2010 Team

Amanda Loy
2010 Bachelor's graduate
Communication Studies: Media Studies and Production
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Amanda's roles include infographics artist and site designer.

While a communications major, Amanda has supplemented her work in Media Production with course in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. This course work has included information graphics, 3D design, as well as newspaper and magazine design. Amanda has interned with La Conexion, a Spanish newspaper, based out of Raleigh, to implement a redesign, has completed various design projects with the Carolina Union Design team and currently does freelance design work on Etsy. She has a strong interest in typography and layout. In her free time Amanda enjoys rock climbing, watching films and travel.

Contact Amanda

Andrew Gaerig
2010 Master's graduate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Andrew's roles include editor-in-chief, programmer, site developer, site designer, user interface designer and researcher.

Andrew is a Roy H. Park fellow studying multimedia journalism.  Before arriving in Chapel Hill, Andrew received his B.A. in economics from the University of Michigan and worked as an economic and financial consultant for the Analysis Group.  Andrew is interested in web development and the dynamic packaging of content.  He has experience in object-oriented php, ActionScript, html/css, and the Adobe Creative Suite.  Andrew has also worked in information graphics and is undertaking research on the economics of media advertising.  In his spare time he works as a freelance music journalist for http://pitchfork.com and other assorted outlets.

Contact Andrew

www.AndrewGaerig.com

Anna Carrington
2010 Bachelor's graduate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Anna's roles include infographics artist, Flash developer, site designer and researcher.

Anna Carrington will complete her Bachelor’s degree in May 2010 with a
concentration in graphics. She interned as a graphics reporter at the Sun
Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, FL in the summer of 2009. While working at the Sun Sentinel, Anna learned valuable reporting skills, and her interest in
infographics developed into a great appreciation for creative information design. Anna is currently studying 3D modeling and animation and learning to create interactive graphics. Anna has a background in fine art.

Contact Anna

Chris Saunders
2010 Master's graduate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Chris's roles include researcher, writer and copy editor.

Chris Saunders is a second-year master's student in UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.  He taught college English for six years before returning to school to pursue sports and feature writing.  He is interested in long-form narrative journalism and hopes to write feature stories for magazines and newspapers.  He is interested in different sub-cultures and fringe communities and how their members form identities, especially in the South.  Because of this interest, he is writing his thesis on the independent professional wrestling circuit and its wrestlers.  He lives in Mebane, N.C., with his wife, Stacie, and his daughter, Lillie.

Contact Chris

Elena Rue
Master's candidate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Elena's roles include videographer, photographer, video producer, copy editor and researcher.

Elena Rue is a graduate of Kenyon College where she studied anthropology and photography. In her photography, Rue primarily explores issues associated with international adoption and orphaned children. As a 2006 Duke University Hine Fellow, she spent 10 months working with a local NGO in Ethiopia to document the lives of AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa. Before starting graduate school Rue spent three years working for the Literacy Through Photography program at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies working collaboratively with teachers and students in Durham, N.C. and Arusha, Tanzania.

Contact Elena

http://elenarue.com

Jessey Dearing
Bachelor's candidate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Jessey's roles include videographer, photographer and video producer.

Jessey is finishing his bachelor's degree in visual communications focusing on photojournalism. He has an two-year degree in photography from Randolph Community College where he learned traditional darkroom techniques and large format photography. He also interned as a photographer at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Charleston Post & Courier. Most recently he participated in documentary projects for UNC including the Carolina Photojournalism Workshop project Being Asheville and Living Galapagos.  He currently works as an assistant photo editor at the Daily Tar Heel.

Contact Jessey

http://jesseydearing.com

Lauren Frohne

Master's candidate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Lauren's roles include managing editor, videographer, photographer, video producer and writer.

With a professional background in writing and public relations, Lauren is a Roy H. Park fellow completing her master's degree in visual journalism. In the summer of 2009, she worked as lead producer of video content on a project documenting UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School professors and as lead programmer for the UNC documentary project Living Galápagos. Outside of her graduate studies, Lauren works on a variety of writing, photography and multimedia projects for clients such as UNC-TV (http://unctv.org/ncrising), NC TraCs (http://tracs.unc.edu/) and LEARN NC (http://instructify.com/).

Contact Lauren

http://laurenfrohne.com

Luca Semprini
2010 Master's graduate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Luca's roles include marketing director, researcher, writer and copy editor.

Second-year M.A. student Luca Semprini was born and lived in Bologna, Italy, until his senior undergraduate year, which he spent studying at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After graduating in Communications from the Università degli Studi di Bologna, he decided to continue his education at UNC-CH, pursuing a Masters degree in Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. Being a racing enthusiast since its early childhood, Luca is writing a thesis about promoting MotoGP (motorcycle racing) in the U.S. market through social media. Upon graduation, he hopes to work in the racing industry as a PR/Marketing consultant.

Contact Luca

Meaghan Jennison
Master's candidate
Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy
JFK School of Government, Harvard University

For Powering a Nation, Meaghan's roles include researcher and writer.

Meaghan Jennison is a Masters in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  At the Kennedy School, she is pursuing a concentration in social and urban policy, focusing on the intersection of environmental and social policy.  She recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May of 2009, with a B.A. in public policy and a minor in environmental studies.  During her undergraduate years, Meaghan held several environmentally-related internships.  She worked in the Senate, at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., and for the Center for American Progress.  She also consulted in Cambridge, England with the UNC Center for the Environment, and studied abroad for a semester in London.

Contact Meaghan

Mike Ehrlich
2010 Bachelor's graduate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Mike's roles include videographer, photographer, video producer, writer, researcher and copy editor.

Ehrlich is finishing his degree in multimedia journalism. His experience in content and production includes video, photo, audio, reporting and writing, Flash/ActionScript, print design and copy editing. He has worked on award-winning projects in the Galapagos Islands and Asheville, North Carolina. He has also covered Division I sports, including a national championship basketball team, for the the Daily Tar Heel, and held reporting internships in Durham, N.C. and Trenton, New Jersey. His passions outside of journalism include sports, running, travel and sitting down with a good book.

Contact Mike

www.mikeehrlich.com

Monica Ulmanu
Master's candidate
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For Powering a Nation, Monica's roles include graphics and design director, infographics artist, Flash developer, site designer and researcher.

Ulmanu moved to Chapel Hill from Bucharest, Romania, in the summer of 2008 to pursue a master’s degree in visual communication. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Bucharest and has worked as a self-employed Web designer and content provider. She is passionate about information visualization, user interfaces, use of color and type, principles of design and usability. Her goal is to combine fresh perspectives and journalistic knowledge to work efficiently. Ulmanu loves to work with people but sometimes becomes totally focused on her handsome iMac.

Contact Monica

www.kestia.ro

Tracy Boyer

For Powering a Nation, Tracy's roles include researcher, writer, videographer and video producer.

Tracy Boyer is an award-winning multimedia producer, specializing in interactive Web development and multimedia storytelling. She is obtaining her dual masters degree (MSIS/MBA) at UNC-Chapel Hill, studying Human-Computer Interaction in the School’s Information Science program and Entrepreneurship at Kenan-Flagler Business School. Previously, she was a multimedia producer at Roanoke.com, served as the UNC correspondent for CNN.com and interned with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In 2007, she was selected to participate in the Poynter Summer Fellowship. Boyer graduated with a multimedia degree from UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her passions lie in travel and multimedia production with a focus on video, audio and Flash-based interactives.

Contact Tracy

www.tracynboyer.com