ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia congratulates UT-Battelle Scholarship winner Christiane Alvarez and her mother, Rosemary Walker of ORNL's Creative Services group. Credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., May 26, 2020 - Bearden High School senior Christiane Marie Alvarez has been named recipient of the 2020 UT-Battelle Scholarship to attend the University of Tennessee (UT).
The competitive scholarship is awarded annually to a graduating senior planning to study science, mathematics or engineering at UT and who has a parent employed by UT-Battelle, managing contractor of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The scholarship is renewable for up to four years and is worth a total of $20,000.
Alvarez is the daughter of Shelby Alvarez and Rosemary Walker of Knoxville, Tenn. Walker works in ORNL's Creative Services group as a video producer.
Alvarez' high school achievements include Harvardx Verified Certificate of Achievement, Fundamentals of Neuroscience parts 1 and 2; College Board AP Scholar with honors; Girls' State deputy to the governor; Top Ten GPA, Class of 2020; and awards at the Knoxville Federation Festival piano solo events. Her activities include Key Club, National Honor Society, Debate Club and varsity softball.
Last summer Alvarez volunteered at Susannah's House, a care facility for children of former and rehabilitation opioid-addicted mothers. She has expressed the desire to pursue studies in biology and neuroscience to better understand substance addiction and its treatment and prevention.
Since the beginning of the year Alvarez has been working with Daniel Jacobson, chief scientist for Computational Systems Biology at ORNL, where she has managed large data sets. She also worked last year with Rebecca Prosser, UT professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology.
"Christiane is exactly the type of student that we need to support and foster the development of. She has great potential to be a successful member of the scientific community," Jacobson said in his letter of support.
