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Intergenerational discussions about ethics, prevention of human trafficking and UNC Campus EMS services were just some of the efforts recognized at UNC-Chapel Hill’s 24th annual University Public Service Awards on April 11, 2023. Nine Carolina faculty, staff, students and organizations were recognized for outstanding contributions to the campus and broader communities.
Chris Hall ’23 took a low point in his life and turned it into something positive, all in memory of his mother, Lynn, who died of triple negative breast cancer in 2018 at age 47. With a head for business and a drive to help others, Hall is working with the North Carolina Basnight Cancer Hospital to help fund a Parenting with Cancer Clinic through the hospital’s Comprehensive Cancer Support Program.
CCSP provides support to patients and their families, from diagnosis to treatment and into survivorship, and its goal is to help families just like Hall’s.
Hall, a business major who graduated in spring, has already put his business savvy to work, amassing more than $1.5 million in sales from his online enterprises, monetizing advertising on his social media channels and selling those for a profit — all to keep a promise he made to his mother when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“She was declared in remission when I was in eighth grade, and it sparked a little fire,” he said. “It made me think a little bit. I promised myself that I’d pay off her mortgage before I’m 25.”
After his mother passed, Hall wanted to find a way to repurpose his goal. He created the Lynn Hall Parenting with Cancer Clinic Fund to honor her.
The clinic’s mission is twofold: 1) to help cancer patients with minor children talk to their children openly and honestly about their cancer; and 2) to help with legal issues that can accompany cancer, such as end-of-life decisions, wills, trusts and custody agreements.
“Putting your affairs in order does not mean giving up hope. It’s a gift to your family to have a plan. Rather than worrying about what might happen, patients can have peace of mind that their families will be taken care of,” said Cindy Rogers, director of patient assistance at CCSP.
“Chineka is a wonderful, hardworking and deserving employee,” wrote one of the many people who nominated residence hall housekeeper Chineka Stanley for a C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award. “She is always here, bright and early.”
“Bright and early” is especially fitting, given that Stanley typically arrives before her student residents wake and lifts their spirits with a personality that shines.
Employed by UNC-Chapel Hill for nearly five years, Stanley maintains and cleans the Lewis and Everett residence halls off Raleigh Street, not far from the Coker Arboretum. She transforms the residential spaces each day with careful attention and hard work to ensure everything is in good shape and to care for the residents.
In addition to being a positive presence for students, Stanley also supports her fellow housekeepers by filling in for others when they are unable to come to work. During the pandemic, she took on extra work as other housekeepers left their jobs, and she banded with coworkers to advocate for better wages.
The C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award recognizes Carolina employees each year who have unusual, meritorious or superior contributions to the campus community. It is one of the most prestigious distinctions available for faculty and staff. Winners are selected through a campus-wide nomination process, and each winner receives a $10,000 stipend and an award citation. Among Stanley’s nominators were 37 of the buildings’ current and former residents and four resident advisers.
“I do think that most housekeepers get overlooked,” said Stanley. “For someone to even notice my work, it means a lot. So, to be nominated and to actually win this award just for being myself and doing what I like to do is huge.”
SAS is partnering with the UNC Center for Galapagos Studies to apply crowd-driven artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help protect endangered sea turtles.
Through an app called ConserVision, citizen scientists are invited to match images of turtles’ facial markings to help train a SAS computer vision model. Once the model can accurately identify turtles individually, researchers will have valuable information more quickly to better track each turtle’s health and migratory patterns over periods of time. The goal is that in the future the model can perform facial recognition on any sea turtle image, whether it comes from a conservation group or a vacationing tourist.
In addition to sea turtle facial recognition, SAS will partner with the center on two other projects: identifying hammerhead shark patterns and predicting phytoplankton populations change over time.
“For over 10 years, the Galapagos Science Center has hosted exceptional scientists doing innovative research that increases our understanding of the environment and results in positive real-world outcomes,” explained UNC-Chapel Hill Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Penny Gordon-Larsen. “This innovative public-private partnership with SAS will enhance the center’s capacity for analyzing data that will positively impact both the environment and the people who inhabit these magnificent islands.”
“As our challenges as a global community get increasingly more complex, we need dynamic ways to access and use information to ramp up conservation efforts,” said Sarah Hiser, principal technical architect at SAS. “By using technology like analytics, AI and machine learning to quantify the natural world, we gain knowledge to help protect ecosystems and tackle climate change.”
