Uplift PLUS inspires next-gen scientists

Thirty-six high school students walk into a college lecture hall. 

It’s not the setup for a joke. It’s what happened on July 13 when Richard Superfine, Taylor-Williams Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ applied physical sciences department, hosted the students of Uplift PLUS. 

Uplift PLUS builds upon the foundation received during Project Uplift. Project Uplift is a summer program sponsored by the University Office for Diversity and Inclusion that introduces high school students to life at Carolina, specifically students who are underrepresented in secondary education. Uplift PLUS, which is only for North Carolina residents, goes a step further, giving students the opportunity to stay at Carolina for five weeks, participate in college readiness programs and even take an English 100 class for credit. 

As students filtered in, there were murmurs of surprise — “Welcome to a real college lecture hall!” and “The chalkboards are real?” 

The chatter died down as Superfine, decked out in a bright blue Hawaiian shirt with Carolina logos scattered across it, made his way to the front of the room.  

But Superfine wasn’t asking for silence. In fact, he stressed throughout his lecture that feedback is an important part of the learning process.  

“I want you to ask questions,” he told the students. “The average time it takes for students to respond when you say ‘Any questions?’ is about 30 seconds.”  

He asked the students how long theythinkinstructors wait, on average. Their response was telling — laughter. Only five seconds, Superfine said.  

“There are no stupid questions, only stupid people,” he said with sarcasm, to more laughter. 

More than fields of study 

With that, he began his presentation, covering the work that he and his team conduct — studying the physics of biology — and helping students understand how to choose their major based on how they think.  

Physics, chemistry, engineering, computer science, mathematics — these aren’t just fields of study, Superfine explained — they’re approaches; ways of viewing the world.  

“A lot of times, we confuse what we’re good at with what we’re interested in,” Superfine said. “Often, it’s not the brilliant people who succeed, but it’s the people who really want something badly and are interested in it.”  

A first-generation college student, Superfine originally thought he wanted to be an engineer. His dad was a contractor who built houses, and Superfine enjoyed building things. He went to a high school with an aerospace engineering magnet program, which piqued his interest. But it wasn’t until college, as an electrical engineering major at Lehigh University, that Superfine realized he viewed the world through a physics mindset. So he switched.  

Rich Superfine

He got his doctorate studying molecular physics, came to Carolina doing condensed matter physics and, after 10 years at the University, has switched almost entirely to biological physics. He serves as a prime example that the major you choose when entering college doesn’t have to define your career.  

He then walked them through his research, which involves cilia, tiny hairs inside the lungs that propel mucus.   

His research group is a combination of graduate students, professors and undergraduate students from a variety of different backgrounds and approaches, contributing their own expertise. 

He presented several problems to the group, including the question of why human lungs don’t get moldy when “the air is a nasty place.”  

One student raised a hand and gave it their best shot, suggesting the lungs don’t contain enough oxygen for the mold to grow since they divert it into the bloodstream. 

“I don’t think it’s true, but it’s a really cool answer,” Superfine said. “Answers can be brilliantly wrong.”  

Lungs are normally sterile because of cilia “beating” back and forth, Superfine explained. They move mucus from the deep recesses of your lungs, where it traps bacteria, viruses and invading cells, up to your mouth, where you remove the pathogens through your gut.  

It was cilia that made Superfine switch to studying biological physics, he said.  

“If cilia was a person here, I would give them a big hug.” 

Lab tour

After concluding his talk, Superfine took the students down to his lab, where they met members of his research group. 

Students explored the various rooms of Superfine’s lab and peered through high-tech microscopes.

Doctoral student Jacob Brooks explains his research to Project Uplift students as they tour the Rich Superfine Applied Physical Sciences labs in Chapman Hall.

They met graduate student Jake Brooks, who works on the fabrication of actuatable posts, which can drive fluid back and forth in a similar way to cilia; research scientist Jeremy Cribb, who looks at the strength of the bonds between different kinds of mucus; graduate student Megan Kern, who studies phagocytosis, or the ways that cells engulf and degrade things; and undergraduates Julius King and Gregory Roberts, who make silicone molds to create artificial cilia for cancer research. 

Roberts is a rising senior studying biomedical engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He is part of Superfine’s research group for the summer, along with fellow NC A&T students Simone Josey and Danielle Rice, and King, who is a Chancellor’s Science Scholar at Carolina. 

NC A&T student Gregory Roberts (left) and UNC Chancellor’s Science Scholar Julius King explain their research. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill

Superfine said Arvind Chandrasekaran, an assistant professor at NC A&T, has been integral in pairing students with his lab. Josey is a joint student between their groups and works three days a week in Superfine’s lab and two in Chandrasekaran’s. 

Roberts talked with the students about his nontraditional path to working at Carolina, and Kern chimed in that plenty of researchers have worked in the lab who don’t attend Carolina — even high school students. 

Roberts said he got into this field because he wanted to help people like his grandmother and mother, who have conditions like arthritis and Alzheimer’s. He is now looking into a master’s degree in tissue engineering so that he can help burn victims. 

Doctoral student Alexander Marshall explains his work with lasers to look at cells to rising senior high school students. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

“[Working in a lab] can be a lot,” Roberts told the students, “but it’s very fulfilling if you’re doing what you love and you have a drive to be here.”