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Research isn’t only about data. It’s about communication, empathy, and the ability to meet people where they are. At UNC-Chapel Hill, undergraduates gain these skills alongside critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving as they delve into meaningful research across disciplines.

This May, more than 4,000 undergraduates will turn their tassels — each of them having engaged in research through a “Research and Discovery” course or by working alongside faculty on projects. Whether they are working with patients, analyzing environmental data, or experimenting at the frontiers of technology, they learn to ask better questions, embrace uncertainty, and imagine new possibilities.

When Carolina senior Esha Agarwal began talking to patients with Parkison’s disease for a research project, she quickly discovered that compassion and clarity mattered just as much as technical expertise.

“Especially for someone who just drove three hours from rural North Carolina for their appointment,” she shares.

We spoke to Agarwal and two of her classmates who shared how research has empowered them to make a meaningful impact in the world they’re about to enter.

Esha Agarwal | environmental health science

“If you Google my name, you’ll find, ‘Esha Agarwal hates coding,’” jokes the UNC-Chapel Hill senior. “When I was in sixth grade, my mom tried to get me into coding — and I completely refused.”

That changed during her junior year of high school, when she entered the 2020 Congressional App Challenge — and won — for developing outSMARTPD, an app to diagnose and monitor Parkinson’s disease. The idea was personal. Her grandfather’s long road to diagnosis, including two unnecessary knee replacements, exposed how confusing the medical journey can be for patients.

Around that same time, she also explored how environmental factors influence health. As a high school student, she studied how fertilizer runoff contributes to harmful algal blooms — and how those blooms may be linked to Parkinson’s disease. The experience shaped how she thought about medicine and research. Understanding patients, she realized, means understanding what surrounds them — their work, their environment, their daily exposures.

That thought remained top of mind as she shadowed neurologists and listened to patients describe what they’d need out of an app like outSMARTPD.

“But I needed a credible method to determine if the app was effective and accurate,” Agarwal says. “I needed a clinical trial.”

At Carolina, she collaborated with biomedical engineering professor Andy Kant and neurologist Nina Browner to evaluate her app with patients at the UNC Movement Disorders Center during scheduled clinic appointments. They would explore the app for 20 to 30 minutes, offering insight and often sharing excitement about the potential of this technology.

“Their enthusiasm truly inspired me,” she says.

Now, Agarwal is working to improve the app and its algorithm, imagining future uses that range from supporting nonprofits to informing new treatments. After graduation, she plans to attend medical school, keeping holistic, patient-centered care at the heart of her work.

“I want to create sustainable care plans tailored to each patient, helping them get the care they need — and want,” she says.

Victor Hieu Nguyen | mathematics and environmental sciences

During his senior year of high school, he volunteered at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, feeding ducks and chickens and cleaning enclosures. Witnessing the daily work of caring for animals transformed environmental science from something abstract to something deeply human.  

When he arrived at Carolina, Nguyen knew he wanted to study environmental science but wasn’t sure where to focus. Exploring courses across the university led him to a startup company cultivating kelp to capture atmospheric carbon. That blend of innovation, climate action, and ocean science unlocked something for him: a path where he could channel both curiosity and impact. He began reaching out to professors doing related research.

Nguyen joined Harvey Seim’s lab, where he analyzed oceanographic data from underwater gliders deployed off Cape Hatteras to understand how the Gulf Stream interacts with coastal waters. That work introduced him to the power of computational tools — a discovery that shaped the rest of his research. A summer internship at Texas A&M deepened his interest in modeling methods to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean and atmosphere.

Today, Nguyen works in Ken Zhao’s lab modeling Diamond Shoals, a shifting sandbar system off Cape Hatteras that shapes local ocean circulation. The work is part science, part puzzle-solving.

“There’s something almost science fiction-like about simulating real-world phenomena, which has always captivated me,” he says.

Oceans are turbulent, chaotic, and non-linear systems. Deciding what to simulate and how to approach it theoretically is essential. Through this project, Nguyen has gained deeper insight into which aspects of a model reflect real physical phenomena, and which are merely computational artifacts or potential errors.

As a math and environmental science double major, Nguyen focuses on determining which model behaviors reflect real physics and which are computational distortions. The goal: build tools that can guide large-scale climate interventions.

“My research centers on finding ways not only to mitigate the harm we cause to the environment, but also to improve our ecosystems,” he says. “Those themes have remained constant even as my methods have evolved.”

After graduating, Nguyen will start his PhD in ocean science and engineering at Georgia Tech to help develop reliable models for ocean-based carbon capture, turning ambitious climate ideas into concrete possibilities.

Saketha Male | physics and computer science

Saketha Male grew up devouring movies and science books given to her by her father. She enjoyed being challenged by complex problems and decided to pursue astrophysics.

But after she arrived at Carolina, she found the work less engaging due to its focus on coding and data analysis. At the time, she was working in a high-energy physics lab with Reyco Henning, who encouraged her to seek a more hands-on approach. That’s when she learned about a new field called quantum computing, which combines computer science and engineering to solve problems in quantum mechanics — how matter and light behave at atomic and subatomic scales. She now works in a lab at the Duke Quantum Center.

A traditional computer bit — the smallest unit of data in computing — can be thought of as a coin, existing in one of two states: heads or tails. In contrast, a quantum bit, or qubit, is like a spinning coin — existing in a combination of heads and tails at once. This unique property allows quantum computers to consider many possibilities at once, unlocking new approaches to computation.

Quantum computers aren’t faster at everything. They excel at certain tasks like simulating quantum systems or generating truly random numbers, but they are still experimental and difficult to build.

“Early computers filled entire rooms, and we’re at a similar stage now,” Male explains. “My lab’s quantum computer uses only a few qubits, but it still takes up the space of an entire bedroom.”

Building a quantum computer that can solve real-world problems will require thousands of qubits. Figuring out how to scale up these systems — adding more qubits and components without compromising their stability and fidelity or vastly increasing their size — is a challenge Male’s research is working to overcome.

As a research assistant at Duke, she focuses on stabilizing magnetic fields. Quantum experiments are extremely sensitive, and even small disturbances can destabilize them. Human bodies and everyday items like AirPods produce magnetic fields stronger than Earth’s, so researchers need to find a way to keep the field stable.

“My work is like making magnetic field noise-canceling headphones for ions,” she says. “These experiments are extremely sensitive, and even small fluctuations can disrupt the system. By improving field stability, we can keep the ion coherent for longer, which allows for more reliable experiments and better testing of quantum systems.”

Quantum computing isn’t just a research interest for Male, it’s a movement she’s starting at UNC-Chapel Hill. Spotting an opportunity on campus, she and a friend founded the university’s first quantum computing club, turning vision into action.

“I expected maybe five people at our first meeting, but nearly 50 showed up,” she recalls.

Male believes quantum computing’s appeal lies in its potential to reach far beyond physics, touching finance, health care, cybersecurity, and countless other fields. “Quantum computing could one day even help solve world hunger by optimizing agricultural systems, developing more sustainable fertilizers, and enabling the design of resilient crops,” says Male, who plans to work in consulting before applying to grad school. “The possibilities are endless — and that excites me most.”