Olivia Walch
Murray 1693 Scholar
Hometown
Fairfax Station, VA (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology)
Why W&M?
If you're looking at this page and trying to decide whether or not to apply for the Murray scholarship, my vote is yes, yes, get on it already. William & Mary is the real deal. Beyond the benefits the Murray scholarship affords, beyond the incredible faculty and campus, beyond the zillion opportunities for undergraduate research available, there exists a college community unlike any I have ever encountered. Seriously: Lucky doesn't begin to describe how I felt being at W&M.
Majors
Math and Physics
Extracurriculars
I divided my spare time between Alpha Phi Omega (service fraternity), the Flat Hat (student newspaper), and the W&M Rowing Club (boats). I also produced a television show (on WMTV).
During my senior year at W&M, I was named America's Next Great Cartoonist by the Washington Post.
Research at W&M
- math research (linear algebra)
- computational biology research
Where am I now?
I'm a Ph.D candidate in Applied Mathematics at the University of Michigan and an NSF graduate research fellow. My research focus is the mathematics of biological clocks. Recently, I developed and released an app for iPhone called Entrain, which relays mathematically optimal lighting schedules for overcoming jet lag to users. In my spare time, I update my webcomic which gets tens of hits daily and has brought in several dollars of revenue.
