Diversity Highlights
Diversity & Student Success Featured Scholars
Explore participant scholars from all the DSS initiatives.
Carolina Grad Student F1RSTS Featured Scholar – Jade Bruno
Jade Bruno is a second-year master’s student in the School of Information and Library Science, and her plans are to graduate in May 2021. She is also the graduate president of the Information and Library Science Student Association and an elected senator with the Graduate and Professional Student Federation. She has a bachelor’s degree in ...
Initiative for Minority Excellence Featured Scholar – Jason M. Maher
Jason M Maher, a master of public health student, received his bachelor’s degree in music from Duke University. As an undergraduate, he was active in the Duke Symphony Orchestra, Duke Chamber Players, and Duke Afro-Cuban Percussion Ensemble, among other groups. A year after graduating, he was invited to serve in the U.S. Peace Corps, where ...
Military-Affiliated Grads Featured Scholar – John Comparetto
Colonel (Retired) John Comparetto, a doctoral student in mathematics, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from New York University, his master of business administration degree from Columbia University, and his master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. After being commissioned in the U.S. Army Reserve, he volunteered for ...
Global Grads Featured Scholar – Ai Ye
Ai Ye is a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience and a master’s student in statistics and operational research. She received her master’s degree in education from UCLA and her bachelor’s degree in engineering from Wuhan University in Hubei, China. She moved from southern China to the United States in 2012 to pursue her graduate ...
Global Grads Featured Scholar – Guan Wang
Guan Wang is a doctoral student in applied developmental science in the School of Education. She is originally from northeastern China and received her bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Peking University. Her master’s degree, from the University of Pennsylvania, is in interdisciplinary studies in human development. In addition to pursuing her doctoral degree, she is ...
Carolina Grad Student F1RSTS Featured Scholar – Steven Houang
Steven Houang is an MSPH-to-PhD student in health behavior within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and is a member of The Graduate School’s Royster Society of Fellows. A Taiwanese American immigrant from San Francisco, he received his undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary science from The New School for Social Research. What made you choose ...
Military-Affiliated Grads Featured Scholar – Laura O’Malley
Sergeant Laura O’Malley is a doctoral student in education, specializing in school psychology. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Temple University and her master’s degree in school psychology from Millersville University. She joined the U.S. Army Reserve in June 2018 and currently serves within the 254th Quartermaster Company in York, Pa. In the ...
Initiative for Minority Excellence Featured Scholar – Joseph Leshin
Joseph Leshin, a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience, was adopted and raised in Los Angeles. He went to college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where “I realized I could study what had fascinated me as an adolescent: human emotions.” He completed three summer research internships on emotion as an undergraduate. Following ...
Initiative for Minority Excellence Featured Scholar – Isa Cruz
Isa Cruz is a doctoral candidate in anthropology and a member of The Graduate School’s Royster Society of Fellows. Originally from Mexico, she received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Latin American studies from California State University, Chico. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the Purepecha people. “I hope that my work can serve to define ...
Military-Affiliated Grads Featured Scholar – Joseph Biddix
Joseph Biddix, a student in UNC-Chapel Hill’s online Doctor of Nursing Practice program, has received two bachelor’s degrees from Carolina. While pursuing his bachelor’s degree in nursing, he was accepted into the U.S. Navy Nurse Candidate Program and, upon graduation with highest honors, was commissioned into the Navy. A lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Nurse ...