Student Life

The University Transition Opportunities Program (UTOP) is using Crowdfund UNC Charlotte to help even more students kick start their UNC Charlotte experience through the program’s Participant Fee Assistance Scholarship.

There are several ways to define a first-generation college student. Whether they’re the first in their family to attend college at all or the first to attend a four-year institution to attain a bachelor’s degree, there is no denying that first-generation students encounter unique experiences different from fellow students with family who can help them navigate college life.On Friday, Nov. 8, UNC Charlotte will celebrate its first-gens by joining other colleges and universities across the country in recognizing National First-Generation College Students Day.

UNC Charlotte doctoral student Tony Martin aims to teach at the college level after completing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. To better prepare him for the future, he decided to pursue a Post-Master’s Certificate in University and College Teaching.

Each August, UNC Charlotte kicks off the academic year by welcoming new and returning students to campus with a week of programming called Gold Rush (formerly Week of Welcome). Gold Rush begins Friday, Aug. 16, with the Union Takeover at 7 p.m. and will run through Sunday, Aug. 25, with the National Pan-Hellenic Council Yard Show.

Housing and Residence Life will welcome nearly 6,000 students, including 2,956 first-years, to campus during this year’s Move-In, scheduled for Friday, Aug. 16, through Sunday, Aug. 18.In order to manage traffic flow on campus and in residence halls, residents are assigned Move-In times between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.As a reminder, there will be increased traffic on campus during this time, and faculty and staff are encouraged to plan accordingly when entering/exiting campus, especially on Friday.

A team of architecture students, led by School of Architecture faculty members Chris Jarrett and Peter Wong, has received an Honorable Mention in the 2019 Timber in the City: Urban Habitats Competition presented by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

When Jackson Poulnott, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering technology, learned that young girls with limb differences wanted prosthetic hands with removable fingernails so they can change their nail color, he set out to make that happen. He is one of more than 100 undergraduate students who will present their research Friday, July 26, at UNC Charlotte’s Summer Research Symposium.

A student team from UNC Charlotte’s William States Lee College of Engineering won the 2019 American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) National Student Innovation Contest recently held near Washington, D.C.

Civil engineering students Michael Murray, Bryan Moreno and Nathan Lindholm swept the competition, taking first place in the Entrepreneur Category, winning the Audience Award and being named the top team overall.

The halls of the NASA Langley Research Center are usually filled with leading researchers and top engineers, working on projects related to aeronautics and exploration. However, on one day each year, bright aspiring teachers fill the oldest NASA field center as honored guests. Parks Drake, a student in the UNC Charlotte Cato College of Education, toured the center this year, as one of only 13 students in North Carolina to be awarded the STEM Pre-Service Teacher Education Scholarship.

Lauren Austin ’18 Ph.D. and Amanda Burmeister are the 2019 recipients of the Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Awards, presented by the UNC Charlotte Graduate School to recognize outstanding research and scholarship by a doctoral student.