In Fall 2023, UNC Asheville students utilized their senior seminars to translate arthritis programs, apply economics to climate change solutions, publish a podcast on diversity in the classroom, use computer science to support small businesses, evaluate inclusivity of outdoor recreation programs, and more.
Finding time for research on top of class work, jobs, and campus involvement is hard, but students are consistently designing research projects across campus. Why? Five senior seminar students answer below.
Last semester, you might have found health and wellness major Estefany Flores walking the track weekly with 11 local community members. Flores utilized her senior capstone to lead the “Walk with Ease” Arthritis program for the first time in Spanish, helping local Hispanic community members reduce their arthritis pain. Before walking the track, Flores spent hours translating in preparation.
“I want to make sure they're getting all the health benefits they can get out of this program. I worked extra hard to make sure I was translating as much information as I possibly could,” said Flores. “It's so rewarding to see the impact that it's making on the Hispanic community and to be that person to break that language barrier. Being involved in my community really makes me feel so good about myself.”
Flores was not alone in this hefty project. Collaborations with Student Affairs, Student Health Ambassadors, Communication and Marketing, the Career Center, and the local YMCA, are a few of the many supporters of Flores’ program.
She taught each participant the five basic walking patterns: warm up, stretch, walk, cool down, and stretch again. At first, these movements could be unfamiliar and uncomfortable, but by the end, community members told Flores they were walking more comfortably by applying the patterns. Implementing these methods were helpful for participants in managing multiple health conditions like inflammation, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.
After graduating in December 2023, Flores says this research sticks with her.
“I want to become more involved with the community, and I want to help people, especially with their health. This has really opened those doors for me to give me a feel of what it's like. And it just made me even more passionate about it. I know all the health education information that I have translated is going to be beneficial to future bilingual leaders or even fully Spanish-speaking leaders.”
While many would expect climate research to come from the environmental studies department, two economics students, Dylan McBridewood and Felipe Ahumada, approached climate resiliency from an economics perspective last fall.
“My work contributes to accurately pricing climate risks within municipal bonds, potentially leading to increased financing costs in flood-prone regions and reduced costs in safer areas,” said McBridewood. “Such insights are vital for making more informed investment decisions and guiding urban development towards areas with lower risk. Ultimately, this research aligns financial incentives with the goal of enhancing climate resilience.”
The economics department requires students to complete a research project within two semesters, and McBridwood says this opportunity sparked his passion for pursuing municipal finance.
“This experience has not only solidified my interest in this field but also equipped me with practical skills and knowledge that I'm eager to apply in my future career,” said McBridewood. “The project has been a perfect alignment with my goals, and I'm looking forward to continuing work in this area.”
Senior economics major Felipe Ahumada took a different research route and applied economics to the prestigious McCullough Fellowship, which focuses on conservation, land use, and environmental resiliency. Ahumada, along with the four other students selected, partnered with a community organization and faculty member to construct an applied research project that impacts the community.
Ahumada’s project, “Evaluating Inclusivity and Access to Outdoor Recreation in Western North Carolina and Exploring Equity in Trail Maintenance Volunteer Work," found many ways to make outdoor spaces more equitable.
“Whether by offering a ride to a friend, or taking someone you know who never has engaged in outdoor recreation for the first time, we can all do our part in trying to diversify and make the outdoors and outdoor spaces more equitable,” said Ahumada.
This opportunity solidified his decision to pursue graduate school.
“It is awesome that in our economics department we have the opportunity to work on our own research projects, and the McCullough Institute really prepared me to take on an economic research project,” said Ahumada.
Mass communication major Lauren Boyle worked with her senior seminar class and Anne Slatton, a mass communication assistant professor, to publish a podcast about diversity in the classroom. The podcast was titled “UNCA Identity, More than a Four Year Institution” and can be found here.
“Our senior seminar project was an accumulation of various skills learned through our time in the mass communication department,” said Boyle. “One of the benefits of mass communication is there are many avenues you can follow within the degree. Because of this, while we have all taken the same courses for our major, we’ve been able to strengthen our different skill sets depending on how you approach the classes.”
Boyle says the class blew Slatton’s mind every day. Seminar students used public relations, marketing, video, advertising, and website skills to explore alternative identities outside of the traditional four year university path.
“One of the core reasons we chose to embark on a multimedia project was to highlight our different skill sets, learn from each other, and continue to build on ones we weren’t as confident with,” said Boyle. “We all had our specific roles on the team, but there was tons of intersecting communication and collaborative work between all of us—allowing a great environment for us to engage with each other’s differing perspectives and approaches.”
As a transfer student, Boyle identifies as a nontraditional student and was inspired by giving a voice to the wide range of people on campus. Now, after graduating in December, Boyle plans to use her mass communication skills to help start a non-profit advocating for affordable housing.
Computer networking allows devices to share information and resources within a business environment, but computer science major Eric Dunbar says small businesses do not have the time to learn all the intricacies of computer networking. His application leverages network automation to remove this burden.
“This application handles the security side of computer networking and makes sure that everything runs properly,” said Dunbar. “It ensures that you're not going to have this instance where you configure something and then everything goes down.”
The computer science capstone pushes students to design and build a project for two semesters. In other words, students learn to produce an efficient product in a relatively short time period.
“One of the great things about the capstone is that part of our grade is based on how much of the project is additional research we’ve done outside of class,” said Dunbar. “That really pushes you to go learn something outside of what you've been taught.”
Dunbar graduated in December and now works full time as an information systems engineer at Georgia Tech Research Institute and he plans to begin a masters program there next fall.
“I want to eventually transition over to doing computer networking full time, because it's an area that I've been really interested in for a while now,” Dunbar said.
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