Thursday, June 07, 2018

UNCW graduate student J. Britton Baxley ’15 and recent graduate Rachel Taggart ’18M joined their cohorts from around the state at Graduate Education Day 2018 on May 30 at the N.C. General Assembly. The annual event allows graduate students to discuss their research and interact with legislators and other government officials. This year, 32 students from 11 universities in the UNC System participated.

Ron Vetter, UNCW associate provost for research and dean of the graduate school, was also in attendance and spoke of the value of the event.

“It’s important that our students have this opportunity to share their research in the areas of science, engineering, nursing, education and business. Having highly-skilled employees with advanced degrees in these fields is a boon to the state’s economy,” Vetter said.

A native of Bald Head Island, Baxley is pursuing a master’s in geoscience three years after earning a bachelor’s in environmental studies at UNCW in 2015. He is studying human and environment interactions with unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) with faculty member Narcisa Pricope.

Working with faculty member Richard Pond, Taggart explored constructs associated with aggression and hostile cognition, with the goal of identifying buffering agents for aggression, as part of her graduate work in psychology. The Miami native graduated summa cum laude from Florida Atlantic University in 2012.

Advancing research and scholarly activities and preparing students for post-graduation success are priorities as outlined in UNCW’s Strategic Plan.

-- Caroline Cropp

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