As an undergraduate at the University of Colorado Boulder, he took astronomy classes and resolved to pursue a career in the field — but the journey wasn’t easy. Boyle applied to graduate programs for years before he found one that accepted him. At one point, an adviser suggested he pursue a different field.

“I’m very glad I was stubborn and didn’t listen to him,” said Boyle, now a Carolina graduate student in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ physics and astronomy department.

Not only has Boyle found a home at UNC-Chapel Hill, but his work has drawn global attention. Boyle is the lead author of a significant new study in The Astrophysical Journal that changes the way astronomers view one of the most famous and well-studied star clusters in the universe.

Boyle and his fellow astronomers discovered that the Pleiades star cluster, known as the Seven Sisters, comprises much more than seven stars. By combining data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope, the team uncovered thousands of long-lost Pleiades siblings — or “lost sisters” — that have drifted through the universe over millions of years.

Using stellar spin rates and motion data, Boyle and the team determined that the seven stars we refer to as the Pleiades are the core of a stellar family 20 times larger than previously thought. That family, known as the Greater Pleiades Complex, comprises at least 3,000 stars — and Boyle said that estimate could be conservative.

Read more about Carolina’s research impact.

“In reality, there’s actually far more stars,” Boyle said. “Because our methodology excludes the faintest and coldest stars, that means that we’re missing most of the stars that are part of this cluster. In our membership list, we have about 3,000 stars. I did the calculation, and if you’re able to recover all the stars, there’d be 8,000 to 10,000.”

The findings have massive implications for astronomers, who have long used the Pleiades as an astronomical benchmark for studying young stars and exoplanets. Future studies using this stellar spin rate methodology could trace the origins of other stars and star clusters, perhaps even the sun itself.

These findings could also have a significant global cultural impact, as humans have marveled at the Pleiades —  visible to the naked eye on winter nights and summer mornings — for thousands of years. References to the Pleiades date back to ancient times, with the Pleiades name deriving from the seven divine sisters of Greek mythology.

The Pleiades are mentioned in religious texts like the Old Testament and Talmud. The Māori people of New Zealand call the star cluster Matariki and celebrate its rising in the sky as the start of the new year. The Japanese car company Subaru references the stars in its logo. Even the Carolina women’s ultimate Frisbee team is nicknamed the Pleiades.

The astronomical and cultural impact of this discovery is not lost on Boyle. Years ago, he wasn’t sure he would have a future in astronomy, and now his work is gaining attention from NASA and The New York Times.

“One of the reasons that we’re really excited about this discovery is because of the historical and cultural context surrounding the Pleiades,” Boyle said. “If this had been some kind of random cluster that only astronomers know about, I don’t think this would have been as exciting.

“But to be able to essentially help redefine how astronomers view a cluster that’s been looked at by humans for thousands of years, it feels humbling in a way. It shows that, even for these very well-studied objects, there are still discoveries that are sitting out there that we can make.”

The Graduate School’s annual 3MT is designed to sharpen public speaking and storytelling. Students say it’s practice for moments such as job interviews, conversations with a policymaker or reporter or meetings with potential funders. The school’s CareerWell team offers participants workshops and consultations.

Read about three projects from the competition.

Bugs as drugs

Alita Miller, a doctoral candidate in pharmaceutical sciences at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, won first place for “Bugs as Drugs: A New Way to Treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease.” Miller will represent UNC-Chapel Hill at the regional 3MT competition, hosted by the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools.

Miller is developing enhanced probiotics — the “good bacteria” people often take for gut health — to help treat inflammatory bowel diseases. She hopes to translate that research into therapies and into leadership in the biotech world.

“One big aspect of leading teams or leading a company is being able to communicate in a very easy to understand way,” she said. “That’s what I learned through the 3MT experience.”

Dialects in children’s TV shows

Nicole Peterson, a doctoral candidate in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, won the People’s Choice award for “Intersections of Dialect, Gender, Race and Class in Children’s Television.” Her research examines how streaming shows for children portray different dialects — specifically Southern accents and African American Vernacular English — and how those portrayals can reinforce stereotypes or erase authentic voices.

“I can’t present 200 pages of research in an interview, but I can get them to listen for three minutes,” Peterson said.

Peterson’s preliminary findings show that of the more than 1,000 characters studied, about 4% used a Southern accent and less than 3% used an AAVE accent.

Stereotyping of characters with Southern and African American Vernacular English accents included depicting both as nonhuman and Southern speakers as poor, uncultured and low class. Women with AAVE-accents tend to be depicted as managers and modern strong Black women, while men with AAVE-accents are often shown as emotionally immature and broken.

For Peterson, the clarity from preparing is critical to her career. “Our most marketable skill is our ability to communicate. You’re going to have to talk to people. AI is not going to get rid of that.”

Political prediction markets

Parker Bach, also a Hussman doctoral student, won second place for “Who Called It? Information, Culture and Public Opinion on Political Prediction Markets.” He researches prediction markets –– platforms where people wager on future events –– with a focus on election outcomes. “Journalists often treat odds in prediction markets like they’re science, so I want to know how people decide to bet in them,” he said.

Bach found:

• Around the 2024 elections, journalists started reporting on prediction market odds alongside or in place of poll-based forecasts.
• After the election, news references to prediction markets as evidence continued on topics beyond just elections.
• The more journalists report market odds like scientific fact, the more incentive there is for people with money to move markets artificially to make news.
• Prediction markets forecast elections fairly well, but more research is needed to know how well they predict other events.

Bach called the competition “a great chance to work on not only explaining what you’re doing to a general audience but also crystallizing for yourself why that’s important,” adding that public speaking is expected of academics but rarely taught directly.

See the presentation videos.

“My whole life, I considered North Carolina to be home,” Mathis said.

He fell in love with Chapel Hill as a teenager during a birthday trip to the Dean E. Smith Center for a men’s basketball game.

“I got to watch Matt Doherty in his first year coaching when Jason Capel got his first ever triple-double against Buffalo,” Mathis said of the December 2000 game. “It was a rough time for me, and one of the things I always looked forward to watching was Carolina men’s basketball.”

He was in high school when the family moved to Maryland, and he graduated from the University of Maryland in 2010 and joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

Nearly 25 years later, Mathis found his way back to his dream school.

Mathis is in his first semester with the online Master of Public Administration program with the UNC School of Government, while also serving as a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft maintenance officer with Marine Fighter Training Squadron 402 in Beaufort, South Carolina. He’s in the school’s first cohort of students to pursue their MPA degrees through Service to Service, a program connecting veterans and military families with education pathways and careers in public service.

A military career

His father’s military background inspired Mathis to serve his country, and his sister, Ryan, had also joined the Marine Corps — to play music.

“Seeing her become more outgoing and confident was inspiring,” said Mathis. “She attributed it to her desire to go in the Marine Corps.”

Commissioned as a Marine officer, Mathis completed flight school and joined his first operational fighter squadron in 2015. He served in key billets, including flight officer and director of safety and standardization, and deployed twice overseas, in Japan and the Middle East.

In 2020, he became an adversary pilot, graduating from TOPGUN and weapons and tactics instructor adversary courses. He served as the VMFT-402’s operations officer, guiding the squadron to activation and initial operational capability.

Another type of service

Around this time, another family member inspired Mathis. His younger brother, Sean, who had left college to work full time with the Army National Guard, resumed classes over 15 years later at Kent State University and graduated.

Attending his brother’s graduation prompted Mathis to apply to graduate school. “Why not do it now?” he remembers thinking.

Mathis enrolled in the online MPA program, explaining how difficulties in his childhood influenced his interest in public service in a Service to Service story: “Now that I am older and in a very different situation financially, I want to play a role in ensuring that others are able to receive necessary assistance like I had.”

He’s also fulfilled his dream of going to Carolina.

“I love the accessibility of the online program. Everything I need for my classes is available,” he said. “I really appreciate the amount of interaction I have with the other students. It’s been awesome to interact with people on an academic but also personal level from varied backgrounds and much different levels of experience.”

Back in Chapel Hill, Erin has gone to multiple games with his 3-year-old son, Theodore —Theo for short, just like former Carolina basketball player Theo Pinson ’18.

Mathis may soon have a special tie to Tar Heel football as well. If conditions allow, the U.S. Marine pilot may be leading the squadron flying over Kenan Stadium before the Duke-UNC game on Nov. 22.

Brandwein says giving back feels natural because UNC was pivotal in helping him find his calling. After several years working in finance, he arrived at Kenan-Flagler to explore what might come next. By graduation, the bagel shop idea that had long been on his mind had become a real company. His Carolina experience –– from faculty mentors who opened doors, classmates who workshopped ideas and local business owners who offered advice –– shaped his career and informs how he shows up now.

Brandwein arrived at Kenan-Flagler with a background in real estate, expecting to continue down that path. He recalls sitting down with Jim Spaeth, a Kenan-Flagler faculty member with expertise in real estate finance, and saying he was thinking of going in a different direction.

“In an instant, he grabbed a yellow legal pad and said, ‘Cool, what are you interested in?’ And it’s been like that ever since,” Brandwein said. “That’s the reason why I started and stayed in Chapel Hill. It’s because of the people. People here will go out of their way for you.”

After all the support he received from the University community, Brandwein feels an obligation to pay it forward.

“We’re involved in as many ways as we can be,” he said. It can be as small as donating bagels to a club event, or as big as making hundreds of Carolina blue bagels to hand out on the first day of classes, as Brandwein and his team did this fall at the Old Well alongside Chancellor Lee Roberts.

Bagels and coffee supplied by Alex Brandwein’s Chapel Hill bagel shop help give Carolina graduate students a space to unwind and connect at Grad Café. (Kelly McDaniel/The Graduate School)

Brandwein’s support also takes the shape of sharing hard-won lessons. He has been a guest speaker for classes in Kenan-Flagler and several other UNC schools. This fall, he will give a guest lecture for MAPS students on starting a business, covering topics like defining a problem, understanding a market, differentiating a product and making a successful pitch. It’s the practical, step-by-step version of his own path, distilled for students who are weighing ideas of their own.

Brandwein is proud that his team can contribute by sharing his expertise and enthusiasm, fueling a morning study session, or offering a pick-me-up during a stressful time. “If we can show up in a small way to add that special something to a moment, that’s what we want to do,” he said.

He’s quick to point out that offering support to graduate students doesn’t require a storefront or a slide deck. It starts with raising your hand. “Reach out to The Graduate School office,” he said. “They’re always ready to collaborate and listen to ideas. One conversation and you’re going to walk away with next steps.”

Sometimes that means a classroom visit or a mentorship match. Sometimes it’s as simple as a dozen bagels and a little encouragement during a busy week.

There are many ways to give back to Carolina. For Brandwein, it’s a mix of time, experience and carbs. “What started as a meeting with The Graduate School turned into a partnership,” he said. “Bring an idea, and people here help you build it.”

A fifth-year doctoral candidate in public policy at UNC–Chapel Hill, Burley Farr is mapping how and where heat harms health, testing what warnings and street-level fixes work and building tools that local officials can use to target relief where it matters most.

To conduct this work, Burley Farr needed to travel around Raleigh collecting data during the hottest time of year –– the summer. She would not have been able to dedicate her summer to this intensive fieldwork had she not earned the Dr. Bruce W. Carney and Dr. Ruth Anne Humphry Summer Research Fellowship from The Graduate School. Weekly sensor checks, data downloads and quality control consumed hours that summer teaching responsibilities would have swallowed. “This was a very time-consuming effort,” Burley Farr said. “Without the Summer Research Fellowship, I wouldn’t have had the time to plan, install and collect the data needed to finish my degree on schedule.”

Her dissertation follows the problem of urban heat from three angles. First, she’s pairing EMS and weather data to see whether public heat alerts change what happens on the ground: Do fewer people need emergency care on days when alerts go out? Do alerts encourage people to avoid high risk areas?

Second, she’s estimating heat’s burden on older adults across the Triangle, using Medicare billing data and epidemiological methods to quantify risk at the census block group level. “Heat is a challenging problem, especially in the South, because it’s always been hot and people think they’re used to it,” she said. “But heat indexes have increased over time. That means our policies and our infrastructure have to catch up.”

Third, she’s measuring the heat block by block, where people actually feel it. In partnership with the City of Raleigh, Burley Farr led a field study evaluating the city’s “cool pavement” treatment –– a rejuvenating asphalt coating designed to reflect more sunlight and hold less heat. Over the summer, she installed 60 temperature sensors across treated and untreated corridors of Raleigh and returned weekly to capture both air temperatures and humidity at head height, where pedestrians actually feel the heat. The resulting data set will help the city compare where the coating reduces temperatures, where it doesn’t and how those patterns intersect with sidewalks, bus stops, tree coverage and maintenance needs.

Growing up and attending college in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital, Burley Farr developed a passion for public policy, seeing it as “a tool to improve the places we live” and hoping to find a way to serve people across the Southeast. This year, she represented Carolina at the North Carolina General Assembly, meeting with legislators to advocate for the value of graduate student research.

For North Carolina’s cities, Burley Farr’s research can have a major impact: smarter heat alerts, targeted outreach to older adults and street-level decisions that make people safer in the places they walk, work and live. By pairing her rigorous analysis skills and her passion for public service, Burley Farr is helping communities navigate rising temperatures with practical, potentially lifesaving action.

This summer, McGlothlin visited San Cristóbal in the Galápagos Islands as a researcher herself.

In June 2024, McGlothlin received an inaugural Kenan Galapagos Fellowship through the UNC Center for Galapagos Studies, funded by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.

She spent the 2024-25 academic year juggling the responsibilities of raising a young child, settling into her second year as a doctoral student at the UNC School of Social Work, and preparing for her pilot project focused on maternal health in the Galápagos Islands.

McGlothlin soon built connections with individuals in San Cristóbal. She enlisted the help of research associates Marianella Becerra and Andrea Mayorga to better understand the unique challenges faced in the Galápagos Islands, from water quality to nutritional deficits and the challenges of travel.

McGlothlin spent her days combing through data — with the help of Becerra and Mayorga — running simulations for a workshop at Hospital General Oskar Jandl and working on her project about improving connections to postpartum resources in San Cristóbal.

In July, McGlothlin’s was one of a handful of projects on display at the 2025 Galápagos Research and Conservation Symposium, hosted by the Galapagos Science Center and the Galápagos National Park.

“I felt so incredibly proud and inspired to see Sarah’s dedication to the goals of this project and her community partners,” said Paul Lanier, professor in the UNC School of Social Work. “It was also very rewarding to see one of our doctoral students successfully apply participatory research methods learned in the classroom into a real-world study in a completely new setting.”

McGlothlin’s research follows new mothers from the moment discharge planning begins in the hospital to their first days at home — and explores how San Cristóbal’s inter-island geography complicates that journey. The team identified immediate needs — medical follow-up, mental health support, basic supplies — as well as complications like boat and plane schedules

“Follow-up care often depends on navigating a complex set of travel and access challenges,” McGlothlin said. “What families want in those early days is steady support and time to bond with their baby. Instead, many are tasked with arranging boat tickets, finding a place to sleep, and figuring out how to return for follow-up care — all while healing from birth. These overlapping demands add real pressure during a time that should be grounded in rest, connection and reliable support.”

McGlothlin emphasized how the team’s research is shaped by the lived experiences and relational knowledge of mothers, healthcare workers and community partners. When they all came together to map out what mattered most to them, emotional and mental health support topped the list.

“Rather than introducing a top-down or pre-designed intervention, we’ve worked alongside families to imagine a referral prototype that meets these challenges in ways that feel practical, rooted, and responsive to their lives,” McGlothlin said. “We’re learning from the barriers, but our focus is on the solutions.”

Read more about McGlothlin’s research.

WinSPIRE, a volunteer-led organization started in 2017, provides experience in science, technology, engineering and mathematics for both Carolina and high school students.

The organization held a six-week summer research program from mid-June to late July to expose high schoolers to different STEM concepts. Students from nine schools across the state worked with Carolina students, post-doctoral candidates and faculty who are WinSPIRE volunteers or mentors.

“I’m very passionate about science communication and making sure that scientists are being trained in this new age of technology. Especially (for those) coming from more rural areas, it’s great for them to know science is always an option for you. I love that we’re making science an option for everyone,” said Raeanne Lanphier, WinSPIRE secretary and fourth-year doctoral candidate in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

The program pairs students with a research mentor who helped them with practical lab experience, focusing on STEM topics. Every Monday, students participate in three-hour mini labs led by a graduate student or faculty member. Labs have science-adjacent activities like extraction of DNA and natural products from berries or clinical genomic variant classification in a rare disease patient.

Each high school student is paired with a research mentor who helped them with practical lab experience, focusing on STEM topics. (Submitted photo)

“It’s nice to see the students come to a lab and see what research looks like. They don’t necessarily get that at the high school level,” said Lanphier. “We’ve had quite a few students from the high school program come to UNC and are now volunteers as part of WinSPIRE.”

The organization also provides a college preparation program where students learn about different funding opportunities, scholarships and application cycles. To help students think about their life after college, WinSPIRE also hosts a career fair during the program where various professionals from the Chapel Hill area talk about their job and how they progressed in their career.

This summer, employees from nine science and technology companies came to the fair and talked to students. Students unable to attend the entire program could come to the career fair for a taste of the program experience.

The program ends with a symposium for students to explain their research to attendees, like their families, other organization members or mentors. Students leave interested in a variety of topics, from the environment to disease and cancer research.

“I hope the students take away that anyone can do this type of research no matter what background they come from,” said Lanphier. “There is a network of people who want to support you in doing this research, so you don’t feel alone going through higher education.”

“You could be me,” read the poster with a picture of Carolina mascot Rameses that he saw in Craige Residence Hall.

Four years later, Henson ’25 now knows all about being Rameses and what it entails: hyping up thousands of Tar Heel supporters at big games, roles in commercials, bus rides with the men’s basketball team and countless interactions with children enamored by a big, friendly ram.

The mascot role “does so much good,” said Henson, who’s remaining at Carolina to pursue a doctorate in geography. “It’s been a fantastic time.”

Putting on the ram’s head was Henson’s most visible campus contribution during his undergraduate career (even if we couldn’t see him inside). But he also stuck with Meantime and became its CEO for a year, studied coral reef ecology in the U.S. Virgin Islands and discovered a career path in agroclimatology through his work at the University-housed Southeastern Regional Climate Center.

The longtime incognito face of school spirit, Henson felt compelled to stay in Chapel Hill for graduate school.

“I found such a great community here that I couldn’t even consider elsewhere,” he said.

Henson performing as Rameses at the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (GoHeels)

Becoming Rameses

Henson grew up in High Point, North Carolina, but wasn’t a Tar Heel fanatic and had no mascot pursuits coming to Chapel Hill.

When he told his girlfriend and her friends about the Rameses poster in his dorm, they told him to go for it.

Before auditioning, Henson attended an interest meeting where he learned about the legacy of Jason Ray, the Rameses mascot and organ donor who died after being hit by an SUV in 2007, and the impact Rameses makes in the community. He quickly realized the role was “so much more than goofing around or wearing the suit.”

“That’s when it hit: OK, this is really amazing,” Henson said.

Henson relished game days, crowd-surfing the student section at the Smith Center and traveling to ACC and NCAA tournament games. He’s become great friends with the handful of other students who work as Rameses and Rameses Jr. and has met many fellow mascots.

He even flew down to Atlanta on short notice and appeared on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” congratulating Tar Heel first-year men’s basketball player Caleb Wilson when he committed to Carolina live on TV.

While the “high-profile” events were exciting, the most meaningful experiences for Henson were meeting with children, from birthday parties to hangouts with youngsters battling serious illnesses and in need of a smile.

“I didn’t really grasp the impact that mascots have on kids until I started doing this,” he said. “It’s Mickey Mouse to them.”

Excelling academically

Henson’s career as Rameses coincided with his climate research on how farmers can avoid bad apples.

That’s one application of agroclimatology, a field of study about climate patterns affecting agriculture. Henson, fascinated by weather as a kid, gravitated toward the discipline as he majored in environmental sciences and minored in geography.

He took courses with geography professor Chip Konrad, the director of the SERCC, who brought Henson there as an undergraduate and will advise him as a doctoral student.

Henson is creating a risk index and toolbox farmers can use to know if their crops are at risk for certain diseases depending on climate and when to take action. The work involves coding, using climate models and performing data analysis.

“You could talk to farmers and be like, ‘Hey, this is when you should spray your crops because there’s a risk for heavy infection right now,’” he said. “Ideally, taking it farther, you could expand from just apples to most crops.”

His future collaborators may be surprised to learn of his mascot past, as was the case when he revealed his secret identity to some of his classmates last spring.

“I had some group members on projects who were like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize I was working with a celebrity,’” he said. “It’s like Spider-Man or something.”

“I didn’t really grasp the impact that mascots have on kids until I started doing this,” Henson said. (Submitted photo)

Arnsberg earned a master’s degree in library science from the UNC School of Information and Library Science. A self-described lover of school, Arnsberg also holds a master’s degree in international relations from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, and a certificate in nuclear deterrence from Harvard University.

Before coming to Carolina, Arnsberg studied mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Growing up in an Air Force family, she developed a love of public service from an early age. She enrolled as an ROTC cadet and was commissioned into the Air Force upon graduation. She served on active duty for several years in Texas, at the Pentagon and in Qatar, and now continues in the reserves. In her military career, she primarily served as an operations research analyst, applying her mathematical expertise to support decision-making within the Air Force.

While her work as an Air Force officer primarily involved applying her intellectual skills to solving operational problems, her proximity to military operations fostered her growing interest in national security and international relations. Over time, she became increasingly drawn to the broader context behind the problems she was helping to solve.

“Serving in the military, you have to stay up to date on international relations,” Arnsberg said. “I was often far from the fight, but it’s important for any military person to know what’s going on in the world. If we decide to go to war, that affects all of us –– military or civilian.”

While her SILS degree developed her skills in research methods and information management, Arnsberg realized that her core interests lay in understanding how information and strategy intersect on the global stage. She is returning to Carolina as a member of the Royster Society of Fellows, The Graduate School’s prestigious fellowship program for the most talented graduate scholars.

Accepted into doctoral programs in both political science and information science, she decided to focus primarily on political science and international relations as a way of applying her expertise to pressing real-word issues.

“I’m interested in the systems that influence decision-making in war,” she said. “When we make the decision to go to war, how do our information gathering and decision-making systems operate? Researching that question could help us make better decisions related to big global conflicts.”

Arnsberg says she’s looking forward to returning to the Carolina community, citing the University’s excellence in scholarship and service. “I loved the academic environment at Carolina,” she said. “There’s a lot of momentum here to do meaningful, grounded work.”

As one of Carolina’s most promising incoming graduate students, Arnsberg hopes her research will enable her to have a positive impact on the world.

“I don’t know exactly what my next role will be, but I know I want to help people across the world avoid and recover from conflict.” Arnsberg said. “Through this degree, I’m hoping to better understand the systems that influence and shape their lives and find ways to make those systems work more fairly and effectively.”

A growing number of U.S. hospitals are now using virtual nurses to handle admissions and discharges remotely.

The promise? Relief for burnt-out bedside nurses, better care coordination and fewer patients bouncing back to the hospital within weeks.

A new study by doctoral student Blair Liu ’26 (PhD) and operations professors Yuqian Xu and Brad Staats at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School offers a comprehensive evaluation of this model.

Their verdict is striking: Virtual nursing cuts average inpatient length of stay by more than 7% and reduces readmission rates by around 2%. For overstretched U.S. health systems staring down a 300,000-nurse shortfall by 2027, this could mark an important inflection point.

“It started with curiosity and an operations lens,” says Liu. “During a hospital tour in a health care class, I saw a patient using an iPad. When I asked about it, the nursing director said it was for virtual nursing.”

What followed was an investigation into whether — and under what conditions — virtual nurses deliver measurable value.

Their model is relatively straightforward. Instead of relying solely on in-person staff, hospitals deploy experienced nurses from remote command centers or their homes to conduct high-volume, nonclinical work.

This includes patient intake, identity verification, education and discharge instructions — tasks that, while essential, often crowd the workloads of bedside teams.

The study used 28,000 inpatient encounters across two East Coast hospitals — one of which adopted the VN program. The setting allowed the authors to compare changes over time.

What they found made a real difference in how hospitals run, with reductions in length of stay and readmission rates at both the 30- and 60-day marks.

“The VN program leverages very senior nurses with deep institutional and clinical knowledge,” Liu says. “That drives those care quality impacts.”

However, the study finds that the greatest returns emerge when VNs are used during admissions, rather than discharges. Getting things organized early, like checking patient history and timeliness of care, helps the hospital stay go more smoothly and leads to better outcomes.

But deploying VNs is not as simple as plugging in a webcam.

“Hospitals need reliable Wi-Fi since virtual nurses work over video,” Liu says. “During moments of poor internet connectivity at our partner hospital, virtual nurse services — such as admission or discharge — were interrupted, and bedside nurses had to step in to complete the process instead.”

Another challenge is recruitment. “Strong candidates are needed for virtual nurse roles,” she says. For retired nurses, those with physical limitations or clinicians seeking more flexible work, virtual positions offer a meaningful return to practice.

The study points to a hybrid workforce in the future, one where knowledge can be decoupled from physical presence and redeployed at scale.

“Virtual nursing could be a good path forward,” Liu says. “New bedside nurses can really benefit from learning directly from senior virtual nurses with deep clinical and institutional knowledge.”

There are reasons for caution, though. The study’s findings, while compelling, come from a specific hospital system and implementation quality is likely to vary.

But as a growing number of facilities confront the nurse staffing crisis, the temptation to scale VN programs seems likely to grow.

“This study offers a clear message to nurse leaders,” Xu says. “Virtual nursing models can meaningfully improve hospital performance without compromising patient outcomes.”

Read more about the virtual nurse study.