{"id":55871,"date":"2023-01-08T20:55:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T01:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=55871"},"modified":"2023-01-08T20:55:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T01:55:58","slug":"meet-the-mccullough-fellows-at-unca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/lifestyle\/meet-the-mccullough-fellows-at-unca\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the McCullough Fellows at UNCA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

(From left) Andrea Clark, Addison Wright, Owen McDonald, Ari Puentes<\/p><\/div>\n

By Emma Castleberry<\/p>\n

The McCullough Fellowship at UNC Asheville supports students in gaining practical skills through applied research projects in Western North Carolina in the areas of land use and conservation, sustainable agriculture, and environmental resiliency. The program was established in 2015 by Leslie Casse and her parents, Shirley Anne and Charlie McCullough. The university named the fellowship in honor of her father for his service to Asheville as a physician, volunteer and environmentalist. \u201cWe wanted students to be able to obtain professional experience in what is a very big part of Asheville\u2019s economy while enabling them to bring these values and mindset into the work they do in college and beyond,\u201d Casse says.<\/p>\n

The two-step selection process for the fellowship is highly competitive. \u201cThis is an amazing opportunity for undergraduate students. They learn academic and professional skills that usually they are not gaining until graduate school,\u201d says Alison Ormsby, director of the McCullough Institute.<\/p>\n

This year, four fellows have worked with a faculty advisor and a representative from a community partner organization to develop an applied research project. Andrea Carver<\/strong> is an international studies major slated to graduate in 2023 with a double minor in legal studies and human rights, as well as a certificate in sustainability. Carver\u2019s fellowship project, \u201cBird Conservation through Lights Out Asheville,\u201d will work to implement the Audubon Society\u2019s \u201cLights Out\u201d program locally in an effort to protect migratory birds. \u201cSmall behavioral changes such as simply turning lights off from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. have such a positive impact on our natural environment,\u201d says Carver. \u201cThe avian or bird population aren\u2019t the only beneficiaries from this simple action, but humans benefit as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addison Wright,<\/strong> a double major in mass communication and political science, is working with the Food Justice Planning Initiative to conduct research and analysis on communication around food work in Western North Carolina. As part of her project, \u201cApplying Theories of Communication to Food Justice in Western NC,\u201d she helped lead a social event for far west farmers with the Collaborative Agriculture Network (CAN). \u201cFrom this research, I have found a passion for community-partnered research and reporting\u2014collaborating to create a platform for community members to tell their own stories,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Fellow Owen McDonald<\/strong> is graduating in 2024 with a degree in mechatronics engineering. For his fellowship project, \u201cEV Planning: Charger Where?,\u201d he is working with Land of Sky to create an algorithm for optimizing the locations of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, which will in turn help identify what cities are well-equipped for the EV shift. \u201cFellowships like the McCullough Fellowship play a crucial role in connecting students with staff and a community organization in need of research,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Biology major Ari Puentes<\/strong> is conducting a project titled \u201cUsing Citizen Science to Study the Impact of Prescribed Fires on Fungi in DuPont State Recreational Forest, NC.\u201d Puentes\u2019 study found that recently burned areas \u201chad higher diversity and more species of mycorrhizal fungi\u2014the fungi that form mutualistic symbioses with trees\u2014than unburned areas.\u201d The fellowship has solidified Puentes\u2019 love for research and made him confident about his decision to pursue graduate school. \u201cI truly feel like this fellowship set me up with the materials required to develop and succeed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

To learn more, visit McCullough.UNCA.edu<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The McCullough Fellowship at UNC Asheville supports students in gaining practical skills through applied research projects in Western North Carolina in the areas of land use and conservation, sustainable agriculture, and environmental resiliency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":55875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,57,103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-lifestyle","category-sustainability"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the McCullough Fellows at UNCA - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The McCullough Fellowship at UNC Asheville supports students in gaining practical skills through applied research projects in Western North Carolina in the areas of land use and conservation, sustainable agriculture, and environmental resiliency.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/lifestyle\/meet-the-mccullough-fellows-at-unca\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the McCullough Fellows at UNCA - 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