Stanford senior awarded 2012-2013 Churchill Scholarship
Ariana Peck, a 21-year-old biology major from Belmont, Calif., was one of 14 Americans "of exceptional ability and outstanding achievement" awarded Churchill Scholarships for the coming academic year by The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. The scholarship pays for up to one year of study at the University of Cambridge.
Ariana Peck
A Stanford senior who "loves thinking about cellular physiology from a biochemical perspective" will pursue her passion for research as a 2012-2013 Churchill Scholar at the University of Cambridge.
Ariana Peck, a 21-year-old biology major from Belmont, Calif., was one of 14 Americans "of exceptional ability and outstanding achievement" awarded Churchill Scholarships for the coming academic year by The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, the foundation announced Monday.
Peck plans to pursue a master's degree in mitochondrial biology at Cambridge.
The scholarship, which is valued at about $50,000, pays for up to one year of graduate study and covers all university and college fees at Cambridge. Churchill Scholars also receive living and travel allowances. In addition, the foundation offers special research grants to cover travel for presentations at international conferences, short stays at another university or institute, and other activities.
As a high school student, Peck served as an intern at the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Research program, where she worked for Dr. Elizabeth Mellins, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine.
During her freshman and sophomore years at Stanford, Peck co-authored three review articles with Mellins that were published in Clinical Immunology, Infection and Immunity, and Immunology.
In her sophomore, junior and senior years at Stanford, Peck was awarded major research grants from the university's Office of Undergraduate Advising and Research, including a 2011 grant for a proposal titled Adapting Homogeneous Time-Resolved Fluorescence to detect HLA-DM and Immunoglobulin Interactions in B Cells.
Peck also spent nine months working as an intern on two distinct projects in the biochemistry and cellular pharmacology department of Genentech Inc., one of the world's leading biotechnology companies.
In her Churchill Scholarship application, Peck wrote that she hopes to lead her own research project in biochemistry one day, most likely in an academic setting.
"My specific interests in this field are still in flux, but I find myself especially drawn to membrane architecture, cytoskeletal dynamics, and mitochondrial energetics," she wrote. "I love thinking about cellular physiology from a biochemical perspective, and though my past experiences have focused on proteins, I am open to the idea of probing the properties of other macromolecules. Biochemical mechanisms fascinate me with their complexity and intricacies, and I'm excited to delve deeper into research after I graduate from Stanford."
At Stanford, Peck also developed a passion for cycling and joined the Stanford Cycling team. She has completed two seasons of road racing.
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