Associate lecturers Lucy Schultz and Catherine Meeks Quinlan are two driving forces behind UTC’s growing environmental studies minor, an interdisciplinary field that examines human interactions and the environment. These include the effects of human societies on the natural world and the role that environments—both natural and built— have played in shaping human cultures.
Alum Sunny Fleming maps out a plan for a career in GIS
UTC’s Interdisciplinary Geospatial Technologies Lab hosted for GIS Day, a workshop for users of GIS technology to demonstrate real-world applications that are making a difference in society. The event featured special guest Sunny Fleming—a UTC alum and environment lead at Esri.
UTC alum conducts unique research on widely used ‘forever chemical’
Elizabeth Plunk, who graduated from UTC in 2019 with a degree in biology, is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Rochester in New York.
Planting data points: Use of technology stokes ecology lab research
In late September, Associate Lecturer Monica Miles brought two Ecology Laboratory 3070 classes to Reflection Riding to help map the nature center’s invasive species removal efforts—one lab section focused on winter honeysuckle, the other on Oriental bittersweet.
UTC NAACP student chapter to be honored for service to Chattanooga
The UTC National Association for the Advancement of Colored People student chapter has been selected for the 2023 Viola Mapp Membership Ruby Hurley Image Award from the Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP.
Mission about Mars: UTC geologist presents ideas during NASA workshop
Early this semester, UTC Assistant Professor of Geology Ashley Manning-Berg was one of 32 early-career scientists selected to participate in a NASA workshop at Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C., for what she called “an intense week coming up with ideas of how to look for life on Mars.”
Micromanagement: Research aims to find, remove plastic particles in Chattanooga’s water
Dr. Jejal-Reddy Bathi and a team of other faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students are researching ways to determine the exact amounts and types of microplastics—plastics broken down to their smallest state—in the water of the Chattanooga metro area. The research also explores ways to filter out microplastics, which are usually carried into water supplies through stormwater drainage.
UTC grad credits biology professors, pre-health staff for optometry school inspiration
Ashely George graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in May 2023 with a degree in biology, but her academic journey is far from over—thanks to her plans to attend optometry school.
Cleaning, painting, helping: UTC students take part in United Way’s Day of Caring
UTC students volunteered to participate in the United Way of Greater Chattanooga’s Day of Caring on Sept. 22, going to Brown Middle School, Hixson Middle School and the Chattanooga Zoo and—among other jobs—painted, cleaned up brush and dirt, chunked building scrap into dumpsters, sprayed weeds in school vegetable gardens and brushed spiderwebs off ceilings.
Less painful, less scary: UTC researchers looking for better way to screen for cancer
A team led by UC Foundation Professor Steven Symes in the Department of Chemistry and Physics and UC Foundation Professor Sean Richards in the Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science is testing whether blood samples can be used to screen for endometrial cancer.