BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.2//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:14@researchweek.unc.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T170000 DTSTAMP:20260824T200315Z URL:https://researchweek.unc.edu/events/undergrad-research-study-abroad-fi eld-sites/ SUMMARY:Undergraduate Research with Study Abroad and UNC Field Sites DESCRIPTION:Join the Study Abroad Office and Office for Undergraduate Resea rch to learn how you can do research via Study Abroad or through one of Ca rolina's field sites.\n\nThis will be a virtual event. This is a Campus Li fe Experience event.\nSpeakers\n \;\n\n\n\nRachel Nobel\nDepartment of Environmental Sciences and Engineering\, Institute of Marine Sciences\, U NC IMS Morehead City Field Site\, Institute for the Environment\n\nDr. Nob le conducts research in both public health and ecosystem health\, using mo lecular tools and integrated approaches combining ecology\, health\, and d iagnostics. She is an experienced project manager working in pathogen diag nostics across multiple sectors\, including wastewater surveillance\, wate r quality\, food safety\, and built environment targets to improve public health and wellness. A hallmark of Dr. Noble’s research is innovative ap proaches to improve utility and speed to results. Works in the wastewater surveillance space includes pathogen diagnostics for emerging pathogens of concern. Dr. Noble is dedicated to community engagement\, workforce devel opment\, and training in applications for molecular tools.\n\n\n\n\n\nChri stine J. Trinidad\nSenior Director for Programs and Advising\, Study Abroa d\n\nChristine J. Trinidad is a strong proponent of education abroad with over fifteen years of experience in higher education and the profession of international education. She has served in multiple capacities on the stu dent services side of education abroad and has held multiple positions\, f irst at UC San Diego as peer advisor\, office manager\, and study abroad a dvisor\, then to provider education abroad advisor at St. Edwards Universi ty\, and finally at Michigan State University as Assistant Director for Ed ucation Abroad Support services. She received her undergraduate degree fro m the University of California\, San Diego in Political Science and Ethnic Studies and received her Master’s degree in Education with a focus on P ostsecondary Leadership from San Diego State University. She spent a year at the University of London\, School of Oriental and African Studies in th e United Kingdom that inspired her to enter the profession of internationa l education.\nSince 2006\, Christine has made it her professional goal to improve the student experience (from first point of contact to return) and has made it her personal mission to reach out to diverse and underreprese nted populations.\n\n\n\n\n\nRada Petric\nInstitute for the Environment\, Highlands Field Site\n\nRada Petric is a field biologist with broad intere sts in animal behavior\, neuroendocrinology\, and conservation. Specifical ly\, her research interests focus on how external and internal stimuli alt er individual behaviors and the potential consequences of those changes. D uring her graduate studies\, she examined how the androgen hormone testost erone influenced spatial preference and communication using free-living an d monogamous California mice as the study model. She also worked on a seco nd project examining the effects of human-made noise on the behaviors of n ative deer mice. As a postdoctoral researcher\, Rada was assessing the eff ects of natural and restored wetland on biodiversity and how urbanization pressures with concomitants pollution may alter bat species presence and a ctivity. Using non-invasive methods\, such as acoustics and video imaging\ , she can address interdisciplinary questions related to conservation and animal behavior. Rada believes that when we gain a better understanding of animal behaviors\, we enhance our ability to address pressing conservatio n issues\, especially those related to the preservation of threatened or e ndangered species and their environment.\n\n\n\n\n\nSusan Cohen\nInstitute for the Environment\n\nSusan Cohen has been the associate director of the Institute for the Environment at UNC Chapel Hill since 2018. Prior to com ing to IE\, she worked for the federal government for more than 20 years\, first at the USDA Forest Service\, Southern Research Station (Research Tr iangle Park\, North Carolina) and later for the Department of Defense at M arine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in eastern North Carolina. Cohen’s experti se is in adaptive management across southeastern ecosystem types\, with a focus on coastal forests and marshes. She particularly loves working in sy stems adapted to fire. Her work has always tried to bring solutions for en vironmental problems that challenge managers and natural resource professi onals charged with stewardship\, conservation\, and restoration. She focus es on taking basic science and bringing it to end-users to bridge the crit ical gap between research and management. Cohen also served in the U.S. Pe ace Corps as a forestry extension volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 1992-1995. Her favorite tree is the amazing longleaf pine!\n\nCohen stood up the Carolina Drone Lab in 2019\, which incorporates the use of remote sensing\, in particular drones\, to understand and monitor ecosystems from new perspectives. In addition to leading research initiatives (like using drones to study marshes in Currituck Sound or infested hemlock trees)\, t he Lab helps groups establish drone programs and trains new pilots.\n\nIn addition to her research\, Cohen works with campus partners on the Carolin a Tree Heritage Program\, taking the oldest and most important heritage tr ees that come down on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and turning them into fur niture. Sales of items support student internships.\n\n\n\n\n\nLindsay Dub bs\nInstitute for the Environment\, Outer Banks Field Site\, North Carolin a Renewable Ocean Energy Program\, Atlantic Marine Energy Center at the Co astal Studies Institute\n\nLindsay Dubbs is a research associate professor for the Institute for the Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a dual appointment at the Coastal Studies Institu te at East Carolina University. She is a biogeochemist and ecosystem-scale ecologist whose research focuses on the influence of energy and nutrient dynamics on microalgae\, macroalgae and microbes in terrestrial\, coastal and nearshore marine ecosystems.\n\nDubbs is the director of the Outer Ban ks Field Site (OBXFS)\, a place-based semester-long program for undergradu ates focused on multidisciplinary approaches to the sustainable management of coastal resources offered by the UNC Institute for the Environment and hosted by the UNC Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese\, North Carolina. At the OBXFS\, Dubbs co-leads the group research project (capstone)\, tea ches an ecology class and lab\, and organizes a community immersion semina r for the program.\n\nFor the Coastal Studies Institute\, Dubbs is the ass ociate director of the NC Renewable Ocean Energy Program (NCROEP) and an a ssociate director of the Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC)\, a U.S. Dep artment of Energy National Marine Energy Center. Dubbs leads environmental assessment and permitting aspects of the NCROEP\, where her research focu ses on Gulf Stream ecology and ecological observations characterizing envi ronments where marine energy developments may be installed. She also organ izes the annual Research Symposium for the NCROEP. For AMEC\, Dubbs contri butes to the stakeholder engagement project focused on making connections among marine energy stakeholders\, creating exchange between them and deve loping relevant research to support the marine energy sector and coastal c ommunities.\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://researchweek.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/ 2026/08/009326_CGL_Australia0307.jpg CATEGORIES:Office of Undergraduate Research,Study Abroad,Virtual Event LOCATION:https://unc.zoom.us/j/93866876046 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR