College Scholars Program

Student Scholar Spotlight – Ash DeRegis

Student Scholar Spotlight – Ash DeRegis

Student Scholar Spotlight – Ash DeRegis

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Ash DeRegis

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Ash DeRegis

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ash DeRegis

My program of study in College Scholars is titled “Conservation and Animal Behavior”; I am also pursuing a second major in chemistry. My goal is to create an interdisciplinary course of study that connects the science of chemistry with ecosystem restoration efforts to invoke novel ways of conserving the natural world and its resources and to explore the relationship between humans and the environment.

The idea for my senior project is to enhance designs of bioretention by implementing applications of chemical adhesion properties during the design process. Bioretention consists of any landscaped areas that are designed to treat storm-water runoff in a controlled and efficient way.

These designs are critical especially in the growing industrialized areas to maintain a healthy environment for humans and animals to coexist. This new lens of green-infrastructure design crossed with chemical research will mitigate issues such as maintenance costs, geological erosion, biohazards, and flooding.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Julia Craven

Student Scholar Spotlight – Julia Craven

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Julia Craven

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Julia Craven

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Julia Craven

My program of study is “Engineering for Sustainability.” The objective of my major is to connect the technical aspects of engineering with the humanities with an environmentally focused lens. I originally started as a civil engineering student with a deep interest in the environment, and wanted to curate a major that would specifically target the environmental aspects of civil engineering. Like most college scholars, my interests have evolved through my time at UT, and I am eternally grateful for my opportunity to integrate multiple disciplines into one major. This has led me to explore environmental topics in sociology, geography, philosophy, geology, economics, engineering, and more.

My senior project for College Scholars is a “Mercury Magazine” that explores the legacy of elemental mercury in the Y-12/Oak Ridge region. It integrates disciplines like ecology, art, sociology, engineering, policy, and history.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Keeley Wade

Student Scholar Spotlight – Keeley Wade

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Keeley Wade

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Keeley Wade

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Keeley Wade

My program of study is called “Legal and Social History” and is an interdisciplinary approach to the history of law and society. While most history programs focus almost exclusively on the content of the past, my program aims to be more forward in focus. By including the social sciences and other humanities in my study of the past, I hope to have a better grasp of the modern implications of the topics I study and to be able to include a greater variety of methodologies and perspectives.

Ultimately, my goal is to be a historian, but by crafting my own program of study through the College Scholars Program, I have been given the opportunity to view history through a greater number of perspectives.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Bella Thomas-Wilson

Student Scholar Spotlight – Bella Thomas-Wilson

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Bella Thomas-Wilson

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Bella Thomas-Wilson

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Bella Thomas-Wilson

I am a sophomore in the College Scholars program with a program titled “The Experiences and Representations of Women in American Art.”

I am examining the intersections and complexities of art, liberation, and gender. Through my studies, I intend to further my knowledge on how to be an art curator who actively listens to the desires and needs of artists. It is important to me to learn how to properly increase accessibility, visibility, and inclusivity so that underrepresented people can have a space to show their work to the greater community. I hope to represent women from different cultural backgrounds in exhibitions, highlighting the importance of equal and accurate representation. I have a passion for studying the historical artworks that are created by and associated with women—some of which have been burned, demolished, hidden, or forgotten.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Matthew Tarnoff

Student Scholar Spotlight – Matthew Tarnoff

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Matthew Tarnoff

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Matthew Tarnoff

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Matthew Tarnoff

I’m honored to be working with the College Scholars Program. My program is titled “Creative Storytelling in User Experience Design.” Essentially, it’s a combination of an English major with a concentration in creative fiction writing and an information sciences major with a concentration in user experience design.

My intention for this program and my project is to use proper design and powerful storytelling to work in video game design. As such, my project involves writing the first act of a novel and beginning to develop some basic assets for use in a game. This also involves learning 3D modeling software and game engines.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Lana Shea

Student Scholar Spotlight – Lana Shea

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Lana Shea

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Lana Shea

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Lana Shea

I created my College Scholars Program in “Health Equity” initially to remedy the lack of an undergraduate degree option in public health at UT. Completing most of the classes that have been offered through the university’s public health minor, I have gained much background knowledge that comes from this field. However, the interdisciplinary coursework I have been privileged to complete has largely shaped my program, thinking, and the trajectory of my career.

I am interested in the physical and mental health of those most affected by these structures, including people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+, and disabled populations. Being in College Scholars has enabled me to view health and healthcare through various lenses and has made me question why social justice is often excluded from conversations involving public health, despite the very nature of public health being inextricably tied to social justice.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Meghan Scott

Student Scholar Spotlight – Meghan Scott

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Meghan Scott

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Meghan Scott

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Meghan Scott

My program is “Histochemistry and Forensic Anthropology.” It explores the study of the identification of injury and disease through examination of evidence gathered by forensic anthropological and histochemical techniques. The program also emphasizes the underlying physical and chemical processes at the foundation of anatomy and physiology and stresses a cellular approach to pathology.

After obtaining an undergraduate degree, I plan to pursue a medical degree through either an accelerated three-year program or a traditional four-year path and complete a residency in pathology. I wish to become a certified forensic pathologist and handle obscure autopsies, second autopsies, and exhumation autopsies where traditional medical examination does not yield results.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Olivia Roberts

Student Scholar Spotlight – Olivia Roberts

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Olivia Roberts

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Olivia Roberts

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Olivia Roberts

Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains within the Eastern Tennessee region, I have been vastly aware of the negative stereotypes many Appalachians have faced throughout time. My program is “Interdisciplinary Appalachian Studies.” It focuses on the varied cultural identities of the region and its influences on society. My major centers on studying the diversity of the people and their land.

I plan to take courses in a variety of disciplines. One primary focus is the historical effects of stereotyping on this region. I strive to challenge misconceptions through preserving cultural heritage to promote healthy regional identities of Appalachians. Through observing hundreds of years of stereotyping, I expect to learn more about the complex connections to modern-day socioeconomic inequality this area faces. I want to understand how Appalachian traditions in art and culture can survive in the modern world and influence and enhance pride in regional identities. I continue to research how social constructs such as stereotypes perpetuate reduced opportunities and prejudice that continue to define Appalachia.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Amara Pappas

Student Scholar Spotlight – Amara Pappas

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Amara Pappas

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Amara Pappas

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Amara Pappas

My program is called “Arts Entrepreneurship,” which dives into the world of vocal performance, arts administration, the business of live performing arts, and the nonprofit sector. I take classes primarily in the College of Music and the Haslam College of Business and focus on finding connections between the two disciplines while asking the question, “How is performing arts culture changing, and how can we innovate within it?”

I joined the College Scholars Program during my sophomore year because I wanted a major that reflected and encouraged the interdisciplinarity that I was hoping to get out of my time in college. I wanted to be in multiple places at once, not studying just music or just business but a unique combination of all

Student Scholar Spotlight – Raylee Mitchell

Student Scholar Spotlight – Raylee Mitchell

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Raylee Mitchell

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Raylee Mitchell

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Raylee Mitchell

My program of study is called “Genetics and Globalization.” Through this program, I hope to examine the way that genetic sciences and people’s perceptions of them have contributed to racism, sexism, and other types of prejudice throughout history from the time of Gregor Mendel (the father of genetics) to the current day.

I want to compare reactions to genetic knowledge and discoveries and other outcroppings of activity over time and attempt to identify how the processes of globalization have changed the ways in which people express and hold prejudiced beliefs (as they relate to genetic concepts), as well as the way globalization might have had a positive impact on how people view those who present phenotypically as different than themselves.