May 15, 2012 — Adam LaClair, a senior at Oak Ridge High School, is the recipient of the 2012 UT-Battelle Scholarship, a four-year scholarship to the University of Tennessee (UT) awarded by the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The $20,000 scholarship, presented annually to a graduating senior with a parent who works at ORNL, is designed for an outstanding student who plans to study science, engineering or mathematics at UT.
LaClair, who is the son of Tim and Sabina LaClair of Oak Ridge, is described by his teachers as "highly motivated and ambitious," "incredibly intuitive" and "everything a teacher could hope for in a student."
His senior year has included a double load of advanced placement (AP) calculus and calculus II in addition to AP physics, AP chemistry, and AP English. In his junior year his schedule included five advanced placement courses and two honors courses. He also has experience with ORNL research: He has worked with researcher David Christen on a project examining theoretical properties of high-temperature superconductors, modeled by equations.
LaClair is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honors Society and is active in the Science Olympiad and Scholars Bowl. The Eagle Scout volunteers in the Ben Atchley Tennessee State Veteran's Home, and enjoys scuba diving, bicycling and games of strategy.
LaClair plans to major in mathematics or physics, although his experiences in the veteran's home has inspired him to pursue a career in medicine.
The UT-Battelle scholarship is a competitive award, distributed in $5,000 increments over four years of undergraduate study at UT.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.