The Nigerian student is pursuing many interests — medical research, educational reform, poetry and dance — at Carolina.
posted via unc.edu on Friday, October 10, 2025.
Global fellow Rotdalmwa Joan Dimka ’26 does biochemistry research, studies educational curriculum, and writes poetry at Carolina. “The more I invest in each of them, they always come together. They always intersect,” she says of her wide-ranging interests.
Dimka is one of the first 12 Morehead-Cain Global Fellows, a program launched in 2024. Through the fully funded fellowship, they study here for one year before completing their studies at their home university.
The opportunity to explore drew Rotdalmwa to the fellowship program and to Carolina. She’s always been interested in educational options. At the University of Jos in Nigeria, she created the Student Republic website as a place where students could exchange ideas about their school’s policies and curriculum.
“It’s written with wit, satire, and humor,” she said of the student-run website. “We like to listen to each other rant. And one thing that’s very interesting about Nigeria is that we laugh a lot about our problems.” Rotdalmwa hopes to one day work on educational reform within the Nigerian government.
Rotdalmwa’s family has always been supportive of her education, she said. Early on, her mother favored boarding school for her. The experience gave Rotdalmwa better academic opportunities but also exposed her to bullying because of the differences in socio-economic status.
It also turned out to be what inspired Rotdalmwa’s interest in a certain area of medicine. In her studies at the University of Jos, she decided to focus on urinary tract infections, remembering how many of her boarding school friends developed UTIs.
“This is very rampant,” she said of UTIs. “I found out the basis of survival of any living organism are enzymes. And these enzymes have proteins that make their activities possible. And so I put it together — proteins, proteomics, and urinary tract infections.”
At Carolina, Rotdalmwa works in the Netz Lab, where associate professor Netz Arroyo is developing electrochemical sensors to monitor molecules within the body related to health problems — glucose monitoring for diabetes, for example.
Rotdalmwa thinks the same technology could be used to target the proteins linked to UTIs. “So I’m going to study them, study their biomarkers, and target them,” she said. “It would be a good basis of knowledge for people that want to create targeted medicine for it, or even immunizations for it.”
While she’s very interested in lab studies, Rotdalmwa is also involved in much more at Carolina. “At my home university, if you do biochemistry, that’s what you’re doing. Anything else is of your own volition,” she said. “At UNC, I get to do research and a whole mix of other courses.”
Rotdalmwa is learning to swim, and she’s also joined Zankiliwa, the African dance team. “That is the accomplishment for me, knowing that I don’t have to hold myself back. I get to say, ‘Oh, I find this interesting. You know what? I’ll do it.’”
One of the areas she’s most excited about is creative writing. “I like writing poetry and short stories. I’ve actually been hiding that part of my creative self or just saving it for later. But here it’s something I’m really willing to explore, and I’m very happy about it. I’m basically discovering a new part of my soul and a new person.”
Based on her experience, she had some advice for her fellow students. “You’re never going to have it figured out. Just make sure that you stay true to yourself and do what you love,” she said. “In life, we all are travelers. And when you’re a traveler, you’re always exactly where you’re supposed to be. That’s a beautiful thing.”
