Outstanding incoming graduate students received ARCS Oregon scholarships

The College of Science is pleased to announce that five incoming graduate students were awarded 2021-2022 ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation, Oregon Chapter scholarships. ARCS Foundation Oregon seeks to advance science and technology in the United States by funding graduate students. The scholarship provides $18,000 in financial support, payable over three years, to academically outstanding students who are U.S. citizens studying to complete Ph.D. degrees in science, engineering, mathematics, technology and medical research at Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.

Through its efforts, ARCS Oregon has supported 301 young scientists with over five million dollars in scholarship funding and encouraged them to follow their scientific passions, earn their doctorates and further scientific knowledge. Funding is made possible through endowed funds, donors and chapter fundraising.

This year, ARCS Oregon is supporting a record number of 79 scholars: 25 at OHSU, 44 at OSU and 10 at UO. The scholars are chosen from selection committees at each institution.

This year’s new Oregon State College of Science ARCS scholars include:

Rand Burnette, Physics

Rand Burnette graduated from Kenyon College in 2021 with a B.S. in physics. Burnette is studying large scale physics such as cosmology, dark matter, dark energy and general relativity.

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Rand Burnette

Erwin Cornelius, Mathematics

Cornelius received the Bergen/Kern Scholar Award from ARCS, given by Marilyn Bergen and Mary Kristen Tooze Kern. His research interests focus on machine learning methods, in particular random forests and neural networks and their applications to biological data.

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Erwin Cornelius

Lucas Kolanz, Physics

Kolanz received the Beth Ray ARCS Foundation Oregon Scholar award given by Edward J. Ray, former Oregon State University president, in memory of his wife Beth, a former ARCS member. Lucas’s research interests include computational physics, “atomic, molecular and optical” physics, biophysics, condensed matter theory and astrophysics.

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Lucas Kolanz

Sunni Patton, Microbiology

Sunni received the Jill V. Josselyn Endowed Scholar Award from ARCS Foundation Oregon. She received her B.S. in biology from Georgia State University in 2019. She will be working in the Vega Thurber Lab, pursuing research in coral microbiomes to better understand the effects of environmental and anthropogenic stressors.

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Sunni Patton

Hannah Stuwe, Biochemistry & Biophysics

Stuwe received the Bangsund Scholar Award. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Oregon State, graduating in 2019. Her research interests include biophysics, nuclear magnetic resonance, organic synthesis and natural product chemistry.