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Tar Heels
at work

At Carolina, we strive to give students the knowledge, resources and confidence to succeed beyond campus. Summer is a great time for Tar Heels to take lessons learned in the classroom and apply them in professional settings, picking up valuable experience for their careers ahead.

As the start of the fall semester approaches, find out what some Carolina students have been up to this summer.

Fiona Chen

Fiona Chen, a junior biology major, has spent her summer getting kids on board with science. As an intern and STEM instructor on the Innovation Mobile Lab bus, Chen has traveled the state, taking the shiny, bright blue bus across North Carolina to give kids a glimpse of scientific possibilities.

A partnership of United Way of Franklin County and the biotech company Novozymes, the Innovation Mobile Lab is a science fair on wheels, a Magic School Bus stocked with cool science experiments like making liquid nitrogen ice cream, potato batteries and electronic circuit kits.

This bus’s mission is what I wanted to resolve back in middle school. It was unfair to see how rural students, my peers, weren’t really exposed to opportunities like this.

Read more about Fiona Chen

 

A student named Fiona Chen showing four young girls how to make potato batteries as the five of them look at a laptop.
A student named Miguel Reyna working in a laboratory, wearing purple gloves and holding red and black wires while conducting research on batteries.

Miguel Reyna

Scientists know what makes lithium-ion batteries release energy to power our phones, devices, cars — our lives. Charged lithium atoms, called ions, move through a liquid electrolyte into layers of graphite allowing electrons to flow and power devices.

But scientists don’t understand as much about this process, called intercalation.

Miguel Reyna, a junior chemistry major from Fayetteville, North Carolina, is after answers. By consistently reproducing the stages and analyzing them, Reyna hopes to add to researchers’ understanding of batteries and help improve them.

One goal is to store more lithium in batteries to increase energy for a longer battery charge. A Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship award of $5,000 supports his work.

“It’s like trying to make maximum use of a file cabinet drawer. Lithium is the paper. We have a drawer filled with folders and we’re wondering how many pieces of paper we can fit in and it still work.”

 

Read more about Miguel Reyna

Anna Jin

Anna Jin spent her summer researching the use of cancer patients’ own cells to treat Ewing sarcoma, the second-most common cancer that attacks the bones of children and young adults.

The senior biology major works at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in the lab of pediatric oncologist Dr. Ian Davis. A Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship award supports her research alongside a graduate student and a postdoctoral fellow.

The research is meaningful to me because it allows me to use the knowledge I’ve gained to help children with cancer through clinical trials. I hope to be part of a team that gives these children the chance to survive and one day make an impact on the community using their passions.

Read more about Anna Jin

A student named Anna Jin transfers liquid from a syringe into a vial.
A woman named Jasmine Baker holding a smartphone and showing it to a baseball coach standing in a dugout.

Jasmine Baker

This summer, senior Jasmine Baker has been interning for USA Baseball as a broadcaster and reporter.

The Hussman School of Journalism and Media student provides play-by-play commentary during USA Baseball events in Cary, North Carolina, five or six days a week, calling two to four games a day. She also interviews players of the USA Collegiate National Team after their games for the USA Baseball Twitter account.

Baker says her first month interning was challenging because she had no prior play-by-play experience and had never played baseball.

But she’s now found a rhythm and has had experiences she’ll remember forever.

“I called my first grand slam on June 14th, the second day of us calling games for the 17U National Team Championships. It was an unexplainable thrill, truly chills as I was able to feed off the excitement from the team and fans which elevated my call. That long ball over the left-field wall made me feel like a true sports broadcaster.”

 

Read more about Jasmine Baker

A successful summer

Click on a story below to learn how students from all across campus in all disciplines are taking their skills from the classroom and putting them to practice this summer.

  • Summer internships give Hussman students real-world experience

    From New York City to right here in the Triangle, students from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media are working at internships across the country, building resumes and learning invaluable skills about what careers will suit them best after graduation.

  • SURFing through summer

    Carolina's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows are gaining hands-on research experience in the lab and the field.

  • Putting sustainability into practice

    This summer, Sustainable Carolina and Hanesbrands have teamed up for an eight-week internship, giving participants a crash course on public-private partnerships and the impact of collaboration on sustainability.

  • Meet the 2023 SECU Public Fellows Interns

    The fourth cohort of the Carolina Center for Public Service program includes 19 Tar Heels who are serving communities throughout the state.

Explore more