When Lauren Gullett ’20 applied to colleges, Carolina wasn’t even close to the top of her list. The Charlotte native wanted a small school to serve as a home away from home, and Carolina didn’t seem to fit that bill. It wasn’t until she looked into the Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program that her perspective on Chapel Hill changed.
“The reason I decided on Carolina was because of the Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program,” Gullett said. “It’s a small community within Carolina, and Carolina is huge. I liked how going in I would already have a family.”
The program supports high-achieving students interested in STEM. Scholars begin their Carolina career the summer before their first fall semester, when they connect with their faculty mentors and cohort peers, whom Gullett describes as “some of my best friends.”
As a graduate of the North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics, Gullett has had a lot of exposure to the STEM fields. She explored dozens of Carolina’s STEM majors before settling on neuroscience, on the pre-med track. She will be in one of the first few classes graduating with that degree.
These days, Gullett spends many of her afternoons in the research lab at Carolina’s Institute of Trauma Recovery as part of a partnership with the Office for Undergraduate Research. She helps collect and analyze data on post trauma experiences of sexual assault survivors to gain a better understanding of the recovery process after trauma exposure. She hopes to one day conduct her own research on the intersection of race and mental health, and its effect on the individual’s physical health. .
Gullett credits her success to the support provided by the Chancellor’s Science Program, and thoroughly thanks all who have made and continues to make the program possible.
“It’s more than just the money,” she said. “It’s the people in the program, the mentors, tutors and peers, who are making sure you are doing well and doing the most you can to be successful.”
In February 2019, the University announced that the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust has pledged a $5 million grant to support the Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program, provided the University raises an additional $10 million in matching gifts by the end of 2023. To learn more or make a gift, contact Amberly Hendel at 919.843.5285/[email protected].
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