters in the Charlotte region that have closed. “When the Manor closed, it was a gut punch — it was there for some people’s whole lives. It wasn’t the same as an old restaurant that was closing; it was a cultural institution. It would be shortsighted for Charlotte not to have a dedicated theater; we knew this had to be done.”

Jenny Matz is senior director of engagement marketing for University Communications.

DANCING WITH THE PAST

BY MEG WHALEN

Tamara Williams approaches research with the fluidity of the tidal rivers in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, where she studies the diasporic dances of her ancestors. History, movement and meaning flow into her and out of her in a process that swirls the academic and the vernacular like streams of saltwater into fresh.

“That continuous circle that she creates, it leaps out from the scholarship and the research,” said Rubie Britt-Height, director of community relations at The Mint Museum in Charlotte. “From an academic standpoint, a community standpoint, a scholarly standpoint — she makes sure all those pieces are connected. She is constantly looking for ways to extend that invitation, that connectivity.”

The Mint Museum is one of numerous local venues where Williams, an associate professor of dance, goes to both teach and learn

BY RYAN HONEYMAN

from the communities around her. There and in other spaces, such as the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Art+Culture, Aldersgate Retirement Community and Camino Community Center, Williams brings professional artists and University students to perform, teach and talk about the dances of the African diaspora. Among her areas of focus are Ring Shout, descended from enslaved Americans in the southeastern United States, and the many African-Brazilian dance forms she has learned in more than a dozen years of studies in Brazil.

“The research comes from Black communities that usually have been marginalized but are rich in culture,” said Williams, who grew up in Georgia. “It’s a way of giving back and to bridge the gap between academia and communities where we come from.”

Charlotte

associate

professor Tamara Williams is preserving history and culture through dance

PHOTO

GIVING LIFE TO MOVEMENT

In March 2021, McFarland Press published her book “Giving Life to Movement: The Silvestre Dance Technique,” a study of the contemporary dance technique founded by Rosangela Silvestre as an extension of the spiritual dance traditions of enslaved Africans in Brazil. In her book, Williams, who has studied extensively with Silvestre in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, situates the dance technique within the spiritual and cultural history of African Brazilians, and in particular, the political and social mobilization of Black Brazilians in the 1970s in Bahia. She then thoroughly investigates and analyzes the theory and practice of Silvestre Technique, both codifying the movement and highlighting its connection to resistance, empowerment and healing.

Last April, Williams brought Silvestre to Charlotte to teach dance classes at UNC Charlotte and uptown as part of the inaugural LAVAGEM! African Brazilian Festival that Williams and her husband, Luciano Xavier — also a native Brazilian — organized in partnership with The Mint Museum. Funded by a Cultural Visions Grant from the local Arts & Science Council funding agency and an Inclusive Excellence Grant from UNC Charlotte’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the festival was the first large-scale program of Bloco Afro Ayédùn, a new initiative Williams and Xavier launched in Charlotte modeled on Brazilian communities that celebrate Black and African heritage, spiritual practices, education, arts and cuisine.

Britt-Height was thrilled when Williams approached the Mint as a LAVAGEM! partner.

“We knew that we were doing something that was big, and I like being on the cutting edge of positive change,” she said.

More than 250 people performed or took classes during the four-day festival, which opened and closed at the Mint, and even more people watched and listened.

“You saw a beautiful array of people from all different backgrounds all there together wanting to grow and to learn and be expressive,” said Britt-Height.

Plans are already underway for the 2023 LAVAGEM! festival, and Williams says that she gets messages expressing interest “almost daily.” Both she and Britt-Height believe it will grow each year.

“There’s nothing like it that exists in the United States — especially on the East Coast,” said Williams.

In the meantime, Williams will continue to listen and learn and teach and perform in that constant tidal flow of knowledge. Funded by CultureBlocks grants from the ASC, Bloco Afro Ayédùn will provide “Come-Unity” programs around the city and will work with the Mint’s youth education program in Grier Heights. With her professional company, Moving Spirits, Williams is developing a large-scale work based on Ring Shout and directed a work for the Dance Department’s student concert in November. And she is writing a book about the LAVAGEM! festival — its Brazilian roots and history and how it connects to the Charlotte community.

“I am just excited that she does what she does with a level of energy that seems to be endless,” Britt-Height said.

Williams says she is nurtured by all the activity. “When you’re really enjoying what you’re doing and sharing, it doesn’t feel like work. It really feels like an offering.”

Meg Whalen is director of communications for the College of Arts + Architecture.

“The research comes from Black communities that usually have been marginalized but are rich in culture. It’s a way of giving back and to bridge the gap between academia and communities where we come from.”

Tamara Williams

Energy research

opportunities for undergraduates lead to global destinations — and clear career paths

BY SUSAN MESSINA

Scan to learn more about how UNC Charlotte is leading wave energy technology.

This past June, Abby McConnell and Allison File made plans to meet for a weekend in Berlin. The mechanical engineering majors were taking a well-deserved break from summer programs at different universities in Germany, where each was delving into their favorite topic — renewable energy.

“We spent hours at the Futurium, a museum dedicated to envisioning a more sustainable future,” said File. “We explored the exhibits, amazed at all the current alternative energy technologies that have been put in place throughout the world.”

She and McConnell arrived in Germany intellectually prepared to dig into the complex projects presented by their international hosts. Over the previous academic year, they had been part of a team led by Wes Williams ’09 Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering technology, as it completed the final stages of Waves to Water, a multi-year, $3.3 million U.S. Department of Energy national competition designed to spur development of small, modular wave-energy-powered systems to desalinate ocean water — and provide fresh water to coastal and island communities hit by natural disasters.

ENERGIZING THEIR FUTURES

McConnell, whose Waves to Water experience cemented a choice to pursue a career in wave energy research, spent the summer at the Hamburg Institute of Technology’s Institute of Mechanics and Ocean Engineering. There she was immersed in a project related to the design and optimization of a wave energy converter using simulation and wave tank experiments.

“Because oceans provide a constant source of energy, wave technology holds a lot of promise,” she said. “I can say without a doubt that my summer experience not only significantly increased my knowledge of wave energy, it enabled me to learn a new CFD (computational fluid dynamics) program, helped me improve my skills in running complex simulations and calculations, and challenged me to think creatively to solve problems.”

Renewable energy emerged for File as an academic, research and career focus through electives in the engineering curriculum’s energy concentration. Interested initially in biomedical

Abby McConnell

engineering, File “found her calling” and changed direction as she learned about energy grid expansion to areas experiencing energy poverty and utilized data from Duke Energy to conceive a future energy grid designed to meet North Carolina’s 2050 carbon neutral goals.

Her interest intensified when she founded SolCooking, a nonprofit dedicated to developing efficient and affordable solar cookers for healthy meal preparation by people in homeless communities. It expanded further through an internship with Duke Energy, where she worked with a specialized team that supports hydroelectric plants throughout the region.

Involvement with Waves to Water came on the heels of an introduction to Williams, who had stepped up to mentor File and her SolCooking partners as they took steps to manufacture their product prototype through Ventureprise, UNC Charlotte’s innovation and entrepreneurship center.

These varied experiences add up to a broad interest in renewable energy — reflected in File’s choice for summer study at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where she knew she would learn more about energy grid technology. Once there, she — alongside four other Niner engineering students — applied knowledge acquired at Charlotte about heat transfer and fluid mechanics to learning CFD as well as to work that centered on the effect of viscosity on the performance and internal flow of molten salt pumps in solar power plants.

“As long as there are people who care and are passionate about making a difference, there is hope for moving forward to a more sustainable future.”

“Waves to Water was a huge help in preparing for this experience — from learning to work on a team to evaluating ideas to conducting research,” File said. “In turn, I returned to Charlotte with a new body of knowledge that I’ll apply to future research and my senior design project.”

THE VALUE OF MENTORSHIP

Wes Williams recognizes early in a semester the students most likely to stand out.

“High-performing students possess not only a high aptitude for engineering’s foundational principles but also a drive to ask difficult questions that have complex answers,” he explained. “Handson opportunities bring to life concepts learned in class for all students. They are acutely crucial for those who excel so they can push themselves and uncover their true capacity and potential.”

Dedicated to cultivating engineering talent for a field that evolves at the hurried pace of new discoveries, Williams makes a point to connect students with opportunities that develop their interests, particularly when they show promise in research. Occasionally, he meets them even before they enroll at UNC Charlotte. He first met Abby McConnell while serving as a volunteer judge for a high school robotics competition, where she and her hometown Asheville teammates were contestants. He got to know Allison File, from Denver, North Carolina, who, like Williams, is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, through her work with Ventureprise.

Recalling her experience with the SolCooking prototype, File said, “Dr. Williams was extremely supportive and helpful with our ideas from the beginning. Working with him greatly helped our design process and led to greater understanding of how manufacturing is considered in planning.”

MOTION OF THE OCEAN

Over the past two years, Williams and his Waves to Water team, WATERBROS (Wave-Actuated Tethered Emergency Response Buoyant Reverse Osmosis System), advanced through the competition’s stages. Adding accomplished and curious students

to the team gave them a chance to experience real-life engineering applications as they contributed to WATERBROS’ success.

In Williams’ vast, garagelike campus lab, McConnell and File worked with Williams and his WATERBROS business partner Landon Mackey to refine the team’s prototype for the final round. To do so, they learned to operate a lathe and a CNC (computer numerical control) machine, an instrument programmed to deliver a level of accuracy impossible to achieve manually, and hone techniques to machine various materials to precise sizes and properties.

At the conclusion of the competition’s final stage in spring 2022 at Nags Head in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, WATERBROS finished second overall and was awarded $178,000 in prize money to continue its work and prepare for private investment and commercial scale-up. This fall, Williams and team presented their research at the Marine Energy Technology Symposium in Portland, Oregon, and the International Conference on Ocean Energy in Spain.

LOOKING AHEAD

McConnell says being part of Waves to Water has “kept excitement for engineering more alive than ever.” File describes the experience as “transformative” as she now better understands the engineering design process from concept to calculations to a product that can accomplish its intended goal.

As for the future, both are optimistic about the potential — and, in their opinions, inevitability — of renewable energy. And they remain deeply committed to playing a role in its implementation.

“The key to success for alternative energy is education,” said McConnell. “Teaching people what it means, making sure engineering students understand it, and making kids aware of all its opportunities will be vitally important.” File agrees and added, “As long as there are people who care and are passionate about making a difference, there is hope for moving forward to a more sustainable future.”

“Waves to Water was a huge help in preparing for this experience — from learning to work on a team to evaluating ideas to conducting research. I returned to Charlotte with a new body of knowledge that I’ll apply to future research.”

Allison File

Susan Messina is director of strategic content for University Communications.

Vanmilligan ’22

Hottest ticket in town

BY LINDSAY LENNON

Sports analytics experience led Brayden Vanmilligan ’22 to a field bursting with promise

The past year held many firsts for Brayden Vanmilligan. Last fall, the 2022 graduate was among the first students to participate in UNC Charlotte’s Sports Analytics Internship Program, serving as an intern for the women’s soccer team. Now a full-time intern with the Charlotte Football Club in its inaugural season, the Waxhaw, North Carolina, native has set his sights on working long term for the Queen City’s newest professional sports team. After graduating high school with a seemingly clear vision of his future, Vanmilligan welcomed a few surprises while at Charlotte. His plan was to major in business analytics, the Belk College of Business’s fastest-growing major, to prepare for a career in finance. However, encouragement from sports analytics professor John Tobias, who knew Vanmilligan through the campus Sports Analytics Club, led him to consider combining an aptitude for analyzing data with a long-time passion for soccer — a game he’d played since age 5 — and modify his professional goals.

“I didn’t envision myself pursuing sports analytics as a career before John convinced me it was a field in which I could excel,” said Vanmilligan, who returned to Charlotte this fall to begin the Master of Science in Data Science and Business Analytics program. Tobias, known among his students as a positive mentor and especially supportive when they are considering a career aligning sports with data, acknowledges Vanmilligan’s choice to intern with the women’s soccer team was a “no-brainer.”

“Brayden was a superstar with the Charlotte women’s soccer analytics team,” he said. “Not only does he have deep knowledge of the sport, he was able to easily extrapolate data for his weekly

assignments from the team’s coaches. The coaching staff loved him — and appreciated his input.”

FAST FORWARD A YEAR

Vanmilligan couldn’t be happier starting his career with Charlotte FC as a business strategy and analytics intern. He is given opportunities to demonstrate his skills in a variety of ways, including helping the team establish a baseline for the performance of ticket campaigns, conducting post-game analyses of fan surveys and identifying areas for growth. He also reviews the team’s statistics against those of league competitors. This summer, five months after its debut, Charlotte FC ranked third in overall attendance and first in single-match tickets sold.

“This is huge for a new team,” Vanmilligan said. While his current focus is on the team’s business operation, he hopes for a chance to analyze player performance.

Granted a fair amount of autonomy and creative freedom, Vanmilligan knows his work is valued by team management. He notes the “electricity” in the team’s office, where executives, scouts and analytics team members share enthusiasm for the team’s first season in Charlotte.

“I’ve heard that around 80% of people wish they worked in a more exciting environment, but never get the chance,” he said. “I’m lucky enough to love the work I’m doing — and feel like a part of the team.”

Lindsay Lennon is communications and events manager for the School of Data Science.

“I’ve heard that around 80% of people wish they worked in a more exciting environment, but never get the chance. I’m lucky enough to love the work I’m doing — and feel like a part of the team.”

Brayden

BY GAVIN STEWART

Shaping the future of the Queen City

Charlotte alumna Alyson Craig is planning for the long term

Up to 100 residents arrive in Charlotte daily, which means there is no shortage of people or jobs. The challenge is improving how people navigate the city while managing its overall development.

“It’s what I call growing pains,” said Alyson Craig ’13 M.S., who serves as interim planning director for the city of Charlotte. “Charlotte has the elements of a big city but feels small sometimes. It’s got a lot of attractiveness, which is bringing in new residents, and it’s growing quickly toward fulfilling its world-class potential.”

A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Craig worked in marine and coastal ecology before branching into real estate. As a program coordinator for the College of William & Mary’s marine laboratory, she provided science-based information to elected officials and regulatory staff.

“I began to question what was driving the need for housing and different kinds of development. That ultimately led me to planning and real estate,” she said.

CHARLOTTE BECKONS

A desire to further her interest in urban development drew Craig to Charlotte a decade ago. She enrolled in the Belk College of Business’s Master of Science in Real Estate program, earning an advanced degree in 2013. She embarked upon a career with real estate developer Grubb Properties and eventually returned to UNC Charlotte to direct the MSRE program and co-direct the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate.

Now, Craig manages the Charlotte Planning Department and its growing team of more than 100 employees. The department oversees community area planning, property rezoning requests, geographical information systems, historic districts, urban forestry protection and development-related permits.

“I understand the practicality of the real estate world. Whether you’re a developer, property manager or planner, we’re all working together to build a city that we are proud of,” Craig said. “I’m highly motivated by fast-paced, high-stakes roles that result in the betterment for something larger than myself.”

PLANNING FOR THE LONG TERM

Craig and her office laid the groundwork for generational projects for Charlotte when she joined the city in 2018 as deputy planning director. She helped create Charlotte’s first unified development ordinance, a legally binding document that consolidates and modernizes eight development ordinances that the city adopted during the past 30 years.

With Charlotte’s population having doubled during the intervening years, developers were using outdated ordinances to continue building housing, high rises and hangouts, which city planners say don’t properly account for that growth.

“I knew from my work in other municipalities, Charlotte’s vision lacked clarity. You had to look at 50 different area plans to piece together what could happen long term,” said Craig.

In June 2021, Charlotte adopted its first comprehensive planning document in 45 years, which enabled Craig and her team to reestablish public engagement using long-term goals.

Craig’s team reapproached the public engagement process of the comprehensive plan as COVID-19 spread into the region in 2020.

“Great challenges create great opportunities,” Craig said. “Prior to the pandemic, it was difficult for many residents to participate in public meetings due to factors such as lack of transportation or childcare or competing work schedules.

“A hybrid approach to meetings allowed for greater public participation. We’re still working through what that looks like,” Craig explained. Officials released the second draft of the UDO

in June 2022, and a summary of changes were recommended in July. In August, the Charlotte City Council adopted the UDO.

GROWTH GUIDED BY RESEARCH

A member of the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate Advisory Board, Craig considers the center an asset for the region. She noted it is among the nation’s most active research hubs in real estate.

“The annual State of Housing Report comes to mind,” Craig said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to have the University, Belk College and the center connect dots that join data and science to help policy makers make informed decisions that reduce barriers to affordable housing and housing supply.”

Through the MSRE program — now in its 10th year — real estate students have the opportunity to network and learn from Charlotte-based practitioners, travel abroad, and join the StudentManaged Real Estate Investment Fund.

As a result, Craig says the program is supplying talented real estate professionals who can help bring the city’s vision to life.

“It’s important for the classroom experience to inform students about how real estate works, but then also to integrate them into the field’s practitioner side — developing relationships, networking, getting real-life experience and shadowing professionals,” Craig said. “The program is creating a pipeline for companies in the real estate industry. An industry that is so important to Charlotte and its future growth.”

Gavin Stewart is communications and events specialist for the Belk College of Business.

PHOTO BY WADE BRUTON

Nontraditional student

lab

SEEING SCIENCE

BY LYNN ROBERSON

Megan Mitchem ’21, a UNC Charlotte doctoral student, volunteers in her son Anthony’s elementary school. When he was a third-grader, she displayed photos of individuals tending beehives, practicing karate and hiking on trails, to name a few.

“I wanted them to see the beautifully diverse group of individuals that I work with and learn from,” she said. “I asked them to point to the scientists.”

The reveal — even though they weren’t wearing stereotypical white lab coats, they were all UNC Charlotte researchers.

“I think it’s important to be visible as a woman in science,” said Mitchem. “Children should see science as a welcoming place regardless of race, background, gender, religion or accent.”

A SPARC IGNITES

A first-generation, divorced college student, Mitchem was an adult when she met her first scientist. Growing up, science never entered her realm of possible careers.

After jobs as a cook, staff member at a group home for developmentally disabled clients and a dialysis clinic technician, she enrolled in community college at age 26. A state auditor to the clinic praised her work and encouraged her to pursue college. The advice resonated, so Mitchem registered for nursing courses at Gaston College the next month.

There, instructors recognized her strengths in science, prompting her to change her major to biology. Although her parents

considered nursing a more stable career choice, Mitchem persevered, completing an associate degree. After transferring to Charlotte, she graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology and was accepted to the University’s Ph.D. program in biology. Her family, in turn, came around.

“My higher education journey has not been easy, but I have not given up,” said Mitchem. “I keep going, and I keep trying. If something doesn’t go my way, I make a new plan, which was hard at first. Adaptability has made me a good student and a good mom.”

At Gaston College, Mitchem pursued research opportunities and received a SPARC scholarship, a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to increase student success in biological sciences. She also was one of just two community college stu-

Megan Mitchem is changing the face of research inside and outside of the

• Working with high school students as part of the Biology Graduate Outreach.

• With her son, Anthony.

• With doctoral student Tasaduq Wani and one day’s collected lab samples.

dents in 2019 named among the 496 recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship, the premier undergraduate award of its kind for students in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. She has delivered presentations at a number of universities, offering advice to help aspiring scholars compete for the scholarship.

TALENT MEETS OPPORTUNITY

At Charlotte, Mitchem has immersed herself in classes, clubs and the labs of researchers Mark Clemens, Paola López-Duarte and Shan Yan. Currently, she is a doctoral research assistant in biochemist Andrew Truman’s lab and is a co-author on a research paper published in the journal Biomolecules.

López-Duarte, an assistant professor of biological sciences, knows Mitchem as a student in her classes, a lab member

through Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates and a teaching assistant for an introductory marine science class.

“Megan is the perfect example of what happens when talent meets opportunity,” López-Duarte said. “The combination of her focus, drive and curiosity make her exceptional. Megan also works to pay it forward. She is constantly sharing information, resources and advice with other students about different scholarships, fellowships and internships.”

Mitchem, a volunteer mentor with the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, is working with fellow doctoral student Siddhi Omkar to restart a career ladder program at Charlotte. To her, these are critical engagement activities, along with bringing science to schools.

“While I don’t know exactly how my career in science will evolve, I want to make sure outreach, particularly in regard to diversity and inclusion, is a part of anything I do,” she said. “It is how we encourage innovation.”

For Mitchem, no setting is off limits when it comes to expanding perceptions of science and scientists. In her son’s classroom, she was overjoyed when a classmate pointed at her and exclaimed to her family, “That’s the scientist!”

“I keep going, and I keep trying. If something doesn’t go my way, I make a new plan, which was hard at first. Adaptability has made me a good student and a good mom.”

Megan Mitchem ’21

Lynn Roberson is director of communications for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

BY LYNN ROBERSON

Digging into plant adaptability to address human health and climate change issues

J

ogging along North Carolina’s Wrightsville Beach, plant molecular biologist Bao-Hua Song stopped in her tracks. The wild sand bean plants she spied flourishing in the salty, sun-baked sand immediately piqued her curiosity.

Back in her campus greenhouse, Song, the leader of UNC Charlotte’s “Bean Team” lab, made room for specimens of this unexpected find alongside the wild soybeans she researches in collaboration with student and post-doctoral researchers. Their goal with the wild soybean bean is to develop crops that can boost the human immune system and potentially prevent and treat cancer and other chronic diseases. They are learning more about the hardy Strophostyles helvola Song fortuitously found; a first step is to compare genetic differences between specimens collected from diverse environments.

“When the waves came in, the salt water would spray them, but they still were thriving,” Song said. “It turns out the plant is widely adapted to different environments. It grows in Canada in a very cold environment and down south to Florida, east to the Carolina beaches, and west to Texas and Nebraska.”

Wild soybeans provide the team a study system for research related to both agriculture and human health. The sand bean, well suited for genomic analysis due its relatively simple genome, serves as an ideal study system to consider salt tolerance and climate adaptation.

“Because the sand bean is related to crops, we can discover the mechanism that helps this plant adapt to different environments,” Song said. “And we can incorporate the mechanism into crops through genome editing.”

Lynn Roberson is director of communications for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Plant molecular biologist Bao-Hua Song studies wild soybeans and sand beans in a new, 432-squarefoot greenhouse, built earlier this year to provide a state-of-the-art space for research. Song has been supported by NIH, NCBC, NCSP and UNC Charlotte. She was recently awarded $446,364, a new grant from the National Institutes of Health, to research how the wild soybean plants regulate chemical compounds.

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

THE CLIMB FROM CHARLOTTE TO PATAGONIA

BY CHRISTY JACKSON

Growing up in Florida, Ryan Gellert ’94 was inspired by the passion he saw so many around him exhibit for the sport. It wasn’t just a hobby; it was a lifestyle. He was determined to find something that filled him up like a surfboard did for so many of his friends. Mixing his childhood near the beach with his love for the mountains, snowboarding seemed like the perfect fit, and in fact, he spent a year post-college snowboarding out west. But it was when he got in a harness to climb a mountain for the first time that he knew he had found “it.” Since that moment, Gellert has chased his love of the mountains — making their exploration possible for fellow outdoor enthusiasts and dedicating himself to protecting them and all other aspects of the environment for everyone.

His journey from a finance major at UNC Charlotte to the position of CEO of Patagonia, the American outdoor clothing company committed to environmental preservation, has taken him to many states and across multiple continents. He began his career with Black Diamond Equipment, serving in a variety of roles including director of Black Diamond Asia, vice president of supply chain management and brand president. In 2014, he joined Patagonia to oversee its operations in Europe and the Middle East and was named CEO in 2020.

Through it all, he has been driven by his pursuit of knowledge and his desire to leave the world better — and healthier — than he found it. Here, Gellert shares insights about leadership informed by a global pandemic and what drives his passion in all he does.

You stepped into the role of CEO for an international company as the world wrestled with COVID-19. What did you learn as a leader that you hope to take with you going forward?

My roles at Patagonia allowed me to really see the depths of COVID from one continent to another. As company leaders, we really had to ground ourselves in the fact that we are doing something no one alive has ever done. There have been global and national crises before — the Spanish flu in 1918, the stock market crash in 1929, the social unrest of the 1960s — but no one had ever seen anything like this. The clear reality is it was a crisis that was unparalleled in its comprehensiveness and its dynamism. But that also means that it was, and is, ripe with valuable lessons for other situations.

For me, I now find myself asking, “How can we take

what we learned from COVID and better understand what it takes for all of us to be resilient in economic or, most likely, an environmental crisis?” And as a business leader, my team and I are asking, “How do we do business differently?” I think COVID has forced everyone to take a more human-centric approach to all we do.

What inspires you and keeps you motivated in your work — as the head of Patagonia and as an advocate for the planet?

I deeply believe in our values, our people and our brand. We are a for-profit business, but we don’t exist just to sell goods to our consumers. We exist to do good — and to help save the planet we all share. We are called to serve something higher than ourselves. And to be better, we have to think differently. If we see a problem, we

Perhaps it all started with surfing.

don’t just name it and move on, we take action to correct it. I am proud of the work we do and the people I get to do it with. They are our secret sauce for success. Personally, my kids motivate me — I am mindful of what they and their kids will inherit on this planet if we don’t make different choices.

You were a finance major as an undergraduate, but you have talked openly about how you weren’t sure at that age what you wanted to do. What advice would you give to students who know they want an education but may be uncertain about their career aspirations?

You know, growing up, we didn’t discuss college or future plans around our dinner table. I knew I wanted to go to college and continue my education, but I wasn’t sure about what I wanted after that. I found myself envious of people who were certain of what they wanted to do. However, I ascribe to a simple but effective framework inspired by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a well-known conservation strategist. Ask yourself three questions: What is most needed? What are you good at doing? What brings you joy? If you can find something that crosses all three, you’ll find your passion.

You’ve been clear that you think businesses have a responsibility to help combat climate change. What drives that belief?

Since I have worked at Patagonia, and in most of my career, I have been in rooms with business leaders from across all industries. Our environmental problem is, quite frankly, one of our own creation. The world is full of smart people. We have found, and are continuing to innovate, solutions for food and health problems, for example. We have the collective ability to find a cure for our environmental issues; we just don’t seem to have the collective will. At least not yet. I do believe people will be spurred to action when they have exhausted all other options.

If you had to summarize your guiding principles for a successful, fulfilling life in three sentences or less, what would they be?

To acquire knowledge, add things every day. To acquire wisdom, subtract things every day.

Scan to read the complete interview with Ryan Gellert and learn more about his passion for the environment and one of his funniest moments during his time at UNC Charlotte.

Christy Jackson is senior director of strategic communications for University Communications.

Ryan Gellert ’94, CEO of Patagonia, headquartered in Ventura, California, has a desire to leave the world better than he found it.

A

LYNN ROBERSON, STORY/PHOTOS

When Kevin Donaldson ’21 first visited Cedar Grove Cemetery last year, he found sunken graves, toppled gravestones, piles of trash and more than 90 trees and tangled vines destroying gravesites.

“There are folks who still come out and visit graves, but someone older likely could not do so safely,” Donaldson said. “At the same time, there was no one to keep those graves maintained either.”

The historic Black cemetery fell into disrepair after the last known owner and caretaker, John Shead Davidson, died in 1972. Despite sporadic cleanups, the ruin always resurfaced. This is the fate of many historic Black cemeteries throughout the nation.

PRESERVING HISTORY

Donaldson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history and is now completing a master’s in that subject at UNC Charlotte, learned about the cemetery in a museum studies class. Since then,

he has felt driven to research — and permanently restore — the neglected 1.8-acre burial ground off Hildebrand Street near Beatties Ford Road.

“As a graduate student of history, I view a cemetery as a museum,” he said, explaining his motivations to undertake the project. “Quite a few military veterans are buried here as well as leaders from the historic Brooklyn community. They are a big part of the city’s history, and it’s a shame to see the place fall into disrepair. The South, unfortunately, is fraught with racial strife and always has been. Having seen this abandoned cemetery, I feel responsible to help in some way.”

Cemeteries are sacred spaces, replete with historical significance and community and family connections. Yet, historic Black cemeteries are often under-resourced, under-documented and can lack consistent care when on remote properties or in marginalized communities, said Angela M. Thorpe, director of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ African American Heritage Commission.

“Historically, African American burial practices have been severely restricted,” Thorpe told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee considering the African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Act, a bill co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12).

“Everything from ‘plantation politics’ to legal restrictions have played a role in shaping how, when and where African Americans were buried,” Thorpe said. Also, as African Americans have migrated across the country, land has changed hands, and community landscapes have changed drastically over time, further complicating the issue.

The bipartisan legislation, which has passed a Senate committee review, would establish a National Park Service program to provide grant opportunities and technical assistance to local partners to research, identify, survey and preserve these historic sites.

GATHERING COMMUNITY

Over the past year, Donaldson has built alliances with neighborhood and nonprofit leaders, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials, business owners, and academic leaders, faculty

and

sity,

He has organized cleanup days and enlisted the help of Bartlett Tree Experts and Arborscapes Tree & Landscape Specialists to bring in teams and equipment to remove trees and prepare the site for volunteers to safely clear remaining debris, vines and brush, and map the graves.

“The local community had made headway, but the cleanup was daunting,” he said. “It’s really a project for tree experts. I was able to share existing relationships, hoping to help move things forward.”

Despite the clear progress, cleaning up the cemetery is not enough to ensure its future, as previous cleanups have shown. Creating a way to maintain the cemetery, with its estimated 75150 graves, is essential.

In an important step, Donaldson used his research skills to prepare and submit an application to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, seeking historic landmark designation. The city of Charlotte provided a grant and completed an official site survey, which Donaldson included in the application. The nonprofit From One to Some, which works in the local neighborhood and school, signed on as the fiscal agent.

Nate Freeman, founder of From One to Some, and his business partner Che´ Abdullah have nurtured community relationships, organized several cleanups and brought on additional partners, including The Brooklyn Collective and Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department.

“Building a sense of community fits in with our mission,” Freeman said. “We want people to take a sense of pride in the people who came before us and helped shape this area. The plan is to create trails, historical markers and QR codes so we can bring Cedar Grove back to everyone’s attention. We want to tell the stories of our elders who were laid to rest here, so we don’t forget them.”

Lynn Roberson is director of communications for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

students at UNC Charlotte and Johnson C. Smith Univer-

including members of the UNC Charlotte Graduate History Association.

Kevin Donaldson, Nate Freeman, founder of nonprofit partner From One to Some, and Sgt. Sparkles Farrar-Gordon, community engagement officer with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department, discussed plans for a history club and other ideas to revitalize Cedar Grove Cemetery.

“We want to tell the stories of our elders who were laid to rest here, so we don’t forget them.”

Nate Freeman, Founder, From One to Some

WITH A PURPOSE

BY MEG WHALEN

unleashes

As the performance of “La Bestia: A Circus Journey,” comes to a close, the audience is on its feet cheering, whistling and applauding. For more than an hour, the people filling uptown Charlotte’s Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s Booth Playhouse have witnessed breathtaking feats of skill and daring, and they are eagerly showing their admiration.

But the show is not over. Slowly the players, members of the Nouveau Sud Circus Project, walk across the darkly lit stage, and one player begins to ascend another, climbing to stand on his shoulders. As she steadies herself and her compatriots gather around, a third player comes from behind to scale the human ladder. It is not easy. As he reaches the top and tries to stand, the bodies wobble. Someone in the audience cheers; another person whistles; the rest watch with wide eyes. Finding their balance, the three players — one on top of the other — stand tall and proud.

“More than anything, I heard the gasps and the wows,” said Associate Professor of Theatre Carlos Cruz a few days after the performances of “La Bestia” in early July. Cruz teaches physical theater, which includes commedia dell’arte and circus arts. In 2014, with a grant from the Arts & Science Council, a local funding agency, he founded Nouveau Sud, a community-engaged contemporary circus company in Charlotte. “La

Bestia,” a show about immigration, is the company’s fifth production.

The obvious effort, the uncertainty that lies between the moments of wobbling and triumphant stillness, demonstrates what Cruz calls “the struggle that it is to make circus.”

“There is no ‘fake’ in circus. We don’t pretend anything. We don’t have the room to pretend.”

And because circus entails such physical risk and courage, it becomes an especially compelling medium to convey the migrant experience.

“What the artists are doing on stage is extremely dangerous and takes so much trust and bravery on stage,” said Krysta Rogden ’20. “It’s really the perfect way to tell this kind of story.”

Rogden, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a minor in theatre and is currently in the Master of Public Administration program at UNC Charlotte, took Cruz’s circus arts class in 2019 and is now a Nouveau Sud company member. In 2019, she saw her first Nouveau Sud show, “Revol: The Story of a Flag.”

“It was my first time seeing circus in that kind of light. I was used to circus in a presentational format, like Cirque du Soleil. But circus can shed very powerful light on serious topics.”

Associate Professor of Theatre Carlos Cruz

“La Bestia” to explore the dangerous journey of migrants with death-defying skill

“There is no ‘fake’ in circus. We don’t pretend anything. We don’t have the room to pretend.”

Carlos Cruz Associate Professor of Theatre

PHOTOS BY KAT LAWRENCE

THE JOURNEY

“La Bestia” has been in development for nearly four years, and its roots go back even further, to a one-man show called “Pícaro” that Cruz started creating eight years ago. Though he is not an immigrant — he is from Puerto Rico — Cruz has long been committed to telling the immigrant story and in particular the stories of Latin Americans. In “Pícaro,” Cruz portrayed a 13-year-old Guatemalan boy traveling through Mexico in search of a better life.

In 2014, Cruz received a grant from the Theatre Communications Group to fund a residency in Mexico City, where he collaborated with playwright Alicia Martinez-Alvarez and the theater company Laboratorio de La Máscara to develop “Pícaro.” One evening, he and Martinez-Alvarez were watching the news and learned that more than 40 Central American migrants had been buried that day in Mexico. It was a stunning number. At the time, Cruz knew he eventually would expand beyond a single boy’s perspective.

“Migration happens in caravans,” he said. “What does it mean to tell this story from different bodies? I needed to understand it myself, in my own body, before I tried to tell this story with others.”

Drawing from interviews he conducted with refugees in Mexico City and with Guatemalan immigrants in Charlotte, he ultimately created a narrative framework for Nouveau Sud’s production. The name “La Bestia” refers to a freight train that runs daily from southern Mexico to northern Mexico. Migrants leap onto the train, also known as “el tren de la muerte” (“the train of death”) to catch a ride on its top.

“It is a life and death situation,” Cruz said. “You are risking your life to shorten your journey.”

THE COMMUNITY

For the most recent performances of “La Bestia,” the Nouveau Sud company was augmented by internationally acclaimed circus artists who brought an extraordinary prowess to the acts and also mentored the “Suds,” as Cruz calls them. Supported by a Creation and Touring Grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts, “La Bestia” will begin tours next year to other cities, with projected performances in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Montreal and cities in Mexico. But even as Nouveau Sud gains in professionalism and prestige, Cruz’s focus remains on Charlotte.

“We’re going to continue to dig deep to strengthen the local group,” he said.

Among the homegrown talent is Tykiique Cuthkelvin ’17, who transferred to UNC Charlotte from North Carolina Central University. Coming to UNC Charlotte “was a game-changer,” Cuthkelvin said, in particular because of the opportunity to work with Cruz. “It woke me up to how I could use my body, my physicality, to tell a story.”

In 2020, Cuthkelvin returned to Charlotte from Chicago to work with Nouveau Sud and joined the cast of “La Bestia.” He is motivated by Cruz’s commitment to social justice.

“Carlos really wants to tell a story that inspires people to get up and go make a difference. I think that’s a powerful thing.”

He also is challenged by the rigor of performing “La Bestia.”

“To get the audience to feel that they’re in Central America, to get them to feel that adrenaline, what it feels like to be on that journey, it’s really intense.”

After each show, the cast hosts a talk-back. In some cases, Rogden said, there are audience members who previously knew very little about migration from Central America.

“To get the audience to feel that they’re in Central America, to get them to feel that adrenaline, what it feels like to be on that journey, it’s really intense.”

Tykiique Cuthkelvin ’17

“Hearing how shocked they were about the experience makes me feel like we are really accomplishing our goals.”

On other occasions, the audience has included people who have lived the story portrayed on the stage.

“One night, there was a husband and wife and three children,” said Cuthkelvin, “and the husband cried in front of all of us and said he was someone who went through a journey like this and now he could show his children what he had gone through. He said, ‘Thank you for risking your lives, for putting yourselves out there to tell this story.’”

The experience of “La Bestia” is fundamentally a lesson in trust.

The audience trusts that the performers will be successful and safe. The artists must trust themselves and each other to accomplish their astonishing acts.

“At the heart of circus is relying on others to complete the task at hand,” Cruz said, adding that it is also at the heart of the migrant’s journey.

“It is inherently human. We are meant to be in community and help each other.”

Meg Whalen is director of communications for the College of Arts + Architecture.

BY GAVIN STEWART

Peter Giannatos ’14 is bringing national prominence to Charlotte’s chess community

Chess players spend years — even decades — mastering the game. Keeping in mind its 1,500-year history and pandemic-sparked popularity boom, Peter Giannatos ’14, founder and executive director of the Charlotte Chess Center, aims to extend the game’s reach in Charlotte to unprecedented lengths.

“For me, introducing chess to more people is very important,” said Giannatos, who opened the center in 2014 before graduating from UNC Charlotte later that year. The center — the only one of its kind in Charlotte — serves as an educational hub for players of all ages and skill levels as well as a host for year-round classes, camps and tournaments.

The idea to establish a chess center in Charlotte originated as early as 2007, when Giannatos and like-minded players co-founded the Queen City Chess Association. Dozens of players met weekly at the Asian Herald Library and often held events at the Cone University Center to hone their strategies and share ideas. “That’s how we planted the seed,” he said.

GROWING IMPACT

Today, more than 2,000 children learn chess every week at school through Charlotte Chess Center programs. More than 600 students attend the center’s summer camps, while another 500-plus have competed in chess tournaments so far this year. Giannatos says many parents enroll their children at the center to support their overall development. Chess — which Giannatos refers to as a “mind sport” — exercises the brain by improving memory, increasing self-awareness and developing thinking skills.

When the budding entrepreneur moved from Pennsylvania to Charlotte in 2001 with his parents, restaurateurs who opened a diner in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Giannatos already knew chess. However, he lacked formal training and eagerly picked up pointers from a restaurant patron. “The thrill of winning and beating someone at a game intellectually became enjoyable,” he said.

“The more I played, the more I sharpened my critical, analytical and objective thinking,’’ Giannatos continued. “There are pros and cons to all decisions; your goal is to think objectively, weigh risks and make the best decision you can based on your ability. That’s chess, too.”

PHOTOS BY RYAN HONEYMAN

Giannatos ‘14

CULTURE CHANGE: THE KEY WORD IS ‘FRIENDLY’

Drawing inspiration from commercialized sports such as poker and billiards, Giannatos says the Charlotte Chess Center, which employs 30 instructors and employees, strives to host events and tournaments for professional players to uplift national chess standards. “We’re developing a chess ecosystem that is friendly to everyone,” he said.

The game’s historic exclusive culture was exposed in the 2020, award-winning Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit.” When protagonist Beth Harmon, a female chess trailblazer, enters her first state tournament in 1963, she is told at the registration desk by a member of the male-dominated competition, “We don’t have a women’s section.”

While the culture is evolving — today 15% of registered chess players are women — Giannatos recognizes potential to improve access to many groups underrepresented in the game. The center recently initiated outreach to Charlotteans who might not otherwise have the opportunity to participate by offering affordable chess education.

“My own early experiences were less than ideal,” he said. “Unless you had an in or were already really good, it was difficult to step into the chess scene. My mission is to uplift overall professionalism.”

LEVERAGING A CHARLOTTE EDUCATION

Giannatos, whose interest in economics at UNC Charlotte’s Belk College of Business was fueled by the presence of the local banking industry, attributes an ability to organize and implement ideas, develop a business plan and navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship to his business education.

He applies those skills to the Charlotte Chess Center — and it has become a model for chess centers across the country. The United States Chess Federation named Charlotte Chess City of the Year in 2018. In 2019, the organization named Charlotte Chess Club its Club of the Year.

Giannatos plans to support hopeful entrepreneurs toward similar success by engaging with enrollees of the new Undergraduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship, launched this fall by the Belk College of Business. He believes the program is pivotal to supplying Charlotte with innovative entrepreneurial thinkers.

“Entrepreneurs know that to do something successfully, you must step outside your comfort zone and knowledge base,” he said. “As an entrepreneur, I want to learn by doing. I want to know what happens, not what is supposed to happen. Creating the system for cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and know-how in our own backyard is key.”

Gavin Stewart is communications and events specialist for the Belk College of Business.

“As an entrepreneur, I want to learn by doing. I want to know what happens, not what is supposed to happen.”

Peter

Local context meets global impact

When Emery Ngamasana returned to his childhood home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after many years away, he was dismayed by the deteriorating social environment and living conditions. He decided to do what he could to help. The first step was to educate himself about effective, research-based solutions; next came their implementation. Ngamasana shares how he is applying knowledge he is gaining through UNC Charlotte’s Ph.D. in Public Health Sciences program to make life-changing differences for the people in his village of origin.

In July 2018, I visited my home village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I couldn’t afford to remain inactive, given what I saw. Although the DRC of my childhood wasn’t ideal, the minimum infrastructures left by Catholic missionaries were still holding. However, I was shocked by the current obsolescence of crumbling infrastructures and the level of poverty in which people are caught.

I felt blessed when I thought about the schools, hospitals and parks my kids are experiencing in the U.S. However, I was powerless at that moment; yet I knew any action would have a positive impact on the lives of people. I decided to create a nonprofit, Rural World Impetus Inc., to give back to my home village; it was incorporated with the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State in May 2020.

I was almost certain that health and education were the top two priorities because so many lives are at stake, especially those of children, young girls and women. Thus, I relied on proven concepts to streamline my actions. Until 2018, I was trained as an economist (undergraduate) and biostatistician (graduate). I then decided to train in public health with a focus on maternal and child health or in health behaviors. I enrolled in a postgraduate certificate program with King’s College London (May 2020) and later a Ph.D. program with UNC Charlotte (September 2021). I’ve taken courses in subjects such as the social determinants of health, health behavior, health improvement and health protection.

My learnings at UNC Charlotte influenced the design of the model currently used by our nonprofit. The model, which I named Rural Development Center, combines elements of individual, interpersonal and community health behavior models. It features activities around three main areas: education and health, youth mentoring and rural agricultural cooperatives. What I’ve learned about health behaviors and health improvement have largely contributed to inform the selection of some social cognitive constructs and community-based participatory research methods that are important drivers of change within a community.

Early and forced marriage of young girls is a serious problem. Our model proposes some elements of the social cognitive model — role model, positive reinforcement, changes in normative

beliefs — to counter this problem. We are engaging local community leaders and youth groups and have improved concepts and strategies regarding the need for early childhood care, based on learning about the social determinants of health. What I learn from a theoretical standpoint almost translates immediately into an actionable item for the nonprofit, with some considerations about the local context. It’s a wealth of knowledge that I am accumulating and applying to improve the lives of the population.

Early on, I was grateful to learn that the College of Health and Human Services tweeted about the work that I am leading in my home village. It led another Charlotte student to read our website and learn more; he decided to write a paper about my work.

This type of support from my campus community is just thrilling. It encourages me to do even more and really creates a sense of belonging to the University. My hope is that as more people read about this effort, they come to realize the needs that are out there and consider ways of helping either through research, donation, mission trips or simply by spreading the word further.

Read more about Rural Development Center at What We Do - Rural World Impetus Inc. (rwiinc.org)

Emery Ngamasana works with community leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo to stress the importance of early childhood care.

BY SUSAN MESSINA

An equation for supporting careers in mathematics

Tiwana Anderson ’90, ’08 M.S., has pledged an estate gift to Charlotte that will endow scholarships and support academic programs. Her support honors the work and memory of her late husband, Robert Anderson, professor emeritus of mathematics. Jacob Elmore of Lincolnton is the 2022–23 recipient of the Robert Anderson Scholarship. “

My

husband was born a math person. I grew to be one.” Tiwana Anderson’s discovery of mathematics and statistics and a surprise that she possessed a natural affinity for them — came with a promotion that redirected her career — and her life’s path.

With a return to UNC Charlotte, her alma mater, to pursue a master’s degree in mathematics with a concentration in statistics, Anderson, a Charlotte native who had earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1990, established a foundation for continuous career growth. Her path to success started with the initial promotion to quality product auditor with Philip Morris USA in Charlotte, then as a test coordinator for the corporation, traveling internationally to qualify manufacturing equipment worldwide and provide feedback on equipment capability studies. Finally, with parent company Altria Group in Richmond, Virginia, the city she now calls home, she transitioned from a role in research development and engineering to lead her team’s quality management system program.

“UNC Charlotte gave me the tools to understand product quality attribute testing, process quality control and statistical controls in manufacturing,” said Anderson, who completed the master’s program in mathematics in 2008. “I was able to apply what I was learning immediately, and I continue to do so. Charlotte gave me an opportunity while I worked full time to advance through education at a great school.”

Attributing her success to faith, family and education, Anderson is ready to “give back by helping to make higher education more attainable for others.” Through the recent pledge of an estate gift to the University, a scholarship named for her late husband — longtime mathematics professor Robert Anderson — established by friends and colleagues when he retired in 2013, will expand. In addition, her gift will strengthen the Mathematics and Statistics Department Fund, specifically, the Math for Business and Actuarial Science programs, both which Robert Anderson was instrumental in founding. And three new scholarships will be endowed

BY RYAN HONEYMAN

to provide support for students studying math and statistics at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels.

NEW OPTIONS AND DIRECTIONS

Jacob Elmore is just the kind of Charlotte student Tiwana Anderson aims to support.

The 2022-23 beneficiary of the Robert Anderson Scholarship, Elmore made a decision to pursue a career in actuarial science during a guest speaker’s visit to Mathematics 3168, a seminar course designed to introduce students to math- and statistics-related careers through interactions with experts from a variety of fields.

“My initial intention was to become a high school math teacher,” said Elmore, a former home school student who went to work as an auto mechanic immediately after completing high school. After five years “under the hood,” he decided to take the SAT, which led to enrolling at Charlotte at age 23. “With new knowledge about actuarial science — which integrates finance, investment and risk management, all long-standing interests of mine — I changed course. Now, with the Robert Anderson Scholarship helping to curb my student debt, I’m focused on exploring

internships for the coming year and passing the actuarial exams required for the field.”

In spring 2022, Elmore, with a 3.93 GPA, learned he’d been accepted to the early-entry Master of Science in Mathematics program with a concentration in actuarial statistics. He’ll start the program while an undergraduate, condensing the usual combined six-year timeframe for earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree into five. His graduate advisor, Wafaa Shaban, professor of mathematics and statistics, and director of the actuarial program, alerted Elmore to the availability of the Robert Anderson Scholarship during his sophomore year.

“UNC Charlotte’s actuarial science program, ranked by the Society of Actuaries as an advanced curriculum, is the strongest in the state,” said Shaban. “With strong connections in the industry we serve as a pipeline for internships and full-time positions with major corporations and provide a variety of opportunities — including an annual career fair — for students to network with alumni and others in the field.”

Susan

Messina is director of strategic content for University Communications.

“With new knowledge about actuarial science — which integrates finance, investment and risk management, all longstanding interests of mine — I changed course.”

Jacob Elmore

PHOTO

Forging the next

business leaders

In her research, Janaki Gooty, a professor of management for the Belk College of Business and director of its MBA program, focuses on inclusion, values and ethics, and emotions related to the leadership process. These hot topics and the University’s commitment to offer the new Professional Online Master of Business Administration fuel her desire to help create effective business leaders for Charlotte and beyond.

“When you ask people what is the one factor that affects their work lives most — it is their bosses,” said Gooty. “The big picture focus of my work is to improve leadership science to better inform training and policy which, in turn, enhance the quality of work life.”

This fall, under her leadership, the University launched the Online MBA, answering strong marketplace demand for tech-focused graduate business education options that align with the virtual learning preferences of today’s busy business professionals.

“I came to America as a starry-eyed foreign student, and I’m grateful to call Charlotte home,” said Gooty. “The MBA classroom and the Belk College have nurtured my growth as a scholar, teacher and a human. This role allows me to give back and contribute to our growth and future of the Charlotte MBA.”

The Online MBA, highly flexible and deeply competitive, promises the quality and benefits of its well-established, seated counterpart, which boasts more than 4,200 alumni and a 50-plus-year history of shaping students into effective business leaders.

BY GAVIN STEWART

How are UNC Charlotte and the Belk College of Business cultivating strong leaders for the Charlotte business community?

To be an effective leader is to have social influence. That is impact, plain and simple. While each of us can be impactful in unique and various ways, the Belk College of Business is developing the next generation of diverse business leaders via expertise. Our students in both the undergraduate and MBA programs benefit from the training, experience and commitment of our expert faculty. And our dedicated leadership training programs, delivered by my colleagues in Management and Organizational Science, are fine tuning students’ leadership capabilities.

What drove the creation of the Online MBA?

The Online MBA is UNC Charlotte’s response to a changing business landscape and increased desire for a more thoughtful approach to work-life balance. Our community and business partners, and our prospective students are demanding greater flexibility and a format that is tailored to the lives of busy professionals. The Online MBA provides that through asynchronous, online courses, each which can be completed in less than two months.

How does the Online MBA stack up against its established seated counterpart?

The Online MBA is essentially the same program — with the same quality curriculum — as the Charlotte Professional MBA. Two new concentrations — digital marketing and business analytics — are specific to the online program. The game changer is

the flexibility that comes with a highly regarded program offered in a format that works better for many people.

What will graduates of the Charlotte Professional Online MBA offer the Charlotte market?

Graduates of the Professional Online MBA — just as those from our traditional MBA program — gain a decisive competitive edge in the marketplace. Our program allows them to develop highly sought-after skills and acquire research-based knowledge — ethical leadership, economics of business decisions, financial management, and much more — to fuel their career progression. While building these skills in the classroom, they can apply them in real time, allowing their job prospects to grow as they learn. In fact, many of our students see forward movement in their careers before graduation. In addition, this competitive advantage comes at an affordable cost. The Belk College of Business has the lowest debt-to-income ratio among all MBA programs in the region; this means our graduates secure higher compensation and are able to eliminate student debt faster than their peers from other programs.

It’s important to note the immeasurable impact of the Charlotte MBA, which originated at UNC Charlotte 50 years ago, and that of its highly qualified and motivated graduates over the last five decades. This is no small feat in the country’s second-largest financial district. Our track record shows that we are true to our community. It’s who we are; and it’s who our graduates are, too.

Gavin Stewart is communications and events specialist for the Belk College of Business.

Janaki Gooty aims to shape students into leaders with the desire and skills to improve and evolve work culture

generation of

“Our community and business partners, and our prospective students are demanding greater flexibility and a format that is tailored to the lives of busy professionals.”

Janaki Gooty Professor of Management

Lisa Insixiengmay is an

nurse practitioner. Initially uncertain about her collegiate journey, she discovered a cadre of support at Charlotte.

aspiring

PHOTOS BY RYAN HONEYMAN

Finding her way

Lisa Insixiengmay, a senior, is majoring in nursing and health systems management. A first-generation student, she transferred to UNC Charlotte in 2020. During her initial semester at Charlotte, the University held classes virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Insixiengmay feeling isolated. Finding a way to engage in campus life changed her outlook.

As a transfer student, I was extremely intimidated entering a new environment with its potential challenges. Being a first-generation student made me doubt my capabilities to succeed.

My first semester at UNC Charlotte was completely virtual, which left me feeling isolated and anxious not only about my academic performance but my ability to establish connections with my peers. To alleviate these concerns, I made it a priority to join organizations on campus that matched my interests and passions.

After discovering First Gen Niners, I joined its Niner Engage page as an official member. Although we were virtual, I was determined to be involved, which led to my decision to run for a position on the executive board. Once I met with Dr. Lorenzo Hopper and the board members at the time, I was immediately inspired and knew that joining this organization was the right fit. As the newly appointed community outreach chair, I was motivated to plan opportunities designed to allow members to feel valued in a space/organization that caters to them.

First Gen Niners is a great, supportive community that I am proud to be a part of. It has provided me with the opportunity to grow and meet like-minded individuals, and the space that they have cultivated is accepting, inspiring and reassuring.

During the 2021-22 school year, I was able to partner with the Jamil Niner Student Pantry for several volunteer events. First Gen Niners helped sort, pack and inspect food items. We also helped the staff with cleaning and other tasks. Partnering with the Jamil Niner Student Pantry helped shine a light on another valuable resource for students that often goes overlooked. As a member of the First Gen organization, I believe it is crucial to highlight various resources for fellow students. Through this part-

nership with the student pantry, a few First Gen Niners members were able to land future volunteer and internship opportunities.

While being a first-generation student is a big part of my identity, I hold my status as a nursing student in equal regard. My first semester of nursing school brought a multitude of challenges. Not only was it challenging academically, but I struggled with time management and other commitments. As an aspiring nurse practitioner, I have a passion for service and making an impact. Through Charlotte and the First Gen Niners, I have strengthened my communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills, all which are imperative for my future profession.

I pride myself on being a first-generation college student and encourage other such students to take a leap of faith to embrace this part of their identity. Being a first-generation student should be looked at as a strength to use toward achieving your goals with grit, perseverance and resilience.

“I pride myself on being a first-generation college student and encourage other such students to take a leap of faith to embrace this part of their identity.”

ENGINEERING HER FUTURE

BY PHILLIP BROWN

Seldom do 5-year-olds have total autonomy to decide how they’ll spend their free time. Equally rare — their choice ignites a curious need for speed.

Sydney Prince ’22 is on the fast track as a junior engineer with Petty GMS, which competes full time in the NASCAR Cup Series. However, her journey to racing’s big league commenced on a summer afternoon in her hometown of Killingworth, Connecticut.

David and Marlo Prince, like most parents, wanted rich childhood experiences for their twin daughters Sydney and Mallory. The girls had just finished their first year of dance, and Sydney was less than enthralled. Her father offered a list of alternatives, and while she didn’t really know what racing meant, she picked it. After attending her first race in the fall, she knew her serendipitous choice would steer her life in a new direction.

By the spring, she was behind the wheel of a quarter midget car, and racing became a family sport. Prince would eventually drive micro-sprint and full-size sprint cars. After three years in the driver’s seat, she opted to explore racing’s mechanical side.

“I have a curiosity to learn, even today,” said Prince. “I was winning races and championships, and by age 8, I wanted to help my dad prepare the car by working on the engine. Eventually, I wanted to learn how different setups would affect the car’s ontrack performance.”

FROM PASTIME TO FULL TIME

Racing and engineering shifted from being a fun family activity into a serious life pursuit. As Prince considered colleges, a high school advisor suggested UNC Charlotte as a match for her interest in motorsports engineering. She discovered Charlotte’s reputation as a leader in mechanical engineering education and its

Sydney Prince ’22

strong ties to the region’s NASCAR teams. She recognized this as a plus, given her interest in working in the motorsports industry.

Prince, who graduated in May 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, applies lessons learned in the classrooms and labs of The William States Lee College of Engineering virtually every day. As an undergraduate, she was a member of the student Formula SAE team and interned with SPIRE Motorsports. In June, she joined Petty GMS.

“Currently, I work with racing trucks and specialize in metrology, the science of measurement,” said Prince. “It involves precision instrumentation, measuring various points on the vehicle and its components. Senior engineers use these points to run simulations to alter setups used in racing competition. It’s a way of practicing before we get to the track. I also scan truck components to determine if they are too damaged to be reused.”

Computer-aided design is a primary tool for Prince, necessary for keeping pace with the technology that continues to revolutionize the motorsports industry. Knowledge of reverse engineering of parts comes into play, too, which is important in fabrication and manufacturing of parts.

“Through the Lee College of Engineering, I was involved in a lot of activities, such as the student Formula team, and that helped build my confidence. So, transitioning to Petty GMS was easier as I had a knowledge-base to rely on — I already knew a lot, and even better, I knew the questions to ask,” said Prince.

Since joining Petty GMS, Prince is in the “war room” every other race day, where she and a fellow engineer watch the competition, communicating with the team via radio.

“It’s a lot of analytics. We provide lap times of the teams, observe everyone’s pit strategies and even monitor the weather,” Prince said. “Basically, we’re additional eyes, helping the race-day engineers so they don’t overlook something crucial.”

Racing, says Prince, is the ultimate team sport. “It’s about going fast, working on cars and having fun.”

Alumna Sydney Prince is building momentum to succeed in the fast-paced world of motorsports

Phillip Brown is assistant director of strategic content for University Communications.

“Transitioning to Petty GMS was easier as I had a knowledge-base to rely on — I already knew a lot, and even better, I knew the questions to ask.”

YOUR NINER KNOWLEDGE SHOW

This iconic statue was moved to its current location on the plaza between the Cato College of Education Building and the College of Health and Human Services Building in October 2016.

What is its official name?

From what location on campus was it moved?

Name the artist.

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO ENTER YOUR RESPONSES BY JAN. 15, 2023.

Need a hint? Go to inside.charlotte.edu and search for ‘Niner Pride’ or ‘Niner Move.’

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN

9201 University Blvd. Charlotte, NC 28223-0001

The Alumni Association hosted more than 200 members of Niner Nation at Bank of America Stadium for “Niners in the City.” The evening included tours of the stadium and a meet and greet with FC Charlotte midfielder Brandt Bronico ’17.

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Charlotte, NC Permit No 949

PHOTO BY RYAN HONEYMAN