Research News

Patricia Kelley, Geography and Geology, and co-PI Gregory Dietl, Cornell University, received $119,999 from NSF for "REU Site: Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Biodiversity Conservation."

photo at left by Scott Simmons: Student participants in the field school in archeology at Lamanai, Belize.

 

 

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Technology, Socioeconomics and Status Among the Maya

Undisturbed Maya ruins along the New River Lagoon in Belize brought anthropologist Scott Simmons to Lamanai to direct the Maya Archaeometallurgy Project in 1999. To date, just 20 percent of this massive site has been excavated. Simmons' work focuses on the relationships between metalworking, especially copper production, and socioeconomic differentiation and interdependence among the Maya. read more...

 

Racism and Tourism in Cartagena, Colombia

Of Cartagena's approximate one million inhabitants, about 60 t0 70 percent are Afro-Colombian. While tourism attracts wealthy visitors and tourist-driven currency to the area, the city's black population has not benefited. Seventy percent of the city's Afro-Colombians live in poverty, defined in Cartagena as making less than $2 USD a day. Dr. Christopher Dennis asserts that "full exercise of citizenship and benefits of belonging have not been totally achieved by Afro-Colombians, who continue to be subjected to daily, often subtle and trivial forms of racism." read more...

 

The Economic Impact of Global Warming on the North Carolina Coast

Two side effects of global warming, increasing sea levels and more intense hurricanes, may potentially impact North Carolina's coastal economy, according to economist Christopher Dumas. Even a one-foot increase in sea level could move the shoreline along many beaches inland by as much as 100 feet. read more...

 

In the Space Between Worlds, Yixen Chen Gleans Lessons for the Future

In 1970, at age 16, Professor Yixen Chen was one of 17 million young intellectuals "sent down" from the city where he had lived with his parents to be "re-educated" by the peasants of Laoqu. "Mao believed that urban youths in schools had long been educated by bourgeois ideas and needed to reform their minds under the guidance of a social class whose communist consciousness he trusted," said Chen. read more...

 

UNC Wilmington Helps Tackle Obesity Prevention

A national report ranks North Carolina as the 14th heaviest state, with 63 percent of the population either overweight or obese. An estimated 14 percent of all preventable deaths in North Carolina are related to poor diet and physical inactivity. read more...

 

Research and Scholarship Archive:

 

2006: Understanding Violence

"We know violence exists everywhere, but we don't understand how to affect it," says Elizabeth Demski, facilitator of the UNC Wilmington Violence Research Group, a group of faculty with common interest in violence research. Members compile and share local data to extract valuable information for each of their disciplinary fields. read more...

 

2006: Learning with Laptops

Research suggests that when students have access to personal computers they are more motivated to learn and academic achievement increases. Drs. Tracy Hargrove, Kathy Fox and Kathleen Roney of the Watson School of Education conducted an external review of the North Carolina 1-2-1 Program, which provides children with laptops throughout the school day. read more...

 

2006: Stopping School Violence

Dr. Caroline Clements has a big job: she serves as project evaluator for a $9.5 million Safe Schools/Healthy Schools federal grant awarded to the New Hanover County Schools. Not to mention that she serves as director of the Center for Teaching Excellence. Not to mention that she's been known to teach classes on top of everything else. read more...

 

2006: A Teacher's Commitment

As a special education teacher in her native Iran, Dr. Mahnaz Moallem strived to become a better teacher. This dedication led her to further her education in Iran and later in the states, and it was what drives her research in instructional methods and technology. "I am deeply committed to human development, and fortunately my work has allowed me to pursue this passion," said Moallem. read more...

 

2005: Republic of Egos: A Social History of the Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) excites ongoing interest because of its ideological scope and its supposed anticipation of World War II. Michael Seidman offers a different vision of the war and revolution. read more...