University community developed projects and protected each other in 2024

2024 was a busy year for Keegan Lee.  

After serving as a youth council member for a national nonprofit, speaking to hundreds of students in the past year about social media and conducting psychology and technology research, the UNC sophomore was recognized as one of PEOPLE's Girls Changing the World.

“I was very ecstatic,” Lee said. “And of course, I don't do it for the recognition. I don't do it for the extrinsic reward, but it is nice to see that it's a cause that people deem important.”

Lee is one of several UNC community members who went out of their way to help others this year. Here’s a look back at some of the ways students, faculty and organizations made a difference in 2024.

Student Achievement

Lee said her digital wellness work this year is largely an extension of a high school project where she authored a book, “60 Days of Disconnect - A Personal Perspective of How Social Media Affects Mental Health.”

In May, Lee worked with a team at Mental Health America, a national nonprofit organization, to host their first youth-led summit, which she said focused on understanding the social media landscape. 

Lee said she has also taught at schools nationwide and conducted research in hopes of helping people better navigate their mental health in an increasingly technology-driven world.

“I wouldn't wake up and do this every day if I didn't have hope that people could responsibly adapt and grow,” Lee said. 

Third-year graduate student Madyson Barber also spent much of the year conducting research — specifically for her thesis project on transiting planets. Barber said it was this research that led her to discover the youngest transiting planet ever, TIDYE-1b.

On Nov. 20, Barber’s finding was published in a paper authored by her and her advisor, associate professor Andrew Mann.

The planet, TIDYE-1b is roughly three million years old. On a human time-scale, Barber said that would make it between 10 to 14 days old.

“Previously, we weren't sure if we could find planets younger than about 10 million years,” she said.

Faculty Action

Professors’ impact extended beyond the classroom this year. On April 5, Dr. Abhi Mehrotra, a UNC Hospital physician and UNC School of Medicine clinical professor, was taking his dog for a walk to clear his mind before a shift at the emergency department.

On his walk, Mehrotra saw smoke coming from a neighbor’s home and realized she was still inside. 

Mehrotra said he then tried to speak to his neighbor, but as the flames spread and the dark smoke intensified, he realized that she needed to get out immediately. He managed to pull her out of the first-floor window, to safety. 

“I think it was just being in the mindset of moving to action,” Mehrotra said.

After making sure his neighbor was OK, and the firefighters were there,  Mehrotra left for his shift. He said when he arrived at the emergency department, one of the first patients he treated was a firefighter who had been injured putting out the same blaze.

“If I hadn't had thought to see if there's someone in the home, this could have been a tragic situation,” he said.

Community Impact

When Carolina Across 100  began looking for the focus of its fifth project, lead coordinator Anita Brown-Graham said housing stood out as the primary concern of North Carolinians.

That’s why, in September, the organization launched Our State, Our Homes. The program accepted applications for communities to get involved until Nov. 22. Brown-Graham said they will likely select between 12-15 county representatives.

CX100, organized by the ncIMPACT Initiative at the UNC School of Government, is an effort to partner with every North Carolina county to address their most pressing needs since the pandemic.

“In 24 months, they won't have built all the housing, they won't have rehabbed all the housing they need, but there should be a different level of inspiration about doing this work together,” Brown-Graham said.

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