BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:284@researchweek.unc.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251020T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251023T130000 DTSTAMP:20251029T172325Z URL:https://researchweek.unc.edu/events/hettalks-2025/ SUMMARY:Het Talks: Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Schol arly Achievement presentations DESCRIPTION:Enjoy presentations by this year’s recipients of the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Scholarly Achievement. The talks will provid e an engaging look into these distinguished early career scholars’ work. The late Phillip Hettleman\, a member of the Carolina class of 1921\, and his wife Ruth established their prestigious named award in 1986 to recogn ize the achievements of outstanding junior faculty.\n\nCheck out all of th e Hettleman Winner's Presentations throughout the week:\n\nHet Talks: Sara h Cohen and Alex Zhukovitskiy\nHet Talks: Lindsey James and Angel Hsu\nHet Talks: Marissa Hall and Kathryn Leech\n\n\nThese are virtual\, CLE Credit events.\n\n2025 Hettleman Winners\nSarah Cohen\, Cell Biology and Physiol ogy\, School of Medicine\nCohen\, a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehen sive Cancer Center\, is creating a better understanding of brain health by studying the interactions of organelles — subcellular structures like n uclei and mitochondria that perform specific jobs in cells. Her work focus es on organelle dynamics and fatty acid trafficking in and between cells\, particularly in the context of the central nervous system.\nHer lab uses cutting-edge multispectral imaging and computational tools to visualize an d quantify these interactions in real time\, revealing how disruptions in lipid trafficking contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer ’s and Parkinson’s. To do this work\, Cohen and her team developed a v ersatile fluorescent toolkit that allows researchers to visualize dynamic membrane contact sites between organelles. These tools have been widely ad opted by labs around the world\, accelerating discoveries in cell biology. \n\n\n\nLindsey James\, Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry\, Eshelma n School of Pharmacy\nJames\, a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center\, is a trailblazer in chemical biology and her research foc uses on understanding and controlling gene expression — how genes are tu rned on and off — something that plays a key role in many illnesses\, in cluding cancer. She does this by designing special molecules that can eith er block the activity of or break down the proteins responsible for contro lling gene activity.\n\nOne of her major achievements is creating new tool s that can target and eliminate harmful proteins that were previously cons idered “undruggable.” These proteins are often involved in cancer\, an d by removing them\, James’ work opens the door to new kinds of treatmen ts. Her lab has developed several of these tools\, including one that can destroy a specific cancer-linked protein.\n\n\n\nMarissa Hall\, Health Beh avior\, Gillings School of Global Public Health\nHall\, a member of the UN C Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center\, is transforming how we understa nd and influence health behaviors through policy. Her research focuses on how product labeling\, marketing\, and availability shape consumer choices \, especially around tobacco\, alcohol\, and food. She uses experimental m ethods to simulate real-world purchasing environments\, and her work has d emonstrated that pictorial warnings and front-of-package labels can signif icantly reduce the consumption of products like sugary drinks and cigarett es.\n\nCurrently\, Hall leads NIH-funded studies on alcohol warning labels \, exploring how stronger\, more visible warnings can inform consumers abo ut risks like cancer. Her research also addresses how labeling policies af fect populations with limited English proficiency\, a group often overlook ed in public health communication.\n\n\n\nAlex Zhukhovitskiy\, Chemistry\, College of Arts and Sciences\nZhukhovitskiy is reshaping the landscape of polymer chemistry through a concept he helped define: polymer backbone ed iting. He leads a research program that reimagines how polymers — long c hains of repeating molecular units — can be transformed at their core. H is lab focuses on three major areas: skeletal editing of polymer backbones \, supramolecular engineering of entanglements\, and the development of ne w mechanisms for controlled polymer synthesis.\n\nZhukhovitskiy’s work o n skeletal editing allows chemists to insert\, delete\, or rearrange atoms within the backbone of a polymer\, fundamentally altering its identity an d properties. His team’s development of novel chemical reactions to conv ert one class of polymers into another enables the creation of materials t hat were previously inaccessible. In parallel\, his group has devised meth ods to precisely control entanglements — mechanical connections between polymer chains — using supramolecular chemistry and has innovated new ca talytic strategies for building nitrogen-rich and semiconducting polymers. \n\n\n\nKathryn Leech\, School of Education\nLeech investigates how everyd ay conversations between adults and children shape early language\, litera cy\, and STEM development. Her work spans observational studies in authent ic environments\, experimental research to uncover causal mechanisms\, and the design of innovative interventions that empower families to support t heir children’s learning.\n\nLeech’s research reveals that the quality of adult-child interactions plays a more critical role in children’s de velopment than the quantity. Her studies have shown that decontextualized language — references to past or future events and explanatory dialogue — are linked to stronger vocabulary\, narrative skills\, and scientific reasoning in young children. Her work is funded by an NSF CAREER award\, w ith additional support from NIH and from partnerships funded by the Gates Foundation.\n\n\n\n2023 Hettleman Winner\n\nAngel Hsu\, Public Policy\, Co llege of Arts and Sciences\nAngel Hsu applies data-driven approaches to ev aluate climate and environmental policy\, primarily at the state and local levels. She leads The Data-Driven EnviroLab\, frequently calling upon oth ers from different disciplines to collaborate on research.\n\nCollectively \, her work has been influential in shaping the research agenda among thos e studying global climate governance and developing the quantitative appro aches used to assess the impact and performance of subnational and non-sta te actors.\n\nIn his nomination letter for Hsu\, Daniel P. Gitterman\, Dun can MacRae ’09 and Rebecca Kyle MacRae Professor of Public Policy\, says \, “Hsu has made important theoretical\, substantive\, and methodologica l contributions to climate policy. Her research is highly visible and infl uential\, and her trajectory and future promise are highly positive. Her c ontributions to research\, teaching and service at Carolina are exemplary. ”\n\nHsu’s work has been published in several leading journals\, inclu ding Nature\, Environmental Research Letters\, and Climate Policy\, contri buting novel research in ways that are indicative of her status as a leadi ng scholar in global environmental policy and her engagement in timely pol icy debates.\n\nHsu earned an MPhil in environmental policy from the Unive rsity of Cambridge and a doctorate in environmental policy from the Yale S chool of Environment. Following her PhD\, she served for two years as a po stdoctoral associate with the Urbanization and Global Change Group at Yale University. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://researchweek.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/ 2025/07/het-talks-web_main-2025-hettleman.jpg CATEGORIES:CLE Credit Event,College of Arts and Sciences,Eshleman School of Pharmacy,Featured Event,Gillings School of Global Public Health,Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research,School of Education,School of Medicine,Virtual Event LOCATION:# END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR