Once upon a time, to be a “young” academic meant to be 30-something at best, bedraggled and hollow-eyed from isolated studying, skin and teeth discolored from toxic caffeine consumption. Not so Jennifer Gray, a former UNCA student working toward a PhD in philosophy at the University of South Carolina. When she was an undergraduate, her groundbreaking work on medieval philosopher Henry of Ghent led to participation in Washington, D.C.’s 12th annual Posters on the Hill Council for Undergraduate Research (the first time a UNCA student has received the honor). Still bent on studying Ghent, Gray was recently granted unusual intimacy with her subject: she spent last summer in Europe poring over his original manuscripts.