Impact Stories

Stories that show how privately funded research, programs and initiatives are making a difference.

Carolina Stories

Portrait of Sarah McGlothlin against blue and yellow squiggle graphic.

3 min read

A journey beyond Darwin

Blue Sky Scholar Zoey Ainsworth poses for an outdoor portrait.

4 min read

Learning with heart

Students clear debris in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. One student stands smiling at the camera while holding a shovel.

2 min watch

Mentors, mountains and a mission

4 min read

This Royster studies oysters

4 min read

Tar Heels connect through Carolina College Advising Corps

Portrait of Ariayana Harrell smiling with UNC-Chapel Hill campus in the background.

4 min read

The arc of a Covenant Scholar

Dr. Frederick Bowman Jr. sits in a lounge chair at his home in Chapel Hill.

4 min read

A lifetime of giving

Segovia-Chumbez wears graduation regalia while sitting on cement wall with "Adams School of Dentistry" sign on it.

3 min read

Covenant Scholar’s dentistry path leads back to rural service

Left: Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Gene Roberts ’54; Right: An 1895 woodblock print by Kobayashi Kiyochika

4 min read

Top 10 Carolina Stories 2024

Matthew Thornton looks into the distance with the Bell Tower in the background.

2 min read

A passion for math leads to a new path

Senior Rachel Geyer is researching why some corals grow more complex skeletons and how that might make them more resilient.

3 min read

Student’s research to help endangered coral

Man peers down at his phone in one hand while being surrounded by trees.

4 min read

Senior researches cicadas’ impact on local food web