October 15, 2013
As part of the festivities around the installation of Chancellor Carol Folt, Dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor Kristen M. Swanson, PhD, RN, FAAN, moderated an academic panel on Innovation and Impact. Joining her were assistant professor Cheryl Giscombé, PhD, MSN, RN from the SON, assistant professor Zeynep Tufecki from the School of Information and Library Science, and associate professor Will Vizuete, PhD, from the Gillings School of Global Public Health.
The panel focused on fostering new ideas. Some of the themes discussed included following curiosity from one discipline to another and how ignorance of the impossible is a great way to solve problems. It was even suggested that we should choose our life’s work based on what we think about in the shower.
All of the panelists discussed how the research environment at UNC-Chapel Hill is helping them to move their research forward. “Here are UNC-Chapel Hill, team science has become the name of the game,” said Dr Giscombé. “Luckily, the National Institutes of Health and other funding bodies have come to the same conclusion.”
For more on interdisciplinary approaches to researching our atmosphere, developing culturally relevant research goals, and how Twitter saves lives, click the video below to watch the whole panel.