Every time Chad Sauvola of Wofford College conducts research in a biology lab, he feels like he’s privy to a secret.
“The lab is the place where research that no one else knows about is going on,” says Sauvola, South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (SCICU) 2014 J. Lacy McLean Award winner, recognizing him as the organization’s student of the year. “Working at the interface of knowledge is an absolutely addictive thing.”
In addition to spending three years in biology labs at Wofford College, the Greer, S.C., student recently returned from a summer internship in a molecular neuroscience lab at MIT. The research was designed to help develop a critical tool that’s “missing from the molecular science tool box.” Sauvola spent the summer before that in a similar lab at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Now he is in Denmark for a semester abroad, where, because of a contact he made at MIT, he will be conducting research in yet another lab at the University of Copenhagen.
“This is what I want to do,” says Sauvola, who plans to enroll in a Ph.D. program in molecular biology after he graduates from Wofford. His first choice is MIT, but he’s also considering Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
Sauvola enjoys a challenge. In addition to majoring in biology at Wofford, he is working toward an art history degree as well.
“I like to be as broadly knowledgeable as possible,” he says. “Art history is difficult for me because of the subjectivity. There’s no completely right answer, so I have to think differently.”
Sauvola also plays piano and is an active member of Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society.
“For me, college has been incredibly important, and it wouldn’t have been possible without scholarships and financial aid from sources such as the South Carolina Tuition Grant,” says Sauvola. “I’m very thankful that I’ve gotten the opportunity to be in this type of environment where I’m challenged and pushed to learn as much as I can.”
Sauvola believes Wofford’s Biology Department has provided the foundation for his success.
“The whole department has mentored me,” says Sauvola. “The students and faculty are motivated and intelligent. The faculty is excited to teach, and the students are excited to learn. It’s a great environment.”
Sauvola, a graduate of Blue Ridge High School and the son of Amy and Mark Sauvola of Greer, S.C., will miss the SCICU board meeting and awards luncheon, which was held on Wofford’s campus on Sept. 24. Instead he was doing what he loves best: studying the environmental science of the Arctic and continuing to delve into the secrets of micro biology in the lab in Copenhagen.
He says there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.
The J. Lacy McLean Award is presented each year to the Independent College Student of the Year in memory of J. Lacy McLean, the first executive secretary of SCICU.