{"id":8588,"date":"2014-08-18T16:19:56","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T21:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=8588"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:41:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:41:31","slug":"students-work-in-fluids-lab-inspires-math-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=8588","title":{"rendered":"Student’s work in fluids lab inspires math gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Del Helton<\/p>\n

\"wave_tank_028\"<\/a>
Scientists have used the large wave tank in Chapman Hall to study the physics of oil plumes following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (photo by Dan Sears)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Joy \u201913 was so excited about his summer internship that the math major\u2019s parents wanted other Carolina students to benefit from a similar experience.<\/p>\n

Bob and Molly Joy of Vonore, Tenn., created the Robert Joseph and Myra Ficklen Joy Excellence Fund in the department of mathematics after Chris spent the summer before his senior year working in Carolina\u2019s fluids laboratory \u2014 home to the wave machine\u2014 simulating oil spills and collaborating with faculty and graduate students.<\/p>\n

The Joy endowment will support math undergraduates \u2014 as well as graduate and postdoctoral students \u2014 with stipends, research materials, equipment and conference and symposia expenses. Those resources will supplement their classroom experience and inspire them to use what they have learned to help solve some of the world\u2019s biggest problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was such an eye-opening experience for Chris, using math in a practical sense and making it real,\u201d said Bob. \u201cWe need more math and science majors, and hope that many other Carolina students have the opportunity to engage in real-world applications of what they learn in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joy<\/a>
Bob and Molly Joy, far right, celebrate Chris\u2019 graduation with brother Robert and sister Kelley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, Chris is a dedicated and energetic math teacher at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, N.C. He is also the school\u2019s head coach for the junior varsity baseball team and assistant baseball coach for the varsity squad (he was a pitcher in high school). He is merging his two passions and inspiring more students to study math and science in college. Chris was enrolled in the UNC-BEST program, which provides math and science majors with a fast track to teacher licensure, helping to fill a shortage of qualified science teachers in high schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Joys\u2019 gift will make possible many fantastic opportunities for our students,\u201d said Rich McLaughlin, department chair. \u201cThe excellent research that Chris conducted with a fluids lab research team ultimately led to several undergraduates traveling to present their findings at the national American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics [thanks to] Joy funding. \u201cWe look forward to sending many more students to national meetings and being able to provide critical support for generations of math students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Joys have long supported their three children\u2019s alma maters, \u201cespecially when they have such positive experiences,\u201d said Bob, who retired five years ago after a 25-year career as a Colgate-Palmolive executive.<\/p>\n

A Tennessee native, Bob earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from East Tennessee State University. Molly graduated from Hollins College with a degree in English and later earned a Ph.D. in political science from The George Washington University. She has deep family ties to Carolina: her father, brother, sister and niece are alumni.<\/p>\n

Though retired from their professional lives, Bob and Molly spend many hours each week as volunteers for The Bush Family Refuge, which serves the homeless, and the Helen Ross McNabb Center, which provides mental health services for families. Molly also volunteers at the Vonore Public Library.<\/p>\n

For the Joys, supporting Carolina is an extension of their family tradition of finding a need, then helping to fill it.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the spring 2014 issue of <\/em>Carolina Arts & Sciences magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Del Helton Chris Joy \u201913 was so excited about his summer internship that the math major\u2019s parents wanted other Carolina students to benefit from a similar experience. Bob and Molly Joy of Vonore, Tenn., created the Robert Joseph and Myra Ficklen Joy Excellence Fund in the department of mathematics after Chris spent the summer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8588"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46820,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8588\/revisions\/46820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}