Dr. Hill Craddock stands among American chestnut tree saplings in the Fortwood Street Greenhouse. Photo by Angela Foster.

The first American chestnut tree Dr. Hill Craddock ever saw was one he grew himself.

He was about 15 years old, working out of a small greenhouse his father built beside their home. A neighbor gave him a handful of chestnut seeds and suggested Craddock try growing them. 

Craddock followed the instructions he found in a gardening book, storing the seeds in the refrigerator to mimic winter conditions before planting them. Months later, something took root.  

“The tree in my dad’s yard got very large, eventually about two feet in diameter and maybe 40 feet tall,” Craddock said. “It got blight, which killed it back to the ground.” 

When he planted it, it was just an experiment. It didn’t stay that way. 

More than four decades later, Craddock, now a UC Foundation Robert M. Davenport Professor of Biology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, is part of a team whose work was published in Science, one of the world’s leading scientific journals. 

The paper, “Genomic approaches to accelerate American chestnut restoration,” shows a major step in a decades-long effort to restore a species that once dominated forests across the eastern United States. 

“It really is the culmination of 30 years’ work,” Craddock said about the publication. 

The American chestnut’s disappearance is one of the most significant ecological losses in North American history. The fungal disease was first identified in New York in 1904. 

“It was a forester who noticed that the trees at the Bronx Zoo were dying,” Craddock explained. “He collected some samples and sent them off and nobody knew what was killing them. Nobody had ever seen anything like that. The trees in the Bronx Zoo were a hundred years old, giant trees.” 

By the 1930s, the blight had spread to Chattanooga. Within a few decades, billions of trees were dead. 

“It’s difficult for us to imagine the scale and the scope of the disaster,” Craddock said. 

While the species has not vanished completely, it fell into the category of “functionally extinct,” he said. Root systems survive underground, sending up shoots that grow before dying from the same disease. 

Over time, the cycle had prevented the trees from reproducing in a way that would sustain the population. 

“There’s been a cycle of sprouting and blighting over the last hundred years or so,” he said. 

The research published in Science is part of an effort to change that outcome. Using genomic tools, scientists are working to identify and breed trees with stronger disease resistance. 

Craddock’s work starts at the very beginning. 

“My main contribution is growing the plants,” he said. “When the genetic engineers or genomics experts need the plant, they would come to me to get it.” 

It involves collecting plant material, cloning trees and carefully controlling conditions so researchers can track how different varieties respond to infection. For one phase of the study, Craddock and his team monitored changes in the trees before and after exposure to the fungus, capturing their responses at the molecular level. 

The results pointed to the same solution. 

“It’s complicated,” he said. 

Instead of one gene flipping the switch, resistance comes from hundreds of genes working together. Some are always active and others kick in when the tree is under stress. The complexity slowed progress, but it’s also why newer genomic tools are making such a difference. 

These tools are used by the next generation of researchers, who have also found a passion for the American chestnut through their work alongside Craddock. 

Alex Harb (left) and Zach Anderson in the Fortwood Street Greenhouse.

Zach Anderson, a graduate of both the bachelor’s and master’s in environmental science programs at UTC, now serves as the southern regional science coordinator for the American Chestnut Foundation. 

Anderson is responsible for coordinating research and breeding efforts across multiple states. 

“Basically, I kind of oversee the science of the south,” Anderson said while working at the Fortwood Street Greenhouse on UTC’s campus. 

That involves managing large trials designed to compare how trees perform under different environmental conditions. 

“This is a common garden study because we’re trying to tease out environmental factors such as sunlight, temperature and rain variation,” he explained. “We tease out those variables and then we get the data to make selections.” 

The selections are heavily guided by genomic data, allowing researchers to identify promising trees earlier and move them into the next stage of breeding more quickly. 

“Based on the genomic tools … we can predict which ones have the most resistance and not even inoculate them at all,” he said. 

Anderson first encountered the tree in class. 

“It wasn’t even a tree that I was aware of,” he said. “It wasn’t until Dr. Craddock’s dendrology class when he mentioned he was having some volunteer days.” 

Over the next few years, he went from a volunteer to a leadership role in regional research. 

“I fell in love with the tree and fell in love with the people,” Anderson said. 

Alex Harb is also a graduate of both UTC programs. He started as a volunteer and now spends much of his time working in the greenhouse as a plant waterer. 

“Well, that’s the official job,” Harb said with a laugh. “It’s more of do whatever Dr. Craddock says.” 

During the summer, the work becomes constant. 

“It is every single day, seven days a week,” he said. 

The day-to-day tasks like watering, moving plants and helping with trials are repetitive, but it’s what the research and restoration depend on. 

“I’ve always really liked plants and trees,” Harb said. “Then I took some of Dr. Craddock’s classes and he gave the whole spiel: ‘Oh my gosh, American chestnuts, they’re the best tree ever.’ 

“Then I came up here, volunteered, and now I’m here every day. And I don’t regret it.” 

Dr. Hill Craddock, a 30-year faculty member at UTC, stands with Alex Harb outside of the greenhouse.

Learn more

Visit UTC

UTC Biology, Geology and Environmental Science

How to apply

ABSN student Marvin Garagan participates in VR simulation in the Metro Annex. Photo by Angela Foster.

When students in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program put on virtual reality headsets this summer, they are stepping into a new kind of clinical learning.

Thanks to a High Impact Practices Grant from the UTC Walker Center for Teaching and Learning, ABSN students are piloting virtual reality simulation in two College of Nursing clinical courses focused on introducing immersive scenarios in maternal-newborn and pediatric care.

The pilot is the first time the college has used VR simulation in this way. Faculty say it is aimed at a simple challenge: giving students more consistent practice in a program that moves fast and depends on limited clinical placements.

“One of the biggest factors with us, especially in the accelerated program, is that we’re limited on time,” said Assistant Professor of Practice Savannah Kelley. “The students have a year to complete all of their clinicals and experiences before they’re licensed. And we really want our students to be able to feel confident going into the clinical setting and have as many hands-on experiences as they can.”

For Kelley and Lecturer Katie Parker, the appeal of VR was not that it could replace hospital experiences. It was that it could help fill in the gaps that naturally come with them.

As examples, they explained that students may arrive at a clinical site on a slow day and a particular patient situation may not present itself. Or one student may get a chance to see or do something that another student in the same group never encounters.

“Yesterday, two students were able to see a C-section,” Kelley said. “Two students were able to give a specific medication or practice a specific nursing skill like an IV placement, but not all the students can do that.

“With this VR sim, we can do that. They all have the same experience.”

Kelley and Parker selected the specific scenarios with intention. Rather than simply letting students browse through the platform’s large library, the faculty members chose cases they believed would be most useful, especially situations students may be less likely to encounter during a limited run of hospital clinicals.

“We can ensure everyone has seen a postpartum hemorrhage,” Parker said. “Everyone has seen an asthma exacerbation.”

That consistency matters even more in the accelerated program, where students complete the same clinical requirements as those in the traditional program, but in a much shorter time.

From left: Elise Hart, Assistant Professor of Practice Savannah Kelley, Yayla Blodgett-White and Lecturer Katie Parker.

The UTC ABSN program requires 59 credit hours over three semesters, with 21 credit hours dedicated specifically to hands-on clinical settings. Clinicals generally involve 12-hour shifts, multiple days a week, and immerse students in Chattanooga-area hospitals and clinics.

The program admits a new cohort each fall, spring and summer.

“We have the same clinical requirements as the traditional,” Parker said. “It’s not that we’re doing less clinical hours. We just do them in less time.”

The Walker Center grant funds $1,980 in UbiSim student licenses for about 20 second-semester accelerated nursing students enrolled in NURS 3155, Maternal-Newborn Clinical, and NURS 3165, Pediatric Clinical. The College of Nursing simulation lab is providing headsets at no additional cost to the grant.

UbiSim is an immersive VR training platform built specifically for nursing education.

The project includes small-group use, faculty-facilitated debriefing and a three-part structured reflection designed to track how students’ clinical reasoning develops across both courses.

Kelley said the VR format includes the same required elements as traditional simulation, including preparation, debriefing and reflection.

Parker said traditional simulation usually requires a faculty member to be present with a set group of students at a set time. VR opens the door for a more flexible model, especially once students become more comfortable with the technology.

“This can happen kind of asynchronously, which works well in the rapidity of this program,” she said. “This allows for a bit more flexibility within the somewhat inflexible schedule they have.”

Faculty members are still helping students with the technology as the pilot gets underway. The longer-term goal is to allow students to sign up for available times and complete assigned scenarios on a schedule that fits around the rest of their coursework.

Kelley said the pilot addresses a gap in maternal-newborn and pediatric training because placement availability in both specialties is among the most limited in the Chattanooga region. VR simulation, she said, gives every student standardized exposure to critical scenarios regardless of patient census or site access.

Parker said the platform helps reinforce the order in which students should assess and respond to patients.

“You can’t give a medicine until you scan their armband and confirm the patient and then scan the medication and all the things,” she said.

That kind of repetition, she explained, helps students build habits early.

“They don’t have muscle memory to do all these things by habit,” Parker said. “Every time they recreate that pathway of doing the things in the proper order, doing a proper procedure, that helps ingrain that in their brain.

Parker said she was really impressed with how realistic the simulation felt when she tried the VR headset.

“The IV medication, when it’s running, you can actually see it dripping,” she said. “You can see the pump running. You can feel their pulses. You can hear their heartbeat.”

Kelley pointed to a detail that stood out to her.

“You can shine a pen light into the patient’s eye and it responds like we do in a real assessment,” she said.

Both said the goal is not to impress students with the technology. It is to give them more chances to practice clinical judgment before they enter the workforce.

“Ultimately these students are going to be nurses,” Kelley said, “and this is such a practice-based profession.”

She said more hands-on practice can help students develop clinical judgment and feel more confident before they graduate.

Dr. Kristen Singletary, clinical associate professor and ABSN program director, said she saw the value right away when Kelley and Parker brought the idea forward.

“I was so excited,” Singletary said. “I love the opportunity for them to get to try new things and explore ways to bring clinical judgment to our students.”

She said the timing also made sense because the College of Nursing’s new Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building, scheduled for completion in 2027, will include a room designated for VR simulation.

“What better time to start than now to figure out how to best use that room,” Singletary said.

She also tied the pilot to a broader reality facing nursing programs: growth in enrollment does not automatically translate into increased clinical site availability.

“We’re committed to the growth of the ABSN program, enrolling more students, turning out more nurses,” she said, “and as we do that, that comes with less clinical site availability. So we’re just trying to find ways to supplement clinical hours and to teach our students clinical judgment in a safe environment.”

Singletary said the pilot could help the college make smarter decisions before that dedicated VR space opens in the new building.

“There’s no way to put a value on that,” she said.

“I think the sky’s the limit,” Kelley added. “We could make it grow and we could use it in all of our programs.”

A UbiSim virtual reality nursing scenario shows a patient in a hospital bed as two virtual clinicians provide care in a simulated exam room.

Kelley and Parker said they began thinking through the idea as they looked for sustainable ways to strengthen student learning within the limits of time, scheduling and clinical access. After attending presentations by previous Walker Center grant recipients, they believed their proposal fit the kind of innovative teaching project the center wanted to support.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do this without it,” Singletary said of the grant.

If the summer pilot produces strong results, Kelley said UbiSim licensing could eventually be built into future ABSN program fees, making the grant a one-time University investment rather than an ongoing funding need.

Faculty members plan to collect and analyze outcome data through UbiSim’s AI Narrative Analysis, present findings at the Walker Center grant symposium this fall and pursue opportunities to share the work at a national nursing simulation conference and in a peer-reviewed journal.

Kelley said students complete written reflections after orientation and early sessions, and many have already expressed excitement about the VR experience.

“Not everybody who tried it had put on a VR headset,” Kelley said. “That’s probably the biggest barrier in starting something like this: how comfortable you feel with the technology. They all caught on pretty well.”

For Singletary, that kind of structured exposure is another way to provide students with a safer place to learn.

“It allows them to actually think through ‘What do I need to assess, what do I need to know about my patient, what actions do I need to take,’” she said.

Learn more

UTC College of Nursing

Nursing News

ABSN Degree Program

Visit UTC

How to apply

Chattanooga has no shortage of things to do. 

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library is making it easier for students, faculty and staff to explore all the city has to offer. 

Through the Chattanooga Passport program, members of the UTC community can check out passes to some of the area’s most popular attractions, including the Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga Zoo, Ruby Falls, Chattanooga Theatre Centre and Chattanooga Football Club. 

“We’re a community-engaged University,” said Katie Gohn, collection services department head in the UTC Library. “We want students to get out and experience Chattanooga.” 

Gohn said the program grew out of the library’s ongoing efforts to support student wellness and create opportunities for engagement outside the classroom. 

“We know that a lot of our students—and faculty and staff—may not have extra money laying around to take advantage of all the cool things the community has to offer,” she said. 

The campus community can reserve passes through the UTC Library and check them out at the circulation desk using their Mocs ID. Depending on the attraction, passes may include admission for families, groups of friends or individual performances and events. 

Current Chattanooga Passport offerings include: 

• Audubon Acres Pass: Admission for up to two adults and four children. 
• Chattanooga Football Club (Student Pass): Admission for up to five students. 
• Chattanooga Football Club (Faculty/Staff Pass): Admission for two adults and up to four children. 
• Chattanooga Symphony & Opera: Admission for up to two adults and four children. 
• Chattanooga Theatre Centre: Admission for up to four individuals. 
• Chattanooga Zoo Pass: Admission for up to two adults and four children. 
• Hunter Museum of American Art: UTC students can purchase a discounted annual membership for $15, which provides unlimited admission for one year. 
• Paradise Garden: Admission for up to four adults. 
• Ruby Falls Pass: Admission to the Cave Walk to Ruby Falls for two adults and two children. 
• Tennessee Aquarium Pass: Admission for two adults. Additional guests are subject to standard admission fees. 
• Tivoli Theatre Foundation: Admission for up to two individuals. 

Gohn said many of the organizations involved immediately saw value in helping connect UTC students, faculty and staff with experiences throughout Chattanooga. The partnerships benefit both the University and the community by introducing new audiences to local arts, culture, recreation and entertainment opportunities. 

“Some of them are giving hundreds of dollars of passes a month in order for people to be able to do these things,” she said. “I think it shows a nice community commitment to what we’re trying to do.”

Learn more

Chattanooga Passport

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Marisa Colston. Photo by Angela Foster.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Professor of Graduate Athletic Training and Exercise and Health Sciences Marisa Colston has received the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association (SEATA) Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award, one of the organization’s highest honors.

The award recognizes certified athletic trainers in District IX who have demonstrated exceptional and sustained service to SEATA and to the athletic training profession. Eligibility requires at least 11 years of certification while living or working in District IX and at least 15 years of professional service. Nominees are evaluated on their contributions to SEATA through leadership, committee work, conference involvement and other service to the profession.

Colston, who joined the UTC faculty in 1999, has held a series of leadership roles during her time on campus. She served as director of the Graduate Athletic Training program from 2001 to 2014, then served as head of the Department of Health and Human Performance from 2016 to 2024. She was also an associate department head for a year to support the department’s leadership transition.

Along the way, Colston has earned national, regional and state recognition for her work. Previous honors include the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award, induction into the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society (TATS) Hall of Fame, SEATA and TATS educator-administrator awards and Eastern Michigan University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

UTC Professor Gary Wilkerson nominated Colston for the honor.

“Over the past 25 years, we have worked together very closely in the development and continual improvement of the Graduate Athletic Training Program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga,” Wilkerson said in his nomination letter. “Throughout the time I have known her, I have observed an exemplary commitment to the best interests of students, athletes and the athletic training profession that has never wavered.”

Wilkerson said Colston’s influence has extended well beyond campus. He pointed to her leadership in promoting high standards for clinical competence and professional ethics at the national level, as well as her long record of service to the profession.

Colston said the SEATA honor is meaningful because of what it says about the work and the people around her.

“It’s a privilege,” she said. “It’s the highest award that the association offers. So it was a privilege to be nominated by Gary. I appreciate his recognition of the things that I do and try to do. But it has to go through a rigorous rubric. It’s not a given when you nominate someone for this.”

When she learned she had been selected, Colston said, “I was just thrilled. I didn’t expect that at all.”

Colston’s research has focused on injury prevention through predictive modeling and on the ethical and professional dimensions of athletic training. Her professional leadership roles have included serving as vice president of TATS and chairing the TATS Professional Education Committee and the SEATA Professional Education Committee.

Colston said she has never viewed awards as the point of the work.

“If it brings positive recognition for the program, it’s nice,” she said. “I want students to know that faculty here aren’t going to corral you through like a number. You’re going to have somebody who has made contributions to the profession and is well-connected in the profession, and who will build a relationship with you that extends beyond your two years in the program.

“Faculty here will help you get a job, help you with opportunities, help you with decisions you have to make, and hopefully become a lifelong colleague. So to me, it’s more about that. Certainly, we always appreciate recognition, but you don’t do the things that you do for the recognition.”

One of those former students is Dr. Lynette Carlson, who earned her master’s degree in athletic training from UTC in 2002 and is now an associate professor and director of clinical education for athletic training at UTC.

“Dr. Colston said to me at graduation, ‘You’re going to go get your doctorate, right?’” Carlson recalled. “I thought it was absurd that she said that, but she did plant that seed in me. She was the first one to ever say that to me, and it meant a lot because I thought a lot of her—and she’s a fantastic educator and a great mentor.”

Carlson said Colston’s influence continued well beyond graduation and helped shape her own professional path.

“She’s done a lot for the profession,” Carlson said. “Outside of Chattanooga, she’s volunteered at every level of our organization, from the state level to the national level, and she set a really good example. I’m glad she showed us that’s what an involved athletic trainer should do.”

That kind of long-term impact is one reason Colston said students remain at the center of what has kept her engaged through the years.

Asked what has kept her motivated, Colston answered quickly: “Students. The students.”

In addition to teaching graduate athletic training courses, she now also teaches undergraduate classes, which has allowed her to connect with students earlier in their academic careers and discuss professional paths in athletic training and related health fields.

Colston said she is also energized by rapid advances in neuroscience and AI, as well as the chance to remain engaged in research.

“It’s all very exciting to me,” she said.

Learn more

UTC Graduate Athletic Training Program

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Max Jordon (sitting with laptop computer), Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu and mechatronics major Austin McDade demonstrate a pneumatically powered balance board. Photo by Angela Foster.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Research Institute is launching the Biomechatronics in Healthcare Initiative, a cross-campus research effort designed to organize and expand collaborative work in engineering, computer science and healthcare.

“UTC already has significant expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, rehabilitation, human performance and digital health,” said Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Mina Sartipi. “The Biomechatronics in Healthcare Initiative provides a framework for bringing those strengths together, supporting student researchers and expanding collaborative projects that can lead to advances in healthcare technology.

“With more than 40 healthcare-related projects completed over the past five years—including collaborations with Erlanger, Siskin and other regional healthcare partners—we already have strong momentum in this area. This initiative builds on that foundation and advances UTC’s strategic research priorities by fostering interdisciplinary innovation and creating new opportunities for external funding, industry collaboration and healthcare impact.”

The initiative brings together more than 10 faculty members from four colleges, making it one of UTC’s most multidisciplinary research efforts. Led by Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu, Department Head and Professor of Engineering Management and Technology and Director of the Biomechatronic and Assistive Technology Lab, the initiative is designed to connect technical innovation with clinical and human-performance expertise to address emerging challenges in healthcare.

UTC is making an initial institutional investment of about $130,000 to support the initiative’s startup efforts.

“Since joining UTC, I have worked closely with the healthcare field as an engineering faculty member,” Kaplanoglu said. “We are developing devices such as prosthetics and orthoses while also exploring opportunities to apply artificial intelligence in healthcare. This initiative gives us a chance to work more closely with local hospitals and respond to needs we see in the community.”

Departments and faculty members include:

• Engineering Management and Technology: Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu
• Electrical Engineering: Dr. JW Bruce
• Computer Science and Engineering: Dr. Yu Liang
• Mechanical Engineering: Dr. Ron Goulet
• Physical Therapy: Dr. Nancy Fell, Dr. David Levine, Dr. Max Jordon, Dr. Ashley Schilling, Dr. Frank Tudini
• Athletic Training: Dr. Jenny Hogg, Dr. Lynette Carlson
• Nursing: Dr. Brooke Epperson
• Data Analytics: Dr. Monireh Rahmati

The mix of disciplines is central to the initiative’s purpose. The goal is to connect technical development with clinical, operational and human-performance perspectives so that research teams can address healthcare challenges ranging from AI and digital healthcare systems to wearable robotics and rehabilitation technologies to clinical integration and human performance.

“If students are looking for a research group in this area, they want to see this type of structure in place,” Kaplanoglu said. “This initiative can help create that path for master’s and doctoral students and make it easier to bring more students into the work.”

Learn more

UTC Research Institute

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Saeid Golkar is a faculty member of the Department of Political Science and Public Service. Photo by Angela Foster.

In a world that’s constantly changing, where verified information is at a premium, experts must share their knowledge on topics that require context, perspective and nuance.

At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, two faculty members are using their expertise to educate the public and advise policymakers on a complex and evolving conflict in the Middle East.

For Dr. Saeid Golkar and Dr. Annie Tracy Samuel, the region isn’t a random part of the globe; both have deep ties to it and see public scholarship as part of their responsibility.

Golkar, a UC Foundation associate professor of political science, was born and raised in Iran and later moved to the United States to pursue a career as a professor and researcher.

Tracy Samuel, an associate professor of history, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Israel.

“I am Jewish,” Tracy Samuel said, “and I certainly feel a responsibility to have my voice be heard, given how difficult that is for many people—especially at this time. I want to use my voice and my position in service of the cause of justice, peace and putting an end to conflicts that have caused far too many deaths and far too much destruction.”

Golkar used the Japanese term “ikigai” in reference to his work and family, which translates to “a reason for being.”

“My intellectual ikigai is helping people to achieve their dream of freedom, dismantling dictatorships, collapsing dictatorships everywhere around the world, for me and more importantly in my country and in the region,” Golkar said.

College of Arts and Sciences Dean Pam Riggs-Gelasco highlighted the importance of their work.

“With the current war in Iran, both Dr. Golkar and Dr. Tracy Samuel are being contacted by international government agencies, foreign media outlets and think tanks to provide important historical and political context to the conflict,” Riggs-Gelasco said. “Their expertise has a worldwide impact.”

Both have published extensively on Iran and the Middle East.

Golkar’s first book, “Captive Society: The Basij Mobilization and Social Control in Post-Revolutionary Iran,” was published in 2015 and won the Washington Institute Silver Medal.

He recently published his second book, “Dictators and the Higher Education Dilemma: State Power and the University in Modern Iran,” which examines how authoritarian regimes try to incorporate higher education into their toolkit for maintaining political order.

“I’m trying to write mostly for two reasons,” Golkar said. “First, to inform public audiences about what is happening, what happened, what we are doing wrong and what we have to do. The other part of it is for people who are shaping policy, like Congress, the State Department and intelligence organizations.”

Tracy Samuel’s book, “The Unfinished History of the Iran-Iraq War: Faith, Firepower, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,” gives historical context to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps by using the Iran-Iraq War as a focal point.

Dr. Annie Tracy Samuel is a faculty member of the Department of History.

She emphasized the importance of historical context when discussing current events in the region.

“The war with Iran is incredibly complex and it requires analysis from a variety of angles,” Tracy Samuel said. “For me as a historian, I think it’s really important to get a historical perspective because we really can’t understand relations between Iran and the United States and the current conflict without looking to the past.”

She said historical perspective is often missing from public discussion, even though it is essential for understanding U.S.-Iran relations and the broader regional conflict.

Both also meet with government policymakers to lend their expertise.

Tracy Samuel is president of the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Policy Council and has presented her work at the Middle East Studies Association, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and the American Historical Association.

Tracy Samuel has also participated in policy briefings for a wide variety of government agencies in the United States and other countries and said it’s encouraging that decision-makers want to hear from historians and political scientists.

“I have found that people in government … know that policymaking is about the near future, and they want that academic perspective to help them think about the long term and better guide the decision-makers,” she said.

Golkar has similarly spoken with the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, as well as the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and United Nations-related bodies.

He also serves as a senior advisor to United Against Nuclear Iran, a senior fellow at the Middle East Forum, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a senior associate fellow at the Center for Middle East and Global Order.

“The whole idea is how we can make sure that the United States has a better policy, a more informed policy about the Middle East,” Golkar said.

When media requests come in, the two experts take different approaches.

Tracy Samuel has been featured on The Hill, Lawfare, CNN, The Atlantic and ABC News, where she provides historical context on current events.

“I try to select the interviews that I do carefully,” she said, “and to focus on ones that are looking for that kind of historical expertise and context, that also really focus on the specific things that I study—which are Iran’s military and the Iran-Iraq War—and look for that to put this in a broader context.”

While Tracy Samuel uses a more judicious interview selection process, Golkar takes a different approach.

“I try to say yes to any media who come to me,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter and it takes a lot of my time, honestly. I interview in the middle of the night when my kid and my wife are asleep and then in the morning with a different one, because I want other people to think about the policy.”

Golkar said he wants media appearances to push audiences to question whether policy decisions were effective and what consequences they produced.

Asking questions is why Golkar was interested in political science: the ability to understand and communicate issues. He said he was drawn by a desire to understand why Iran and other countries in the region struggle politically and economically. He later taught at universities in Iran before being fired for views critical of the government.

Because the Iranian state controls the universities, if someone is fired by one institution, they can no longer teach at another. Golkar eventually secured a postdoctoral research position at Stanford University, describing himself as “lucky.”

Tracy Samuel was in Israel in June 2025 when an armed conflict between Iran and Israel began. She was planning to conduct research and visit family and was scheduled to fly back to the U.S. on the second day of the war, before flights were canceled.

She recalled the time as “terrifying.”

“It was really mind-blowing,” she said. “In terms of just finding myself in the middle of the thing that I study, without planning to be in the middle of it.”

Golkar explained that his goal when speaking with anyone about the subject is to be honest.

“An Italian historiographer said, ‘Impartiality is a dream, honesty is a beauty,’” Golkar recalled. “I really believe that. I’m not impartial … I hate dictatorship. I hate anybody who supports this kind of regime. The regime that killed 40,000 of its own people in two days is not normal.

“There is no justification for the event. But at the same time, I try to be honest. I try to say what they did well, what they did badly, but the media is very, very polarized and I can tell political science is polarized too.”

Tracy Samuel explained that her passion for history stems from curiosity about the world around her and a desire to positively shape the present.

“I am someone who is profoundly motivated by justice,” Tracy Samuel said. “I am absolutely motivated by a desire not to see armed conflict and not to see people die; that’s something that I have held and continue to hold regardless of my personal experience.

“I think that comes from a humanistic place, and my interest in history has always been guided by how history can inform the present. I’ve always been interested in history for its own sake, to help us understand the past, but also in using the past to understand the present.”

Learn more

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of History

Department of Political Science and Public Service

Visit UTC

How to apply

UTC placed first in the tug-of-war competition. The team included Ashton Kelley, Shannon Stone, Mackenzie Allen, Michael Johnson, Ashton McLeod, Gerry Pacitti and Chris James.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga made its debut at the Chattanooga Corporate Challenge June 4 through June 6, competing alongside 21 other organizations in a weekend of events that drew nearly 2,000 participants. UTC placed third in the overall standings.

UTC competed in Division III, bringing just over 90 registrants across the weekend’s events, marking a strong first showing for the Mocs and a great foundation to build on in the years ahead. 

The Challenge opened on Thursday, June 4, with Trivia Night at the Finley Stadium Ultra Club. Competition continued Friday at Southside Social, where UTC fielded two bowling teams. 

The main event took place Saturday at Finley Stadium, beginning with the 5K run. Wrestling coach Kyle Ruschell was the first UTC participant to cross the finish line, helping lead the Mocs to a third-place finish in participation for the race. UTC also earned 50 bonus points through several top individual finishes. 

One of the highlights of the day came in tug-of-war, where the Mocs claimed the championship in front of a large crowd of spectators. The title-winning team featured Ashton Kelley, Shannon Stone, Mackenzie Allen, Michael Johnson, Ashton McLeod, Gerry Pacitti and Chris James, whose effort and intensity delivered one of UTC’s most memorable moments of the weekend. 

UTC’s other event championships came in cornhole and the 40-yard dash. Amy Slagle and Gary Snodgrass powered through the bracket to bring home the cornhole trophy. After a review of scoring, Chris James, Kevin Rodriguez, Kaelin King and Taylor Sawyer were found to have posted the fastest 40-yard dash times. This adjustment moved UTC from fourth to third overall.      

The Mocs also turned in several runner-up finishes, placing second in the 1-mile walk, hula-hoop, and home run derby competitions. 

UTC’s social media team participated throughout the weekend, sharing content from across the competition while taking part in events. Special recognition goes to Laura Bond for helping lead UTC to a second-place finish in the social media category. 

Overall, UTC’s first venture into the Chattanooga Corporate Challenge proved to be a successful debut. To reach the overall podium—and ultimately the goal of becoming Corporate Challenge champions—the Mocs will need to grow participation even more next year. Be on the lookout for the 2027 save-the-date information and get ready to help UTC build on this year’s momentum.

Corporate Challenge photo gallery

UTC Quantum Center team members Evan Humberd, Dr. Mohmad Junaid Ul Haq and Dr. Tian Li at the CLEO Science Slam. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mohmad Junaid Ul Haq.

When Dr. Mohmad Junaid Ul Haq took the stage at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in Charlotte, North Carolina, he had 10 minutes to explain a highly technical piece of quantum research to a broad audience.

He did it well enough to finish in second place.

Junaid Ul Haq, a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Quantum Center, earned the honor in the annual CLEO Science Slam, which challenges scientists, students and postdoctoral researchers to present complex work in laser science, optics and quantum technology in a clear, engaging way.

His presentation—titled “Two Photons. One Clock.”—focused on quantum networking and timing synchronization research being done in Chattanooga using EPB’s fiber infrastructure, White Rabbit timing technology, miniature atomic clocks and time taggers.

“It was very exciting for me because I am really enthusiastic about communicating with people,” said Junaid Ul Haq, who came to UTC in August 2025. “I believe I understand the problem only as much as I’m able to explain it to people.”

The second-place finish came with a $500 cash award.

The CLEO Science Slam began with researchers submitting a three-minute video about their work. From there, five finalists were selected to present to hundreds of conference attendees, who judged them on both technical accuracy and their ability to connect with the audience.

Junaid Ul Haq said that part of the experience appealed to him.

“It’s really important for me to stand up there and explain the problem,” he said, “because we had solved a very fundamental problem.”

He also said the event reinforced something he strongly believes about science and communication: that good research should not be locked away in technical language if there is a way to help people understand it.

At the center of Junaid Ul Haq’s CLEO talk was quantum entanglement, one of the most important concepts in quantum science and not always easy to explain to a broad audience.

He found a way.

“I told the audience to think of it like two magic dice,” Junaid Ul Haq explained. “You roll one in Charlotte and I roll the other in Tokyo. Every single time these dice will match, not because there is a signal passing between them, but because they were never truly separate to begin with.”

That connection between particles, he explained, can hold even when photons are separated by long distances. But proving that entanglement exists across a network requires extraordinary timing precision.

“When we are sending these photons, let’s suppose one to Broad Street and another to 10th Street, we need to make sure that the detectors at these two places are synchronized to sub-nanosecond precision,” he said. “We needed sub-nanosecond precision to verify this entanglement.”

A nanosecond is one-billionth of a second.

That timing problem is a major challenge researchers at the UTC Quantum Center are working to solve. The team has been studying how to keep systems at separate locations aligned closely enough to support quantum networking experiments and, eventually, more advanced projects.

Junaid Ul Haq said the work involves combining White Rabbit, a high-precision timing system, with miniature atomic clocks and time taggers that record exactly when photons are detected.

The research team first used White Rabbit to synchronize the system, then explored whether atomic clocks could serve as an alternative when dedicated timing links are less practical.

Junaid Ul Haq said the atomic clock approach produced comparable results over eight continuous hours of measurement.

“The idea was to replicate an operationally relevant scenario,” Junaid Ul Haq said. “We did the tuning 12 hours before, then sent them out and started working on our experiments.”

He said that kind of progress matters because precise timing is central to quantum networking. Once synchronization is achieved, the network will be ready for quantum operations such as entanglement swapping—a protocol to transfer quantum entanglement from one pair of particles to another, even if the second pair of particles have never interacted.

Junaid Ul Haq’s faculty adviser, Dr. Tian Li, said the work reflects both strong science and an ability to explain why it matters.

“Junaid is an outstanding researcher in quantum photonics with a strong ability to connect fundamental science to practical applications,” said Li, a UC Foundation assistant professor of physics and chief technology officer for the UTC Quantum Center. “His work focuses on quantum networking, quantum control and precision timing technologies.”

Li said one of the most impressive things about Junaid Ul Haq is his “combination of technical rigor and creativity.”

“He consistently approaches challenging problems with both scientific depth and a clear vision,” Li said.

That same balance helped shape the CLEO Science Slam presentation.

“We focused on telling the story behind the science, how quantum technologies can enable advanced networking protocols and next-generation timing systems, rather than emphasizing technical details,” Li said. “Junaid did an excellent job making a highly complex topic engaging and understandable for a broad audience.”

Junaid Ul Haq said explaining the work to wider audiences is important because it helps bridge the gap between theoretical research and experimental work while giving people a clearer sense of where the technology is headed.

For Li, seeing Junaid Ul Haq succeed on that stage was meaningful.

“Watching Junaid grow into an independent researcher and effective science communicator has been incredibly rewarding,” Li said. “CLEO is one of the world’s premier conferences in lasers, optics and photonics, attracting leading researchers from academia, industry and national laboratories. Earning second place in the CLEO Science Slam is a remarkable achievement.”

Learn more

UTC Quantum Center

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Marisa Colston and Dr. Lynette Carlson at the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society awards ceremony. Photo courtesy of Dr. Lynette Carlson.

Long before Dr. Lynette Carlson joined the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga faculty, one of her professors saw something in her.

Now, Carlson, an associate professor and director of clinical education for athletic training, has been named the Jerry Robertson Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society.

“It was a great surprise,” Carlson said. “There have been a lot of really great educators on that list, so I was surprised and felt honored to be part of that list.”

The award recognizes Carlson’s work teaching future athletic trainers. It also ties together two parts of her UTC story: first as a student, then as a faculty member.

Carlson earned her master’s degree in athletic training from UTC in 2002, when post-certification graduate athletic training programs were still relatively limited. She said Chattanooga stood out because of the faculty, especially Dr. Marisa Colston.

“When I researched the program and the area, the geographical location was appealing to me,” Carlson said. “But I chose Chattanooga because of my interaction with the faculty. And one of those faculty was Marisa Colston. She was the program director, and she is who I interviewed with.”

Carlson said Colston made an early comment that stayed with her.

“Dr. Colston said to me, ‘At graduation, you’re going to go get your doctorate, right?’” Carlson recalled. “I thought it was absurd that she said that, but she did plant that seed in me. She was the first one to ever say that to me.”

About a decade later, Carlson began work on a doctorate in health sciences. Over time, Colston went from her professor and mentor to colleague and friend.

Colston said Carlson’s potential as an educator showed up during her time as a student.

“There was just something about her presence and her demeanor,” Colston said. “She really cared about everybody being elevated.”

Colston said she asked Carlson to serve as a teaching assistant in cadaver anatomy while she was still in the program.

“She was just outstanding working with her peers and helping them. For instance, she was leading them to an answer but not spoon-feeding them and giving them the answer,” Colston said. “You rarely see that in someone so early in their higher education career and their career in general.”

A certified athletic trainer since 2000, Carlson joined the UTC faculty in 2016—first as an adjunct instructor, then in full-time and tenure-track roles.

She said coming into higher education felt like a second career, but one built on years of clinical work.

“From the very beginning, I’ve always considered myself an educator because we’re always educating patients,” Carlson said. “We’re educating athletes. We’re educating coaches. We’re educating on the healthcare system and people’s injuries and so forth.”

That clinical background shapes how she teaches. Carlson remains a practicing clinician and regularly draws on those experiences in class.

“I’ll start class frequently and say, ‘This is what I saw last night at roller derby practice,’ and we’ll talk through scenarios,” she said. “I think it’s helpful for students to see how I practice and how the knowledge that I portray to them is working in the field. I think that’s a really important connection.”

Carlson acknowledged the honor felt a little early.

“I still feel young in my academic career,” she said. “Technically, I’ve only been a full-time professor for seven years. I came into education as kind of a second career.”

Students, she said, are part of what keeps the work fresh.

“They have different views,” she said. “It happens frequently that a student will ask a question that I never thought of in that way.”

Because she teaches courses that include communication and culturally competent care, those perspectives matter to her.

“I want the students’ perspectives. I want their backgrounds. I want to know their experiences,” Carlson said. “They will frequently bring up topics or questions that I never considered.”

Colston said Carlson stands out not only as a teacher but also in her work overseeing clinical placements.

“She’s the best clinical education coordinator that I’ve seen,” Colston said. “She’s just so good and gifted at that. She personally goes out to these sites. She talks with the preceptor. She observes. They just love her and the students do as well.”

Colston also pointed to Carlson’s teaching approach, including the use of graphic novels and other methods to help students think through subtle bias and inclusive care.

For Carlson, the people tied to the award made the recognition even more meaningful.

Colston wrote one of the recommendation letters supporting Carlson’s nomination. Another came from Robbie Williams, a longtime Chattanooga-area athletic trainer and Carlson’s first supervisor. Williams was also the person who called to tell her she had won.

“It was really special to get that phone call from him,” Carlson said.

She also pointed to Dr. Gary Wilkerson, one of her former professors and a current colleague, along with fellow UTC faculty members Dr. Shellie Acocello and Dr. Jenny Hogg, as important parts of her work.

“We co-teach a lot of our classes, and we help one another out with our pedagogy,” Carlson said. “We throw ideas like, ‘Oh, I think I want to do this,’ or ‘Have you done that?’ We help out one another, kind of explore and continue to have our students excel in the program.”

The Jerry Robertson Educator of the Year Award is named for former East Tennessee State University head athletic trainer Jerry Robertson, who is credited with helping establish the first undergraduate athletic training education program in Tennessee. It recognizes an athletic trainer in the educational setting whose dedication and service to athletic trainers or athletic training students reflect a commitment to learning and teaching in the profession.

Learn more

UTC Graduate Athletic Training Program

Visit UTC

How to apply

Carol Prosser sits at a gaming computer in UTC’s Esports Complex. Photo by Nathan Webb.

Over the last decade, esports has seen a dramatic rise in popularity worldwide. It has reached the point where there are now professional esports teams that compete against each other, and colleges and universities are recruiting and funding their own teams.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is no different. UTC’s own esports team officially began competing in spring 2022, playing games such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League, among others.

However, those around UTC may not even realize that they have an esports star walking around campus. Rising senior Carol Prosser is one of the world’s top female League of Legends players.

The youngest of four siblings from Connecticut, Prosser remembers always playing and being around video games, which eventually led her to her signature game.

“It was either a Game Boy or an Intelevision or a Game Cube,” Prosser explained. “There was just always something. What got me into League [of Legends] in particular was when a bunch of friends were like, ‘Oh, there’s this free game you should try. It’s a free download.’ I was like, ‘All right, cool.’

“I tried it and oh gosh, that was a bad decision,” she joked. “That’s what got me into that game in particular.”

Fast forward to today, and Prosser has seen herself rated as the highest-ranked female user for the League of Legends character, Xerath. However, she remains humble about it.

“To be fair, he’s not a very popular character with women. He’s not really a fun design. He’s just magic energy and rocks compared to the muscular men or pretty ladies in the game,” she said. “I think it’s a hard sample to say, but from what I have seen and what the ranking systems were, I am the No. 1 with Xerath.”

Prosser now calls Riceville, Tennessee, home, a small city just an hour north of Chattanooga that has “only got 700 people in it.” After taking five years off from school after graduating high school, she started her education by taking online courses through the University of Cincinnati before transferring to UTC.

It was during her time at Cincinnati that Prosser realized she wanted to pursue esports, both as a coach and a student-athlete.

“They had a League of Legends club, which also had the League of Legends esports team; I always thought it was pretty interesting,” she explained. “I wanted to play it, but I was a remote student and they wanted in-person students.

“I looked into UTC’s eSports program because I saw that they had one, but they didn’t really have a league team. I reached out to the esports coordinator, Chase (Daffron), and I asked him about it, and he’s like, ‘Oh, there isn’t really a coach right now.’ I asked, ‘What are the qualifications?’ He said, ‘Do you want to be a coach?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ and here I am. It wasn’t really the intention. I just wanted to join a crew, but I guess this works out perfectly fine, too.”

Carol Prosser stands with fellow UTC gamers in the UTC Esports Complex. Photo provided by Carol Prosser.

Prosser is currently pursuing a double major in accounting and finance in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business and is expected to graduate sometime around 2027 or 2028, “give or take.” She hopes to use her experiences and what she has learned to help people by building her own financial support business.

“I was poor all my life, but I saved up, worked really hard, paid off debts and got my first home when I was 21 as a single woman,” she said. “I know that other people can, too, if they have the knowledge, the education and the help because a lot of the time people just have vices. My business will be focused on helping people with their vices. So it’ll be more therapeutic—and then also helping them with their finances at the same time.”

UTC Associate Professor of English Sarah Einstein, an avid gamer herself, brought Prosser’s story to light and was glowing about her personality and character.

“Carol is hugely enthusiastic and she just jumps in,” said Einstein, who oversees the University’s narrative design minor. “If there is a project or something happening, I can always count on Carol to volunteer.

“I run a Discord server for the narrative design students, and somebody was asking questions about an install of this really old game that somebody is bringing back for research purposes. Carol was the one walking that person through how to make it work on her computer. When we have game jams, Carol’s there and she’ll bring people. She is exactly the sort of good campus citizen that I think exemplifies the UTC student.”

When asked about how someone of Prosser’s skill and status in the League of Legends community could improve the reputation and success of the UTC esports program, Einstein finished up the conversation with a quick and simple answer: “By winning, which fortunately she does a lot.”

Learn more

UTC Esports

Esports story archives

Visit UTC

How to apply

Jonathan McNair has taught at the University for over 20 years. Photo by Angela Foster.

While the spring 2026 semester may have just come to a close, it’s been a busy time of year for Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music Jonathan McNair.

On May 19, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Music professor traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, to hear his musical composition, “Redemption Suite,” and additional pieces performed by the Marian Anderson String Quartet.

As part of the “Face to Face” program at the Brown University Churchill House, the quartet’s performance grappled with the university’s history of slavery.

He explained that the commissioned composition deals with grief, specifically the loss of a child to slave traders, the greed of the slave traders, the shame of the victims, and ultimately a search for healing.

“We’re going to take what was broken and we’re going to try to make it whole and make it better. That’s what this music is about,” McNair said. “They also played two movements from ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd’ and ‘There is a Balm in Gilead.’ It was a powerful show.”

McNair will soon be heading back to the Northeast. On Tuesday, June 9, his composition, “These Three,” will be performed at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church in New York City as part of the On The Move! Program performed by the North/South Chamber Orchestra. The piece was commissioned in memory of Christian Sinclair Rushing, an urban designer whose love for Chattanooga helped shape downtown development.

In a letter Rushing sent to his team, he quoted 1 Corinthians 13:13, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (ESV).”

McNair wanted to incorporate the sentiment into the music.

“I thought he loved Chattanooga,” McNair said. “He loved his team. He had faith in them. He had faith that the urban center could be revitalized. He had hope for that. And those are three powerful words in a lot of scenarios.

“I wanted to write music that would capture the urban energy, also this hopeful vision and be somewhat of an elegy. There’s a lot of upbeat stuff, but then there’s also this kind of lyrical slower, and then it gets into the intensity of feeling the grief … So the music covers a lot of territory. It unites those various parts after all of that so that we end with this sort of ascending into the clouds in a peaceful way.”

While the piece is deeply rooted in Chattanooga’s history, McNair believes its impact can be felt across the globe.

“The cool thing about music, and this is true with poetry and art as well, is that even if it’s like a local thing, it can have a more global application,” he said. “It’s certainly possible for pieces of music to be tied so tightly to a particular time or event that it can be difficult to find the relevance at another time.

“However, it’s also very, very possible that it can apply to everyone. Who doesn’t need some hope? Who doesn’t need some love? Who doesn’t need to have faith that things are going to be OK?”

On Thursday, July 2, McNair’s piece, “Beachspring,” will be performed by the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera during the annual Pops on the River Independence Day celebration. The composition was commissioned for Ballet Tennessee over 20 years ago.

“It is Americana in terms of the American hymn tune, and it also pulls in elements of Native American music,” he said, describing the piece. “It’s just beautiful. It’s just nice to listen to. It gets really big and triumphant.”

The opportunity to see his music performed isn’t lost on McNair.

“It’s affirming, exciting, rewarding, fulfilling and it makes me want to do it more,” McNair said.

Learn more

UTC Department of Music

Visit UTC

How to apply

Talking to someone across the world instantly? Accessing information in seconds? Handling your banking from your living room?

In 1990, before the internet was the internet, those concepts probably landed somewhere between science fiction and, well, magic.

Quantum feels a little like that right now for a lot of us.

McKinsey & Company projects quantum technologies will grow into a nearly $100 billion global market by 2035, and investment continues climbing as governments, universities, and companies race to figure out what problems quantum technology will eventually help solve. (And if you’re new here, this earlier post explores some of those possibilities.)

Clearly, something big is happening. But if you find yourself nodding politely through conversations about quantum while wondering, “Okay, but… what’s the holdup?” you’re not alone.

Because if quantum is about to change everything, what are we waiting on?

Turns out, a major part of the answer is distance.

So, why is distance such a problem?

To be clear, quantum technologies do work. That’s an important place to start, because the issue is not whether the science is real – it is. Researchers can already send quantum information and operate small quantum networks in controlled environments.

The problem is scale. More specifically, quantum information is extremely fragile once it starts traveling over distance.

In today’s connected world, information moves constantly across cities, states, and continents in the form of “signals.” Our text messages, bank transactions, GPS directions, Netflix streams, and emails all travel through networks built to move information across long distances quickly and reliably, often through long fiber-optic cables underground as flashes of light. Those signals are generally stable, and when they weaken, we have infrastructure capable of boosting them along the way.

Quantum doesn’t work like that.

Quantum systems also use light, but the information they carry is far more fragile. Interference, environmental changes, vibration, temperature shifts, or simply traveling too far can disrupt the signal itself. And unlike traditional networks, you can’t just boost the signal once it weakens. If you try, you destroy the quantum information in the process.

Think of quantum signals like trying to carry a soap bubble across a football field during a windstorm.

The result? One of the biggest bottlenecks in the entire field. Until quantum information can travel longer distances reliably, quantum systems remain limited to smaller environments, shorter networks, and highly controlled conditions.

This is a systems problem.

So, can’t we just make the quantum signals stronger? Not exactly. Quantum is extremely finicky, and “simple” solutions tend to stop being simple pretty quickly.

It’s more complicated than that because the challenge isn’t just “fixing” an isolated piece of technology. Researchers are trying to build systems capable of moving fragile quantum information across distance without destroying it in the process – this is the hard part. .

Temperature shifts matter. Vibration matters. Timing matters. The tiniest environmental changes can determine whether a quantum signal survives.

Which is exactly why so much of this work is still happening inside highly controlled lab environments (remember, soap bubbles in a windstorm). Before quantum systems can operate across large-scale networks reliably, researchers first have to understand how to keep them stable long enough to survive the trip.

There are different approaches to addressing the distance challenge. In Chicago, for example, researchers are focused on preserving fragile quantum information itself, developing techniques designed to keep quantum signals stable for longer periods of time and across greater distances. Developing and testing these techniques still requires carefully controlled environments because quantum systems are so sensitive, but these advances are considered essential to building reliable long-distance quantum networks.

The technology is advancing, but this is still an unsolved problem. Very few places have the infrastructure, network access, technical capability, and operating conditions required to make substantial progress on challenges like this.

Eventually, quantum systems have to operate outside the lab.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) has emerged as a strategically important contributor to solving one of the field’s hardest operational challenges.

While some researchers are focused on helping fragile quantum information survive longer and travel farther, UTC Quantum Center researchers focus more heavily on the operational side of the distance challenge, answering questions like:

What actually happens when quantum systems operate outside the lab in the real world? How do researchers keep fragile quantum information stable once interference, vibration, timing fluctuations, and environmental instability become part of the equation?

UTC became the first American university connected to a commercially available quantum network through EPB’s fiber infrastructure – creating opportunities for infrastructure-based quantum research few universities are currently positioned to pursue.

One of the operational realities UTC has been actively working through is something called “polarization drift,” which is when the light carrying quantum information slowly changes orientation as it travels through fiber. Inside a lab, researchers can control those systems. But once quantum signals begin moving across real city infrastructure, something as simple as vibration from traffic or even temperature changes can interfere. Operational understanding around managing challenges like polarization drift outside the lab is still relatively rare across the field, but UTC researchers, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have developed a detailed understanding of how these environmental conditions impact live quantum systems.

Through Chattanooga’s fiber infrastructure, UTC researchers have spent years learning what keeps systems stable, where problems begin to emerge, and how to manage those challenges outside the lab.

UTC researchers have already demonstrated quantum networking between multiple connected locations across active infrastructure, proving these systems can operate under deployed conditions. But moving quantum systems into reliable large-scale operation is a very different challenge, and it’s exactly the kind of challenge UTC researchers are prepared to address.

This experience matters because solving the distance challenge requires environments capable of moving quantum systems beyond controlled research and into reliable real-world operation. Chattanooga is quickly becoming one of those environments, and UTC is uniquely positioned to help close the gap between successful demonstrations and practical large-scale quantum networking.

The race to quantum reality is on.

Solving the distance challenge starts to unlock many of the quantum capabilities we keep hearing about – stronger cybersecurity, smarter infrastructure systems, more powerful computing, and entirely new ways for information to move securely across networks.

Quantum systems do work. The challenge is making them work reliably across real infrastructure and real distance.

This is part of what makes Chattanooga so important in the quantum conversation.

Most cities do not already have a commercially available quantum network operating across real infrastructure. Most universities are not actively studying how quantum systems behave across deployed city-scale fiber environments. And most regions do not have this level of alignment between research institutions, advanced infrastructure, public utilities, industry partners, and national laboratory expertise all working within the same ecosystem.

Chattanooga does.

From UTC’s research and hands-on testing to EPB’s infrastructure and accessible quantum network, researchers are advancing their understanding of how quantum systems function in the real world. This type of operational experience makes all the difference.

Eventually, quantum will stop sounding like magic and start feeling as normal as the internet does today. The race to reach that moment is already underway. Chattanooga is pushing quantum closer to reality every day.

Learn more

UTC Quantum Center

Why quantum? Why now? And why UTC?

Visit UTC

How to apply

Malcolm Key, Sydney Banks, Clara Paulson, Ryan Conley, Kayelyn McCaslin, Megan Cooper and Delaney Holman were honored at the Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards ceremony. Photo courtesy of Jim Tanner.

Seven University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students earned honors at the Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards ceremony on May 21 for reporting, podcasting and multimedia storytelling.

The winners—Malcolm Key, Clara Paulson, Ryan Conley, Delaney Holman, Kayelyn McCaslin, Sydney Banks and Megan Cooper—were all members of either the student newspaper, the University Echo, or the communication capstone course Rising Rock, which highlights local storytelling. In ad

Banks, Paulson and Cooper each won first place for their work. Banks took home the Sports Beat Reporting Award for her work as the Echo’s sports editor. Cooper produced the Rising Rock Media Podcast, which placed first in the podcast category. Paulson received the first-place award for Photojournalism: Best Photographer.

Key, Paulson, Conley, Holman and McCaslin received second-place honors for their story “A Stadium’s Last Stand.” Posted on Rising Rock, the piece examines the history of Chattanooga’s Engel Stadium.

Department of Communication Associate Lecturer Billy Weeks explained how the two outlets work together to develop students’ storytelling abilities.

“We get editors from the Echo that come to Rising Rock and they have an opportunity to work on stories much more in-depth,” Weeks said. “They work on stories with a longer deadline. They’re not turning out news stories every week, which is what student media should do.

“We’re looking at team building and storytelling from not only a writing perspective and a photography perspective, but video and audio and social media, all of that combines together.”

Jim Tanner, lecturer and University Echo faculty adviser, attended the event with students. It was his first time attending the ceremony after serving as the faculty adviser for his second full academic year.

“I really wanted to participate and wanted to be a partner to help celebrate those kids’ work and be a part of that with them,” Tanner said. “I enjoyed it. It was a great experience.”

For rising senior Banks, the Echo and Rising Rock have both provided insight and prepared her for this moment. The communication major and Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College currently serves as editor-in-chief of the Echo and was a member of Rising Rock.

Before serving as editor-in-chief, she was the sports editor and won the award for that position.

“My award was for best Sports Beat Reporting,” Banks said. “The Echo really prepared me for that. My former editors just gave me feedback, showing me how to be a good sports writer, and really set up my entries for that category for success. A lot of people in Rising Rock are also part of the Echo and work with others in class who are in both.

“It’s just one of those things where you draw skills from your editors in the Echo, but you also draw skills from Rising Rock.”

A 2025 graduate, Cooper received her second Golden Press Card Award in as many years.

Her work through UTC’s online radio station, The Perch, led her to Rising Rock. But the communication major and criminal justice minor said she didn’t want to be a journalist until taking the course with Weeks.

“Rising Rock really gave shape to what kind of reporter I want to be,” Cooper said. “I never really jibed with the breaking news cycle or putting a microphone in a victim’s face. I actually had some people tell me I would never be a good communicator or I chose the wrong major because of that. But Billy was like, ‘No, that’s actually unethical reporting.’ I was like, ‘OK, then I could give it a shot.’

“Being able to tell local people’s stories in Rising Rock gave shape to wanting to share people’s stories in the area I grew up in that maybe have not been heard before.”

Cooper will soon start at WUOT, the Knoxville NPR station, and hopes to work as a full-time journalist.

She said winning the award was a “surprise.”

“I never thought I’d win it once, much less twice, but it was a very big honor,” Cooper said. “I didn’t even know that Billy had put it in. I didn’t know about it until I won. So that was a really fun surprise.”

Banks explained that the awards are the result of hard work through the various student media outlets.

“It just feels incredible,” she said. “Being there, I was so proud of everyone’s hard work. I mean, it feels awesome to win an award. Overall, I just felt a lot of pride in our communication department across both the Echo and Rising Rock.”

Learn more

UTC Echo

Rising Rock

Communication students win big at Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards

Visit UTC

How to apply

Tiffany Herron graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2020 with a master’s degree in creative writing. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Herron.

Tiffany Herron spent her time at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga consumed by a piece of Chattanooga history that seemed to have largely faded from public memory. 

“Why aren’t more people talking about this?” Herron recalled asking. Even lifelong Chattanoogans she spoke with knew little about it.  

Her curiosity about a group of women who earned the collective name “the Chattanooga Five” led her deep into UTC’s resources. She spent hours in the UTC Library, traveled to New York City for research, interviewed attorneys and family members, and pursued a project that led her far beyond the classroom. 

The research eventually opened the door to documentary filmmaking. Herron served as a co-producer for “How to Sue the Klan: The Legacy of the Chattanooga Five,” which earned the category of Outstanding Short Form Documentary at the 40th Midsouth Emmy Awards in February. 

In April, the documentary was nominated for a 47th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Award in the Outstanding Regional Documentary category. 

********

Born and adopted in Hawaii, Herron moved with her family several times before landing in Chattanooga in 2002. After completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in parks and recreation at Clemson University, she enrolled at UTC in 2018 to pursue a master’s degree in creative writing. 

A tour of downtown arranged by former UTC English Professor James Arnett introduced her to the Chattanooga Five.  

On April 18, 1980, three Ku Klux Klan members attacked four Black women—Viola Ellison, Lela Mae Evans, Opal Jackson and Katherine Johnson—in a drive-by shooting on downtown Chattanooga’s MLK Boulevard.  

The gunmen shot four of the women with shotgun pellets. Broken glass injured another woman, Fannie Mae Crumsey, in her home. Though all five survived, they faced a long fight for justice. 

The location of the shooting was the last stop of the tour and just a block away from UTC’s campus. 

“Of course, with me being the oldest student in the class—even older than the tour guide—I was like, ‘What? 1980? That doesn’t sound right,’” she recalled. “It sounded like something that would happen in the Jim Crow era.” 

The story of the women stuck with her. When Herron had to create a literary magazine for a class the following semester, she returned to the Chattanooga Five, convinced their story deserved more attention. 

“I think the theme was contemporary southern women,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to write about this because I think this would be perfect.’ I started researching and I found the attorney, Randolph McLaughlin, who had represented the women in the civil case.” 

From left: Opal Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Viola Ellison, Attorney Betty Lawrence Lewis and Lela Mae Evans. Photo by Randall Higgins.

The gunman involved in the Chattanooga Five shooting served only six months of his nine-month sentence. The other two men in the car were not charged. 

Following days of riots, the women filed a federal civil lawsuit with McLaughlin, a New York lawyer. The case marked his first major legal battle and the first time plaintiffs sued the KKK in civil court. 

In 1982, a federal jury found the United Klans of America and several individual Klansmen liable for the attack, awarding the women $535,000 in damages. The judgment helped force the Klan out of Chattanooga and marked a significant civil rights victory. 

To understand the case fully, Herron knew she needed to speak with someone who had been there. She tracked McLaughlin down and interviewed him by phone in the UTC Library. 

The content became too much for the magazine’s limited word count and “it just wasn’t fitting.” 

She went in another direction with the project, but the Chattanooga Five burned in her mind. She applied for UTC’s Scholarship, Engagement, the Arts, Research, Creativity and Humanities (SEARCH) Award—a $1,000 grant that supports graduate and undergraduate students pursuing original scholarship. 

“I applied and I got the SEARCH grant,” she said. “I went to New York City and I interviewed Mr. McLaughlin.” 

Suddenly, Herron found herself staring up at a high-rise in the heart of Manhattan. With rented equipment from the UTC Library, she nervously began the interview. 

“Mr. McLaughlin is a small man, but his character is huge,” she said. “I’m nervous, so I didn’t hit the record button … I missed the beginning of the interview.” 

The interview, though, went well. On a whim, she invited McLaughlin to Chattanooga. 

“He said, ‘Absolutely,’ and I’m like, ‘Great, I’ll set it up,’” she said. “But I was thinking, ‘My thousand dollars is gone. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for that.’” 

********

Back on campus, Herron worked with UTC faculty and staff to turn her research into something the community could experience—a public event at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center on MLK Boulevard featuring McLaughlin. 

Carolyn Runyon, the director of Special Collections at UTC, helped Herron create posters and advertise the event. Dr. Susan Eckelmann, the director of Africana Studies at the time, gathered funds. 

“I was able to fly Mr. McLaughlin in, get him a hotel and reserve the Bessie Smith … it was great,” she said. “It was February of 2020, which is Black History Month.” 

Community members packed the venue and students from across campus attended. Among them was a particularly meaningful guest. 

“We were in this hall—standing room only—and the only living survivor, Opal Jackson, comes in with her family.” 

Prior to the event, Herron conducted interviews with the victims’ family members, including Connie and Sonya Rollins—Jackson’s daughter and granddaughter. She also met with Crumsey’s granddaughter, Juanita Toney. 

She described her connections with them as “fate stuff.” To her, it felt like she had known them “all my life.” 

“I’m digging into people’s families who don’t owe me anything,” she said. “Fannie MaeCrumsey was a pillar in her community. These stories need to be written down. The only way people are going to hear about them is if Juanita tells you. The only way you’re going to talk to Juanita is if you know her. 

“These stories are so much bigger than that.” 

Tiffany Herron (left) and Karen Estes Last, painter of a Chattanooga Five mural on MLK Boulevard. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Herron.

Herron soon saw the scope of interest in those stories. 

She had just defended her thesis, which focused on finding her biological family. She graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with few plans for what to do next.  

Soon after, she received an email from Jon Meacham, a Chattanooga native and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who authored biographies on Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and George H.W. Bush. 

Meacham had seen coverage of Herron’s research and wanted to learn more about the case. During their conversation, Herron mentioned that she had a paper copy of the civil trial transcript McLaughlin had mailed to her—hundreds of pages she had no practical way to scan on her own. Meacham offered to help, arranging for students at Vanderbilt University to digitize the transcript and return it to her. 

The next person to reach out was John Beder—a movie producer and director who recently moved to Chattanooga from Colorado—in search of a story about his new home. 

“He said, ‘I came across this story and every time I look at something, your name is attached to it,’” she recalled. “Because I’d been on the radio, the TV for the news and the newspaper—and I put my phone number and email address on everything. 

“I wanted people, if they knew these women, any of them, I needed them to contact me so I could maybe hear their side of everything.” 

Herron met with Beder at Coolidge Park, where he asked the question that would take the story out of her own hands and put it into someone else’s and would thrust the story of Chattanooga Five into a completely new light: “Well, I think this would make a really cool documentary. What do you think about that?” 

“John Beder … I could tell just from talking to him,” she recalled. “Either he’s a really good actor or he’s just a kind person. He’s wanting to do this for the right reasons. That was the first time I was sort of like, ‘This needs to be given to the right person because I don’t want to exploit people.’” 

Herron trusted Beder’s vision. The families of the women, most of whom were looking for ways to share their loved one’s story, trusted the project as well.  

A month after their meeting, Herron received yet another unexpected email. Beder asked her to join the project as an assistant producer. At the time, Herron had already laid much of the groundwork the documentary would need. 

“I’m like, ‘What does an assistant producer do? I don’t know,’” she said with a laugh. “He said, ‘Exactly what you’ve been doing. The research, the contacts, helping get locations for interviews.’” 

After adding several more producers, the team hit the ground running with traveling and interviews, but they noticed a gap. They needed another voice and they needed more funding. 

Benjamin Crump, a nationally known civil rights attorney, stepped in. 

“He heard the story and he watched what we had of the film,” Herron said. “He said, ‘Yes, I want to be a part of that.’” 

******** 

Click here to watch “How to Sue the Klan: The Legacy of the Chattanooga Five” 

******** 

“How to Sue the Klan” wrapped in December 2023 and immediately hit the festival circuit, winning several awards before its debut in February 2024. 

After a seven-day showing in a New York City theater, the documentary became eligible for an Academy Award. The film also won an NAACP Image Award, and PBS aired it as part of the documentary series “Reel South.” 

“Because it was on PBS for two months, we were eligible for an Emmy Award,” Herron said. “John reminded us that five years ago, we were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if just a couple of college students saw this film? And now you are qualified for an Emmy.’” 

Herron attended the awards ceremony in Nashville alongside her husband and several of the film’s crew members—including Crump, who accepted the award and spoke on behalf of the film. 

Herron picked up a trophy for Beder, who couldn’t attend the ceremony. Before shipping it, she had to make a quick stop. 

“I went to see Ms. Opal. She’s going blind and she’s 93 now … She’s holding the trophy and (her family) is taking pictures of her,” she said. “I’m like, ‘This means a lot. This means a whole lot.’ 

“We let Sonya, then Juanita and the Crumsey family take pictures as well. I thought, ‘What good is it if we can’t share this success? The people whose lives were really affected by this’ … It got to John with a lot of love.’”

Opal Jackson holds the Emmy Award trophy with her daughter Connie Rollins (back left), granddaughter Sonya Rollins (back right) and Tiffany Herron. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Herron.

Since joining a class tour as a new UTC student, Herron learned a lot about being a thoughtful researcher, a documentary filmmaker and her role in her community.  

She also answered her own question of “Why?” 

“These women deserve credit. They deserve acknowledgment,” she said. “The bigger thing was that they experienced death threats.” 

Despite the team hiring a private investigator, Herron said several people connected to the case could not be tracked down.  

“I’ve never had a death threat,” she said. “I have never been so scared for my life that I am not going to talk about anything. I would like to think that if I was scared, I would talk about it and that I would stand up. 

“That’s not this situation … I learned quickly that the only reason these family members talked to me was because I was sincere. I had to look at the bigger picture for myself as far as filming in that I feel as though I fell into this situation. It was not something that I went and sought out.” 

Co-producers Nicole Brown (left), Jazmine LeBlanc and Tiffany Herron pose with awards earned by How to Sue the Klan during a celebration of the documentary’s regional Emmy win on Saturday, April 18, at White Duck Taco in Chattanooga. Photo by Clara Paulson.

Herron credited UTC with being the platform that helped her discover her capabilities and confidence. UTC’s Special Collections proved a valuable resource during the documentary’s production. 

Runyon remembered Herron coming to her as a student with the “incredible story.” Herron later returned with the other filmmakers to go through film negatives from local newspapers. 

“We scanned a couple of hundred scans of stuff that might be interesting to them that they had chosen,” Runyon said. “We spent a lot of time just poring over these images that we had, trying to see what they could piece together.” 

Runyon beamed over how much she enjoyed watching Herron’s project “snowball” from a research project to an award-winning documentary. 

“Tiffany is really the embodiment of what we hope as a University—to produce students who are engaged citizens working in their communities,” she said. “What Tiffany has done is she has leveraged her degree here at UTC to go on and continue to use some of UTC’s resources that are open to alums and community members. 

“We were thrilled as Special Collections to be able to support that in a small way.” 

Herron encouraged students, especially those at UTC, to make use of those resources and to broaden their ideas of what it means to be a researcher. 

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Herron said. “I think that having this experience, being at UTC, expanded my world so much. My view became 10 times bigger just because of this one little thing.” 

The City of Chattanooga declared February 26 as Chattanooga Five Day. The City’s Director of Policy Planning and Implementation Dylan Rivera (right) delivered the proclamation to the Emmy celebration event at White Duck Taco.

Learn more

Visit UTC

UTC Department of English

Special Collections

How to apply

Photo gallery courtesy of Tiffany Herron

“How to Sue the Klan” won the Outstanding Short Form Documentary category at the 56th Annual NAACP Image Awards.

Chancellor Lori Mann Bruce delivers the opening presentation. Photo by Angela Foster.

The 2026 Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit came to Chattanooga on May 28-29 to discuss regional workforce development, quantum technology and economic growth.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chancellor Lori Bruce delivered the opening presentation, welcoming attendees to the city and thanking the University’s long-term supporters.

She emphasized UTC’s role in supporting the region by producing well-prepared professionals for relevant industries.

“We believe public universities have a central role to play in preparing the workforce, advancing innovation and helping this region compete in a rapidly changing economy,” Bruce said.

“I would like to share with you a little bit about UTC.  We are more than 12,000 students strong, including more than 500 doctoral students—an important milestone that reflects the strength of our teaching and our research enterprise.”

Urban infrastructure, biomedical innovation, nanoengineering, cybersecurity, machine learning and quantum technologies are key research and development areas at UTC, and Bruce noted that they are experiencing record levels of activity.

“At UTC, we know that strong, long-term partnerships are what enable us to move innovation beyond theory and into real-world application,” she said. “In quantum, for example, UTC has had a long-standing partnership with EPB here in Chattanooga.

“Through each of our own investments and our partnerships in R&D, a couple of years back, UTC became the first American university to host a permanent connection to a commercially available quantum network—featuring a node right on our campus.”

UT System President Randy Boyd added that the partnership with UTC and EPB provides an application for the research being conducted during his panel session, titled “Building Our Regional Workforce.”

“A lot of things that we do in higher education, I think in particular with quantum, are more theoretical,” Boyd said. “The partnership with EPB is applied. They’re actually learning to solve real-world problems.”

Dr. Rick Mukherjee, director of the UTC Quantum Center, spoke on a panel titled “Leveraging Tennessee’s Quantum Initiative.” He explained that industry applications are a core pillar of the Quantum Center’s mission.

“At the UTC Quantum Center, we believe in education, we believe in cutting-edge research—but the third pillar is about translating that fundamental research and going out there to solve real-world problems,” Mukherjee said.

Dr. Rick Mukherjee speaks on the “Leveraging Tennessee’s Quantum Initiative” panel.

Mukherjee said that UTC is in a “unique position” in Tennessee because of the state’s commitment to quantum development. He has met with over 20 companies, both within and outside the quantum space, to explain the impact of quantum on their respective sectors.

“We are in a very, very unique position here in Tennessee,” Mukherjee said. “We have different universities, and each university has its own strengths. There’s been research collaboration going on with these universities even before we started thinking about the Tennessee Quantum Initiative.

“The Tennessee Quantum Initiative now sets a plan and agenda in a structured way for achieving those goals.”

Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Mina Sartipi said the summit is another opportunity to build relationships and partnerships statewide.

“The Tennessee Valley Corridor conference is an important opportunity to showcase the growth of UTC’s Quantum Center and the institutional commitment behind it while also building stronger partnerships across industry, government and research organizations,” Sartipi said. “Quantum innovation depends on collaboration, especially with industry partners who help move research into real-world applications and workforce opportunities.

“We want people to see that UTC is building not only research capacity, but also a collaborative ecosystem that supports innovation and economic growth in the region.”

The Quantum Center now includes more than 25 researchers.

“It’s a proud moment for UTC and a reflection of the tremendous work Rick and the entire Quantum Center team have done to build momentum in quantum research,” Sartipi said. “Their recognition highlights not only the talent of our faculty and researchers but also UTC’s strong institutional investment in growing quantum science, infrastructure and workforce development.”

Bruce highlighted UTC’s commitment to growth in both campus size and student body as a key part of supporting Tennessee’s industries.

“UTC is a destination University for students seeking opportunity, purpose and impact, exactly what this organization represents and what students will find right here in the Tennessee Valley Corridor,” Bruce told the audience. “When we attract students to UTC, they become the talent pipeline for you—the industry sectors that make up the economic engine of the TVC.”

Learn more

UTC Quantum Center

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Bret Eschman works with eye-tracking technology in the Visual Memory and Attention Development Lab. Photo by Angela Foster.

For many children with developmental delays such as autism spectrum disorder, diagnosis does not occur until preschool or early elementary years.

One faculty member at UT Chattanooga is contributing to research aimed at understanding those early developmental differences.

Bret Eschman, an assistant professor of psychology and director of the Visual Memory and Attention Development (VMAD) Lab, studies how the brain develops during the earliest months of life.

His work focuses on attention, memory and how infants process information by using eye-tracking technology as a noninvasive way to understand what happens inside developing brains.

Eschman says he fell in love with eye tracking early in his career. Introduced to the technology during his graduate studies at Missouri State University, he carried that experience to UT Knoxville, where he earned a doctorate in 2019.

“That’s the first time I began working with infants in terms of eye tracking and asking research questions around that,” Eschman says. “One of the big projects that I worked on there is trying to quantify something called the working memory capacity, which is a really important cornerstone of general cognition that is online pretty early in life.”

Working memory capacity, he says, can be reliably measured around 5 months of age and is an important future indicator of cognitive function: think mathematics, reading and language.

He then pursued postdoctoral research at Florida International University, where he studied how infants pay attention to sights and sounds simultaneously.

“That work has helped researchers better understand mechanisms of typical development and how early differences in attention may be relevant for conditions such as autism spectrum disorder,” Eschman says. “The goal is to understand risk pathways, not necessarily to diagnose.”

Now at UTC and in the VMAD Lab, Eschman continues to build on his studies, working with children and their families as he conducts research on attention and memory across development as part of a National Institutes of Health-funded project that brings together labs across North America.

Much of his work involves infants and children too young to complete traditional tasks or follow verbal instructions. Eschman and his collaborators rely on eye tracking to understand how attention and memory develop. By recording where a child looks, how quickly attention shifts and how long they stay focused, researchers get a “glimpse under the hood,” according to Eschman.

“Eye tracking provides a powerful behavioral window into brain development,” Eschman says. “Because we know a great deal about how visual and attentional systems are organized in the brain, patterns of eye movements can tell us a lot about underlying cognitive processes, even when we are not measuring neural activity directly.

“From a developmental perspective, eye tracking allows us to study attention systems supported by distributed brain networks, including how frontal systems involved in attention control interact with sensory systems early in life.”

Dr. Bret Eschman demonstrates eye-tracking technology in the lab with Bailee Smith, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology with Eschman as her advisor.

Much of the work follows children over time—beginning in infancy—and can provide context for understanding later outcomes related to language, learning and social development.

“We have data from these kids from 3 months of age,” he says. “We have them at yearly intervals.”

The team has worked with the same children for more than three years, allowing researchers to track their development and identify when early differences begin to appear.

“Then we can go backwards and look at their data that we collected to see at what point did these deviations in responding to these different tasks predict their outcome,” he says.

Early findings, Eschman says, show that certain attention patterns may predict later outcomes, such as autism spectrum disorder, earlier than researchers once thought.

“What we’re finding in some of the preliminary data is that patterns of attention at around 12 months are associated with later outcomes at the group level,” he says. “These are probabilistic signals, not diagnoses, but they appear earlier than researchers once expected.”

The work changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person lab visits were no longer possible.

“During COVID, we had to make a big change with the way we were keeping data, so we obviously couldn’t bring babies and their parents into the lab,” Eschman says.

Instead, Eschman and his collaborators shifted the research online, using Zoom and webcam recordings to collect data from families at home.

“We actually developed computational models that allow us to extract specific eye movement metrics from webcam recordings collected at home,” Eschman says. “While these methods do not replace laboratory eye tracking, they allow us to recover comparable measures with known limitations when in-person testing is not possible.”

Over time, refined models improved the reliability of specific eye movement measures compared to traditional lab-based data.

The project continues to evolve as well.

“The work we’re currently doing now with graduate students is a little bit more attention-based and not as much developmental,” Eschman says. “We’re doing a lot of low-level cognitive work that includes processes like inhibition and planning and how they relate to factors such as stress, intelligence and dyslexic symptomology.”

He says many graduate students enter the lab with varying levels of experience and are unsure of what they want to pursue. It usually doesn’t take long for them to shape their own projects and research.

Bailee Smith, a 2025 UTC graduate, helped Eschman with research focused on the relationship between executive function and intelligence.

“I’ve been able to help design tasks, create projects and really build the lab alongside Dr. Eschman. That independence has been invaluable,” says Smith, who earned a master’s degree in psychological science.

It’s an approach Eschman emphasizes in his work.

“A lot of them take extreme ownership of that, and they really kind of make it their own,” he says.

Dr. Bret Eschman

Daily Interaction Matters

Parents often ask Bret Eschman, UTC assistant professor of psychology and director of the UT Chattanooga Visual Memory and Attention Development Lab, how to help their children’s brains grow.

It’s a simple answer: Daily interaction matters more than toys, apps or programs.

“You do not need special tools,” he says. “Your time, your voice and your attention matter most.”

His advice for parents:

Babies learn best face to face. When a child sees a parent’s mouth and expressions and hears their voice at the same time, the brain links sights and sounds. Those links support attention, memory and language. Talk while your child can see you.

Follow your child’s attention. If your baby looks at a toy, a pet or a book, talk about that thing. Name it. Describe it. Then pause. Let your child respond. You build attention control by respecting where it is, not by pulling it elsewhere.

Slow the pace. Young brains need time to process information. Pause after your child vocalizes or gestures. Give space to respond. Fast, nonstop stimulation overwhelms developing systems and reduces learning.

Use infant-directed speech. Speak with a slightly higher pitch and a clear rhythm. Slow your speech without oversimplifying. This type of baby talk is a natural teaching signal. It holds attention and helps children understand words.

Repeat experiences. Read the same books. Sing the same songs. Play the same games. Repetition helps the brain learn patterns. Predictable routines support memory and focus.

Let effort happen. Do not solve every problem right away. Allow brief frustration. Step in when needed. Small challenges help build self-control and problem-solving skills.

Learn more

UTC Department of Psychology

Visual Memory and Attention Development (VMAD) Lab

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Hemant Jain is the director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Journey Health Foundation Research Center, housed in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business. Photo by Angela Foster.

The Research for Evidence-based Action in Community Health (REACH) Fund was established earlier this year through the Journey Health Foundation Research Center housed in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In less than one year, it’s already funding 10 interdisciplinary projects focused on improving community health across Southeast Tennessee.

The projects bring together UTC faculty and community partners to address issues tied to the social determinants of health (SDoH), including healthcare access, transportation, food security, environmental health, emergency response equity, behavioral health and healthy aging.

#      #      #      #      #      #

2026 REACH Fund Recipients

Assessing Equity in Emergency Response Services

Led by Data Analytics Professor of Practice Damitha Bandara, this project analyzes 911 emergency response data across Hamilton County. The project aims to improve equitable access to lifesaving emergency services. Bandara is working with local emergency response agencies and geographic information system (GIS) tools to identify whether some neighborhoods experience longer emergency response times than others.

Improving Access to Preventive Pediatric Care

Physical Therapy Professor David Levine partnered with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine — Chattanooga and the Department of Pediatrics at Erlanger Health System. This project examines how transportation, housing stability and other SDoH affect children’s attendance at well-child visits. Researchers will use data to identify regions where families face the greatest barriers to preventive care, with the goal of improving childhood health outcomes.

BALANCE Hamilton: Preventing Falls Among Older Adults

Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Erin Melhorn is leading BALANCE Hamilton to create a countywide fall surveillance framework. The project will identify neighborhoods where older adults face elevated fall risks and help guide prevention efforts. Melhorn is collaborating with Erlanger Health System and Hamilton County Health and Social Services Departments to combine hospital, emergency response and community data.

Stylists as Community Care Connectors

Farron Kilburn and Beth Miller are project managers from UTC’s College of Nursing and Counseling Center. Their regional pilot project trains hair stylists across Southeast Tennessee to connect clients with free and low-cost mental health, healthcare and domestic violence resources. This project builds upon the ChaCareConnector.org resource developed by the UTC College of Nursing and includes collaborations with Partnership for Families, Children, and Adults and UTC’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program.

Data-Driven Insights into Chronic Disease and Health Disparities

Assistant Professor of Data Analytics Guisen Xue and Lecturer Monireh Rahmati are co-leading a project with Erlanger Health System and community organizations to forecast healthcare needs. The project is using advanced analytics to study the social and economic factors linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression. The goal is to support more targeted interventions and improve health outcomes across the Chattanooga region.

SHIELD: Community Health Screenings at the Library

Assistant Professor of Nursing Jason Peter is leading the SHIELD project. This initiative will bring preventive health screenings directly to residents through a partnership with the Chattanooga Public Library. UTC nurse practitioner students will partner with social work students to provide screenings and connect participants with healthcare, mental health and social support resources.

Project IMPACT: Transportation Access Through Bicycles

Led by Associate Professor of Health and Human Performance Karissa Peyer Rein, Project IMPACT will study how access to bicycles impacts individuals experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Community partners include White Oak Bicycle Co-op, Metropolitan Ministries and Volunteer Behavioral Health.

Food and Nutrition Security Surveillance Pilot

Associate Professor of Health and Human Performance Marissa McElrone is partnering with Chattanooga Area Food Bank. This project pilots a new system for tracking food and nutrition insecurity across Hamilton County. The effort aims to provide timely local data to better guide hunger-relief and nutrition initiatives.

Environmental Health Monitoring and Lead Exposure Evaluation

Professor Sean Richards and Adjunct Instructor Dawn Ford from the Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science are co-leading a project with Research Associate Nyssa Hunt to conduct blood lead testing in Hamilton County communities. Their work focuses on South Chattanooga neighborhoods affected by historic industrial contamination. They have partnered with Blood Assurance and the Chattanooga Health Expo to identify ongoing environmental health risks and guide future remediation and public health action.

Evaluating Tennessee’s TN Together Opioid Policy

Assistant Professor in Health and Human Performance Youngeun (Heather) Lee is examining how Tennessee’s TN Together initiative has affected opioid overdose deaths across the state. The project explores how healthcare access and insurance coverage influence outcomes. It will also identify opportunities to strengthen opioid response efforts in Hamilton County and beyond.

#      #      #      #      #      #

This research is made possible through the REACH Fund at the Journey Health Foundation Research Center, housed in UTC’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business Department of Data Analytics. The Fund provides up to $25,000 to support applied, community-engaged research focused on improving health outcomes and addressing the social determinants of health across the Chattanooga region.

Learn more

Visit UTC

Gary W. Rollins College of Business

Journey Health Foundation Research Center

REACH Fund

How to apply

Dr. Venkat Kode in his College of Engineering and Computer Science lab. Photo by Angela Foster.

Dr. Venkat Kode, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has received a $199,516 National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) award to advance research on producing water from air using sustainable, low-energy materials.

The two-year award, which runs through April 30, 2028, will support Kode’s project, “ERI: Renewable Water Harvesting Using Tunable Solid Bio-Desiccants for Low-Energy Regeneration.”

The award represents an important early-career milestone for Kode, who joined the UTC faculty in fall 2024.

Kode said the project focuses on developing solid materials made from agricultural biomass waste that can capture moisture from the air and release it as liquid water with modest energy inputs. The work is designed to address a central challenge in atmospheric water harvesting: not simply pulling moisture from the air but doing so without requiring large amounts of energy to recover usable water.

Unlike many atmospheric water harvesting systems, Kode’s approach aims to reduce regeneration energy requirements while utilizing renewable biomass-derived materials. He explained that the research brings together materials science, sustainability and practical engineering.

“The problem is that we have billions of people around the world living in arid or semi-arid regions that have limited freshwater supplies,” Kode said. “To solve that, we need technologies that can capture water directly from the air to alleviate that water-scarcity issue.”

UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Kumar Yelamarthi called the grant an important achievement.

“The ERI award is widely regarded as the early-career equivalent of the NSF CAREER award, designed specifically to support promising investigators in establishing an independent research program,” Yelamarthi said. “Receiving the award is a strong validation of both the quality and potential of Dr. Kode’s work.

“This is a significant milestone. It lays the foundation for what I am confident will be a distinguished research career, and I look forward to seeing the impact this work will have on sustainable water harvesting solutions.”

Dr. Venkat Kode joined the UTC faculty in fall 2024.

According to the NSF award abstract, the project will design and validate bio-derived sorbent materials that combine porous biocarbon scaffolds with ionic liquids. The work will include material synthesis, performance testing and prototype-level validation to measure water production rates, regeneration efficiency and operational stability.

“The pain point is on the regeneration side,” Kode said. “Naturally, you can pull water from air, but how do we separate that pulled water from the material? That takes a lot of energy in conventional industrial processes.

“This project addresses that issue by capturing moisture from air and releasing it as liquid water with only modest energy inputs.”

Kode said the research will include a workforce development component and involve both graduate and undergraduate students. As the team converts agricultural waste—such as almond biomass, chestnut shells and peanut shells—into a bio-desiccant that naturally pulls moisture from the air, students will take part in prototype development and work with advanced instrumentation.

“This project will support one Ph.D. student and multiple undergraduate students,” he said. “This will help them gain hands-on experience building a prototype and working on state-of-the-art material characterization equipment. The hands-on skills will play a major role for students to gain enough experience to get good industry jobs once they graduate.”

Kode said the work will be carried out in his lab at UTC. He said the award will help expand his research program while strengthening UTC’s work in applied technology, advanced materials research and clean technology development.

The project also aligns with Pillar 3 of UTC’s 2030 Strategic Plan, which calls for advancing solutions for the Chattanooga region and Tennessee’s future through research and practical application. In Kode’s case, that means pursuing technology that could one day contribute to safe drinking water and renewable water solutions for agriculture, industry and defense.

Kode, who has received several UTC awards since joining the faculty—including the Ruth S. Holmberg Grant for Faculty Excellence—said it took time to fully process the news that the NSF award had come through.

“I had been constantly checking the status to see if there were any updates,” Kode said. “A couple of days before I got the news, I had a dream early in the morning that I won an NSF award, and I told my wife about it. We both laughed and wished it were true. Then, when I checked my email that morning, I rubbed my eyes, making sure this was not a dream. I read it twice before I realized that it was a reality.

“It took me a few hours to digest what just happened because this is my first federal grant awarded as a PI. It is kind of nice to get to manage a project for the next two years. More importantly, it helps me develop the workforce around the sustainable technologies on which I received the project.”

Kode is also a co-inventor on five granted international patents in the United States, Japan and Australia, with additional patent applications pending. His long-term research interests include addressing major global challenges such as water scarcity and carbon capture through scalable engineering solutions.

If successful, the technology being developed through this NSF-funded project could provide a sustainable pathway for producing water in regions where conventional freshwater resources are limited.

Learn more

UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science

Chemical Engineering

Visit UTC

How to apply

Dr. Venkat Kode’s NSF ERI award will help expand his research program while strengthening UTC’s work in applied technology, advanced materials research and clean technology development.

May 2024 Graduate School commencement (photo by Angela Foster)

Ready to fast-track your education and career? The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offers more than a dozen graduate programs you can still apply to this summer and start by the fall.

The UTC Graduate School offers flexible degree programs and personalized attention to help you advance your career while balancing your busy life.

With robust support systems—including tutoring, mentoring and career services—UTC ensures you have the tools and resources to gain the professional edge you need to rise.

UTC grad school alums like Chattanooga resident Rachel Gentry are proof that UTC prepares you for real-world success. She earned her Master of Public Administration degree in 2021 to complement her undergraduate degree in civil engineering, propelling her career to new heights.

Take the first step toward earning your graduate degree at UTC and join a network of innovators, leaders and doers for a career-changing academic experience. Start your application now and start grad school this fall.

Get in touch with the UTC Graduate School in Chattanooga at gradinfo@utc.edu, 423-425-4478 or contact one of our graduate program liaisons for more information.

14 UTC graduate programs you can apply to this summer and start this fall

College of Arts and Sciences

• The Criminal Justice (M.S.) program offers flexible scheduling with evening and online classes perfect for working professionals and does not require the GRE.
• The graduate English (M.A.) program does not require the GRE/GMAT and offers concentrations in Creative Writing, Literary Studies, and Rhetoric and Professional Writing.
• The graduate Environmental Science (M.S.) program does not require the GRE/GMAT and offers two concentrations: General Environmental Science and Environmental Administration and Management.
• The graduate Mathematics (M.S.) program requires the GRE/GMAT only for students seeking assistantships and includes concentrations in Applied Math, Applied Stats, Pre-Professional Math and Math Education.
• The Master of Music in Music Education (M.M.) program does not require the GRE/GMAT but applicants must submit a letter of intent and attend an interview with UTC Music Department faculty.
• The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program waives the GRE/GMAT for students with a minimum 3.25 undergraduate GPA and offers specializations in General Public Administration, Local Government and Nonprofit Management.

Gary W. Rollins College of Business

• The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program does not require the GRE/GMAT and offers flexible learning options, including 100% online and hybrid formats, with concentrations in Accounting, Business Analytics (online), Finance and Healthcare Administration.
• The graduate Data Analytics (M.S.) program requires either the GRE or GMAT for admission. Learn more about admission requirements for the program here.
• The graduate Management (M.S.) program does not require the GRE/GMAT and is 100% online.

College of Engineering and Computer Science

• The graduate Computer Science program (M.S.), which does not require the GRE/GMAT for domestic students, includes concentrations in General Computer Science, Cybersecurity and Data Science.
• UTC’s graduate Engineering programs (M.S.) exempt domestic students from the GRE/GMAT and offer specializations in Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
• The Engineering Management program does not require the GRE/GMAT and offers a general track as well as concentrations in Construction Management and Power Management.

College of Health, Education and Professional Studies

• The Secondary Education (M.Ed.) program requires no GRE but demands either PRAXIS CORE scores or proof of licensure, with concentrations in General Secondary Education and ESOL.
• The Exceptional Learning (M.Ed.) program does not require the GRE and needs either PRAXIS CORE scores or proof of licensure. Concentrations include: Mild Disabilities, grades K-8; Mild Disabilities, grades 6-12; and Moderate/Severe Disabilities, Grades K-12.

Learn More

Visit UTC

Apply now

UTC Graduate School Admissions

UTC Graduate Program Liaisons

Photo by Angela Foster

If someone experiences an opioid overdose on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus, University leaders want a life-saving resource nearby.

This spring, UTC completed the installation of 52 ONEbox naloxone stations across campus, placing them in buildings alongside other emergency equipment such as automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

The expansion builds on years of work around overdose response education, naloxone distribution and addiction support. It also reflects a broader effort to ensure the campus is prepared to respond to emergencies with tools that are visible, accessible and easy to use.

“We as a campus want to make sure that we are prepared to respond to any type of emergency that could happen with tools that are safe and that are available,” UTC Center for Wellbeing Director Megan McKnight said. “Knowing that naloxone is safe, it is something we have available to us and have funding to supply. Like other types of emergency equipment we have, it’s another piece that we have available in that toolbox.”

Naloxone is a medicine used to temporarily reverse an opioid overdose and restore breathing.

Kat James, assistant director for substance use education and recovery in the Center for Wellbeing, said making naloxone available on campus is about preparedness, safety and response.

“We have a lot of evidence that having naloxone available does not encourage substance use,” James said. “What it does is keep people alive if they do encounter an overdose.”

McKnight said the University first installed ONEboxes in residence halls in 2024, placing them where students lived. Since then, UTC has expanded the effort to the University Center, the Aquatic and Recreation Center, McKenzie Arena, UTC Library, and academic buildings—and now to the entire campus.

Where there is an AED, there is now a ONEbox. The units are co-located with other emergency equipment and stocked with two doses of naloxone nasal spray, a CPR face shield, gloves and antiseptic wipes.

James said the boxes include built-in guidance for anyone responding in an emergency.

“If somebody forgets what they’ve learned or they haven’t had the opportunity to go through training yet, when they open that ONEbox, a video kicks off that walks people through the process of administering naloxone in real time,” James said. “Instructions are also on the boxes, so there are different ways for people to get that information.”

The video is designed to be brief and practical and is paced with the intervention itself.

McKnight said that ease of use helped campus leaders move forward with wider installation.

“It’s really quick and easy,” she said, “so even if folks are responding and they aren’t sure in grabbing that resource, they can be trained quickly to save that life.”

The broader push also aligns with a larger opioid abatement effort taking shape at UTC.

McKnight said the University has worked to create more intentional discussions around opioid overdose response and prevention, reporting increases in the number of people trained on campus and in the amount of naloxone and fentanyl test strips distributed to students, faculty and staff.

There was recognition that carrying naloxone personally was only part of the answer.

“As we have grown opioid overdose response education and naloxone distribution on our campus, it became clear that we needed to provide stationary naloxone in buildings, co-located with other emergency equipment,” McKnight said.

That next step became possible through outside funding.

UTC’s ONEbox initiative is funded through a Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council Community Grant award to the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) for the Campus Overdose Prevention Project. The overall award is split among participating campuses participating through the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Campus Communities, a subprogram of TICUA.

Technical support for the project also came through the SAFE Project, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working with participating schools.

James said the strategy is twofold: encourage people to carry naloxone and make sure it is also available throughout campus if an overdose happens in a public setting.

“It is important to us that we are educating folks on our campus about how to use these resources,” James said. “Naloxone is effective against opioid overdoses, but is safe even if a bystander is not completely certain opioids are involved.

“We also pair this education with a reminder to call 911 so that we can get somebody the medical help that they might need.”

UTC Director of Public Safety Brett Fuchs said the campuswide installation fits with the University’s broader approach to emergency preparedness by making critical medical supplies easy to find in moments of need.

“While all of our first responder personnel on campus and off campus have access to materials like naloxone, we want to make sure that our students and employees have quick access to supplies to help save a life or to prevent further injury,” he said.

Placing ONEboxes alongside other emergency supplies was a deliberate choice.

“We’ve tried to make it consistent to have all of the first aid and medical supplies in one location so folks know where to go look for them,” Fuchs said. “We’ve tried to always put them in central locations in every building near a front door or near a central entryway.”

In larger facilities, he said, UTC added multiple locations to make sure people could reach supplies quickly. The goal, he said, “is to place the boxes where people pass them often enough that they remember where they are when an emergency happens.”

The University’s initial rollout in residence halls depended on a strong partnership with Housing and Residence Life. McKnight said housing staff members were fully trained on how to use the resource should they need it.

Those first 12 residence hall boxes became the foundation for the larger expansion now in place.

James said that preparation can make a difference not only in emergencies but also in shaping campus culture around care, safety and support.

“We’re providing all of that under a continuum of care that says, regardless of which choices you might be making, we’re here,” James said. “We care about you. We want you to have the life you want to have.”

Learn more

Center for Wellbeing

Department of Public Safety

Visit UTC

How to apply