The History of UNC Research

Environmental education and research have deep roots at Carolina, but a lot has changed since the natural sciences came to campus almost 200 years ago. Environmental study at UNC has evolved into a hotbed of research, education, and community outreach.

UNC began treating blood disorders in 1947 — setting the stage for major breakthroughs in hemophilia and HIV.

For more than a century, UNC researchers and libraries have collected millions of southern artifacts and documents — making Carolina a hub for the study of the American South.

From the shores of New Jersey to the North Carolina coast, Pete Peterson has always loved the ocean. He’s spent nearly five decades researching its marine life, fighting for its protection, and guiding the next generation of marine scientists to do the same.

How the UNC Highway Safety Research Center changed America’s driving behavior — saving lives and making our roadways safer.

The Carolina Population Center is in it for the long haul. The 52-year-old institution leads data-driven studies that span decades, enriching population research across the world.

We’re highlighting Elizabeth L. Kemble, founding dean of the UNC School of Nursing. After becoming dean in 1950, she recruited faculty, oversaw construction of a building and dormitories, and even handpicked the first class of students.

From the first astronomical observatory on a college campus, to the first planetarium in the South, to one of the first administrators at NASA, UNC scientists have long been connected to and inspired by the night sky.

When Fred Sanger figured out how to sequence DNA in 1975, the world changed — and so did UNC. Since its founding in 2000, the UNC Department of Genetics has grown to include 80 faculty, who have taken the world of research and medicine by storm.

Early childhood education can have benefits over the course of a lifetime — benefits made evident by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute’s Abecedarian Project researchers, who have spent the past 45 years following up with their original research subjects.

UNC’s computer science department laid the groundwork for 3-D computer-generated graphics and continues to push the boundaries of virtual environments today.

Alice Ammerman is a powerful force for nutrition research and community-based health promotion. By establishing relationships with community partners and making an effort to understand the context of community health, she aims to form lasting connections and accomplish real change.

The Odum Institute, the first social science research center in the world, has trained and supported hundreds of researchers specializing in everything from anthropology to city and regional planning to public health for the past 95 years. And it all exists thanks to the determination of one eccentric man.

How an unexpected discovery transformed the world and made Morehead, Venable, and Kenan household names at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The major political events of the 1960s set the stage for the founding of the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, which forever changed education research and practice.