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Pioneer Graduate Works to Earn Ph.D.

In the Community

Jul 27, 2026

‘Mini Dust Bowl’ Could Be Forming in the US, Expert Warns. Will El Niño Make It Worse?

WKRG
“Typically, when I think about El Niño, I think about how wet the American Southwest tends to get and how dry the Pacific Northwest gets,” Dillon Amaya, assistant professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University, told Nexstar. For the Plains states, it’s more of a “small signal,” Amaya explained, meaning it could impact the area’s rainfall, but the anticipated effects are less clearcut.

Jul 23, 2026

Do Animals Act Weirdly During a Solar Eclipse? Or Do We?

Scientific American
Other observations made by Hartstone-Rose, who is now a professor at North Carolina State University, suggest that some animals at the zoo behaved as if it were twilight, starting their “nighttime routines.”

Jul 16, 2026

Before She Took Historic Moon Photos, Christina Koch Honed Her Skills in N.C.

The Assembly
Koch attended NC State from 1997 to 2002 and earned undergraduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering, as well as a master’s degree in the latter. That’s a combination of disciplines that one of Koch’s physics professors described to The Assembly as one of the most difficult at the university, but her studies apparently didn’t prevent her from staying busy outside the classroom.

Jul 9, 2026

Rescuers Help Return Rehabilitated Sea Turtle to the Atlantic

Public Radio East
North Carolina State University Ph.D. candidate Lindsay Curl first spotted the distressed turtle back in April while conducting fieldwork near Harkers Island. Alongside fellow researchers and technicians from the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, Curl rescued the animal and brought it to their facility.

Jun 29, 2026

This Tiny Organism Contracts 200 Times Faster Than We Can Blink — Here’s How

Phys.org
“The difference between what Spirostomum can do and what we can do comes down to what is powering the contraction, and what the machinery behind it looks like,” says Mary Elting, associate professor of biophysics at North Carolina State University. “If we can understand those processes, it could help us build synthetic systems that mimic the speed and power of this single-celled organism.”

Jun 26, 2026

Why Is Everyone Suddenly Obsessed With Toxins?

Vox
For each of us as individuals, Gerald LeBlanc, a biologist at North Carolina State University and author of Everyday Chemicals: Understanding the Risks, emphasized that there is a difference between a substance being hazardous (meaning it could potentially cause harmful health effects) and it actually doing harm. The distinction is in how much of said substance you’re actually exposed to.

Jun 19, 2026

Cancer-Driving Genetic Mutation Does Not Always Cause Disease

The Medical News
“We were fortunate to have access to a population study that allowed us to look at the occurrence of this mutation in the general public,” says Jordan Snyder, assistant teaching professor of mathematics at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the study.

Jun 11, 2026

El Niño Is Here and Could Tip Earth to a New Record Hot Year

Scientific American
These changes in the ocean temperatures change where heat is pumped into the atmosphere, which in turn causes changes to wind patterns. As an El Niño takes hold in the atmosphere, winds blowing from east to west over the region slacken, says Sarah Larson, an atmospheric scientist at North Carolina State University.

May 27, 2026

Serving Public a Passion for State Climatologist Jared Bowden

Coastal Review
The Rocky Mount native was recently named director of the North Carolina State Climate Office.

May 26, 2026

Pioneer Graduate Works to Earn Ph.D.

Herald Courier
Julia Brzezicki, a first year at North Carolina State University for her PhD in biology, is now also a recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Student Research Award to Sri Lanka.