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Haslam Scholars Reach New Heights

By Kevin Webster, HSP program coordinator

This commencement season we celebrate 15 outstanding scholars who will make significant contributions to their fields of study and their communities. The graduating seniors will attend nationally and internationally renowned graduate and professional schools, perform research, or begin the first steps in their professional careers.

Alex Brito will administer clinical trials at Duke University before attending medical school. Esther Choo will travel to South Korea on a Fulbright Award to research comparative anthropological aging methods of Koreans and Americans before pursuing a master’s degree in anthropology at New York University. Grant Currin will teach English through the North American Language and Culture Assistantship program in Spain. Abby Durick will continue her studies in the classics at Jesus College at the University of Oxford to obtain a master’s degree before beginning her doctoral research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on ceramics at the Minoan Palace of Malia in Crete, Greece. Robby Ferguson will begin his career as a software engineer in Birmingham, Alabama.

Ian Francis, a recipient of the 2017 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, will attend the University of Cambridge to pursue a master’s degree in mathematics through the Trinity Studentship in Mathematics before returning to the US for his doctoral studies. Libby Fortunato will begin her career as a chemical engineer within the Agricultural Solutions Division of FMC Corporation. Bryson Lype will pursue his JD as a John W. Green Scholar at the University of Tennessee. Patrick McKenzie, a recipient of the 2017 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, will attend Columbia University to pursue a PhD in evolutionary biology. Victoria Nelson will attend Michigan State University College of Law to pursue a joint JD/master’s degree under the Trustees Scholarship.

Caitlin Pinkard received the Seaton Fellowship to support her continued studies at the University of Tennessee where she will pursue a master’s degree in business analytics. Colleen Ryan received a Fulbright Postgraduate Award to pursue a master’s degree in post-war recovery studies at the University of York before pursuing a JD/PhD at Indiana University. Elizabeth Stanfield will build upon her internship experiences with United Campus Workers, Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee, and the Knox County Public Defender’s Office by pursuing a career as a community organizer in Tennessee. Anagha Uppal has offers to attend the University of Chicago for a master’s degree in computational social science and the University of California, Santa Barbara for a PhD in geography. Louis Varriano, a recipient of the 2017 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, will utilize his fellowship to pursue a PhD in physics at the University of Chicago.