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Local angle: Wilmington

Photo note: To download a photo of Varner, see end of release.

Varner wins Rieser Fellowship, will study in Spain next year

CHAPEL HILL -- One senior in cap and gown at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill commencement ceremony Sunday (May 18) won’t be graduating – well, not exactly.

Ken Varner of Wilmington has added a fifth year of undergraduate work to study physics in Spain next year at the Solar Energy Institute of Madrid, researching the potential for highly efficient industrial solar cells.

"I will be walking at this graduation since I will not be able to attend my own (next year)," Varner said. "I will still be in Spain."

Helping to make his study abroad possible will be a $5,000 Leonard M. Rieser Fellowship in Science, Technology and Global Security from the Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, based at the University of Chicago.

Varner is the first Carolina student to win the Rieser, created in 1999 and first awarded in 2000, said Stephen Schwartz, the foundation’s executive director and publisher of its bimonthly magazine, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Three to five scholarships of $2,500 to $5,000 are awarded each spring. This year three students won. The other winners were from Stanford University and Dartmouth College, Schwartz said.

Varner also is one of 14 UNC students in the sciences who will study abroad next year, a record number for the university, said Dr. Tomas Baer, a Kenan professor of chemistry who has been at Carolina for 32 years. Five will be in Spain, four in France, one in Germany and two each in Scotland and England, all as part of the TransAtlantic Science Student Exchange Program, for which Baer is academic adviser at UNC. Those going to non-English-speaking countries have schooled in the languages spoken there.

"Science is an international activity," Baer said. "As a scientist, I deal on a daily basis with my colleagues in Asia and Europe. For these students, spending some time abroad and working along with the people there will be extremely helpful to their future careers."

A physics major with a minor in music, Varner is the son of Wayne and Becky Varner of Wilmington and a 1999 graduate of John. T. Hoggard High School. He will use the fellowship to realize his dream of understanding and helping to develop renewable energy sources.

"I hope to play a significant role in renewable energy development both here in the United States and in developing countries," he said. "I want to work for an institution that addresses the political, economic, educational and scientific aspects of renewable energy as it relates to communities."

Recently he installed solar panels at the Morehead Observatory, working with UNC professor of physics and astronomy Dr. Wayne Christiansen. This summer he will work for the physics department, designing and building a lab that allows UNC students to conduct experiments involving the panels.

The Rieser Fellowships honor the late scientist (1922-98) and Dartmouth physics professor, who advocated peaceful resolution of conflicts. He chaired the foundation’s board from 1984-98.

"Leonard Rieser believed very strongly in young people and the contributions they could make toward making the world a better place," Schwartz said. "This fellowship is designed to encourage undergraduate students to explore the connections among science, technology, public policy and global security. Ken’s application was very strong. In many ways he exemplifies the type of student we would like to see apply for this in the future."

The not-for-profit Educational Foundation’s mission is to inform citizens about global security issues, especially dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, and about other issues involving nuclear technology. Support comes from individual donations and from organizations including the Prospect Hill Foundation and the Ploughshares Fund.

Varner expects that studying in Europe will give him a strong leg-up in his field. "Europe is much farther ahead with renewable energy development and implementation," he said. "I hope my time there will allow me to gain an understanding of how to get a national community involved. I will then bring that back to the United States."

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Photo url: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/students/varner_ken.jpg

Contacts: Ken Varner, 919-914-7104 until Monday (May 19), fidboy@email.unc.edu;
Baer, 919-962-1580, baer@unc.edu; Schwartz, 773-702-0077, sschwartz@thebulletin.org

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu