Mallory Ladd recently started a new role as a scientific analyst for the director of Surface Warfare (N96), within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a federally-funded, nonprofit research and analysis organization in Arlington, Va.

Ladd previously specialized in Arctic maritime operations, training and readiness with interests in cyberspace operations and climate security.

Ladd completed her PhD in Energy Science and Engineering with a concentration in analytical chemistry at UT-ORII’s Bredesen Center in 2018 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Ladd won a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation in 2014 and developed a top website where program applicants can view examples of past successful essays and suggested best practices.

While completing her graduate studies, she founded “Pipeline: Vols for Women in STEM” that hosted an annual symposium where undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields made presentations about their research at the University of Tennessee and ORNL.

In 2016, she was one of 600 graduate students invited to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Bavaria, Germany. There, she networked with other graduate students and a group of Nobel Laureates, and she joined two laureates — 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner Harold Varmus, and 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Brian Schmidt — on a panel discussing science communication.

Ladd’s dissertation research focused on developing analytical techniques to characterize the chemistry of permafrost soils in the Arctic. She worked with the Department of Energy’s Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE-Arctic) Project, which allowed her to conduct fieldwork in the Alaskan Arctic, collecting soil and ice cores to bring back to ORNL to run experiments. 

“It was my work on climate change and permafrost modeling that led me to cross paths with a retired three-star admiral who happened to be on the board of CNA at the time. We were both invited to speak on climate security at ORNL and got to talking. Within three weeks I was visiting CNA headquarters and a week after that had a job offer.”

In her newest role within the CNA, Ladd said she’s “looking forward to building on and leveraging my recent experiences with The Joint Staff and previous embedded support to strike group commanders as I move over to the Pentagon.”

Ladd lives in the D.C. metro area with her husband, fellow Bredesen Center graduate Tony Bova, who is founder and CEO of mobius (formerly Grow Bioplastics).

As the Membership, Engagement and Early Career programs manager for the

Genetics Society of America (GSA), Jessica Vélez uses her Bredesen Center training to help scientists explore career opportunities and develop new skills.

Vélez earned her PhD in Energy Science and Engineering at UT-ORII’s Bredesen Center in 2020. Her research focused on Cenococcum geophilum, a fungus commonly found in forests, and its tolerance for heavy metals. If capable of thriving in the presence of these metals, the fungus could nurture poplar trees planted in mining runoff sites and other polluted areas. Meanwhile, the trees, harvested for biofuel production, could help drain the harmful chemicals from the soil.

With this research specialty, Vélez could have pursued a career in academia or at a national lab or a governmental agency, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Department of Energy.

“But it’s a very small community that studies this,” she said.

In UT-ORII’s PhD programs, students are urged to think about careers beyond the lab or classroom. They explore policymaking, entrepreneurship, and science communication and outreach.

For Vélez, science communication and outreach began a passion: “I really enjoy the challenge of trying to explain what scientists do.”

As Vélez was completing her PhD, she was accepted into the GSA’s Early Career Leadership Program that allows graduate students and post-docs to network, work on projects to help other early career scientists and hone their writing skills. After completing her PhD, she stayed involved with the GSA as a contractor and volunteer. In February 2021, she was hired into her current position.

GSA has about 5,000 members, including governmental research scientists, college professors, post-docs, and graduate students. Although the organization is based in Pennsylvania and Maryland, Vélez lives in Knoxville and works remotely. She plans professional development programs, conferences, seminars, and other activities for members and prospective members.

Before studying at the UT-ORII’s Bredesen Center, Vélez earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from UT Knoxville and a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from the University of Texas at Austin.

In her job, she draws on all this expertise: “English and science are not all that different,” she said. “You’re just applying the same skills in a different way – dissecting things and coming up with hypotheses to determine meaning.”

Erica Grant is the inventor and founder of Quantal Security LLC. Grant’s company uses quantum physics to create better security for door locks and equipment access in facilities that store proprietary information, or which may be at risk for terrorist attacks.

Now in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory‘s Innovation Crossroads program, Grant completed her PhD in cross-cutting energy science, specializing in quantum computing, at UT Knoxville in December 2020.

Quantal Security uses the inherent randomness in quantum physics to create unpredictable and encrypted digital keys that secure locks, equipment, computers, or robots embedded with technologies that allow them to connect with other devices or systems via communications networks. The mission of Quantal Security is to create the best in physical security as it becomes increasingly linked to cybersecurity.

Grant said the market for Quantal Security includes industrial control systems in the energy, manufacturing, and government sectors. The technology also can be applied to hotels, apartments, and other facilities.

Raised in Richmond, Va., Grant learned about entrepreneurship from her father who started Blue Triangle Technologies to monitor the effectiveness of commerce websites. During high school, Grant helped her dad at trade shows and with digital marketing.

Grant earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and minor in nanotechnology at Virginia Tech. She became interested in quantum computing after two internships at ORNL. She chose UT-ORII’s Energy Science and Engineering PhD program, in part, for its multidisciplinary entrepreneurial track.

“I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur to create something new that could positively impact the world and build my own team for innovation,” she said.

As part of Innovation Crossroads, Grant works with the Cybersecurity Institute at ORNL to develop prototypes. She hopes to have a pilot version in 2022. Grant has two patents for the Quantal Security technology with 100 percent ownership.

With $500,000 from the Department of Energy’s Innovation Crossroads program, Grant has built a team of engineers, scientists, and business-minded industry experts. She also earned $75,000 in start-up money from several entrepreneurial competitions, including Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s 2019 “What’s the Big Idea?” pitch competition; the 2018 and 2019 VolCourt contests, the 2018 Boyd Venture Challenge, Launch Tennessee’s 36/86 Business Plan Competition, Innov865‘s Startup Day, and the Stu Clark New Venture Challenge. In 2021, Grant was named to Forbes’ “Next 1000” list.

To learn more about Grant’s company, go to: https://quantalsecurity.com/