Ph.D. Student Kelly van Woesik Selected as Global One Health Fellow

The Global One Health Fellows program brings together an interdisciplinary cohort of graduate students from across the university. Through courses, networking, and opportunities for professional development, fellows broaden their knowledge in multiple domains of One Health while learning from peers and mentors to bring new perspectives that facilitate a deeper understanding in their field of study. Five students were selected from a highly competitive pool of over 60 excellent applications from across seven academic colleges here at NC State University.

Kelly van Woesik, a second year Ph.D. student in the Geospatial Analytics program and a 2024 Goodnight Doctoral Fellow, will join the 2025-2026 cohort. Kelly is advised by Dr. Natalie Nelson, a CGA Faculty Fellow and faculty member in Biological and Agricultural Engineering.

Prior to attending NCSU, Kelly received her B.Sc. honors degree in Biomathematics, summa cum laude, from the Florida Institute of Technology, together with a Cultural Competency Certificate, and earned her PADI Divemaster and AAUS scientific diver certifications. After working for a year as an Environmental Specialist analyzing water-quality data, Kelly went on to earn her M.S. in Biology With Distinction through the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science at Arizona State University, based on Hawaiʻi Island. Her M.S. thesis integrated field data and remote sensing to scale-up estimates of coral reef carbonate production in Hawaiʻi to determine the capacity of reefs to keep up with sea-level rise. Broadly, Kelly’s research interests include linking spatial analyses, machine learning, remote sensing, and ecology to better understand and preserve land-sea systems in a changing climate. Her dissertation research is at the intersection of environmental and public health, studying coastal water-quality impacts from sea-level rise.

One Health is an interdisciplinary framework that recognizes the interconnectedness of humans, animals, plants, and the environment, and seeks to sustainably optimize health across these systems. Research that utilizes the One Health approach investigates problems from multiple angles, applying systems thinking to address complex global challenges.

Congratulations, Kelly!

This article was previously published by the Global One Health Academy.