The Guy Stevenson Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies

The Guy Stevenson Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies honors a former dean of the Graduate School and is presented to an outstanding doctoral degree recipient who has demonstrated excellence in both scholarship and leadership within the discipline and has made significant contributions to teaching and/or service. Thomas Christopher Brown is the recipient of this year’s Stevenson award and, as such, serves as the Graduate School’s outstanding student, carries our banner for the Hooding and Commencement ceremonies, and delivers the student speech for the Hooding ceremony.Thomas Christopher Brown (Chris) grew up in Burns, Tennessee, a town of 2000 people, watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, participating in science fairs, 4H, and scouting, eventually achieving Eagle Scout. From these activities, Chris learned the value of both science and service to others.

Thomas Christopher Brown (Chris) grew up in Burns, Tennessee, a town of 2000 people, watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, participating in science fairs, 4H, and scouting, eventually achieving Eagle Scout. From these activities, Chris learned the value of both science and service to others.

He did his undergraduate work at East Tennessee State University, where he did research in labs on topics ranging from cancer to arachnids, and he also played music. He taught math for struggling middle school students in his hometown during summers. He graduated from ETSU with a BS in Biology and a BA in Bluegrass Music, and began work in a neuroscience lab at his university, which solidified his desire to pursue a career in neurobiology, and he joined the lab of Dr. Aaron McGee at the University of Louisville. Dr. McGee works on visual system plasticity, since vision is a foundational window into the function of the brain. Chris won many awards while at UofL, at Louisville Neuroscience Day, Research Louisville, the Graduate Student Research Conference, and he has presented his work at local, regional and national meetings. He also won the Three-Minute Thesis Competition held by the Graduate School and thus earned the opportunity to compete at the regional 3MT, where he was the first UofL student to make the final round of the competition. He also continued service activities by participating in outreach programs for youth in underserved areas of Louisville, by serving as the first student member on the Anatomy and Neuroscience Department’s faculty committee and organizing recruitment events at Kentucky regional and HBCU universities. He also founded and served as president of the first neurobiology graduate student organization, the Neurobiology and Anatomical Sciences Student Association (NASSA), with a goal of bringing faculty and students together for spirited conversation about science.5

Dr. McGee praises Chris’s publications and poster presentations, noting that all appeared in prestigious journals and venues, and he claims that “Chris is definitely the best graduate student in the department during the history of the Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology department. He may be the best graduate student in the biological sciences that the University of Louisville has ever produced.” Just as impressive, the chair of Chris’s department notes that he “has been a true leader among his fellow graduate students, particularly during the challenges posed by the pandemic. He organized various activities to support his peers during this difficult time, ensuring they remained connected and engaged despite the isolation. He also founded the Neuroscience and Anatomical Science Student Organization, which became a unifying force for our students, bringing them together through both recreational and academic activities, including a volleyball team and workshops for undergraduates at other regional institutions to enhance graduate recruitment.”

Thomas Christopher Brown is now pursuing postdoctoral training at the University of Arizona School of Medicine in Phoenix, and he hopes to become an independent principal-investigator. Chris says that “Like my lasting love for Star Trek, I plan to seek out strange new worlds and boldly go where no one has gone before.”