Arnold chosen as Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher

Lianna Arnold had been a lifelong Fallbrook resident, but after graduating as the Fallbrook High School valedictorian for the class of 2021, she attended the Georgia Institute of Technology.

She graduated from Georgia Tech in three years, and in April 2024, she was given the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award for the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

Arnold also studied nuclear and radiological engineering at Georgia Tech.

"The professors were all very helpful," she said. "They made sure that every student has the opportunity that they want to graduate in their time."

Arnold attended Fallbrook Street Elementary School, Live Oak Elementary School and Potter Junior High School before her four years as a Fallbrook High School student.

As a fifth-grader, she won the Poetry Writing Contest for the Fallbrook A Leer reading and family literacy event. As an eighth-grader, she took second in the Potter Junior High School spelling bee, missing her word in the 24th round.

As a Fallbrook High School sophomore, Arnold and two other biomedical engineering class students designed a robotic prosthetic hand which uses muscle sensors.

The SkillsUSA vocational arts club had a Southern California regional competition, and the three students scored 1,000 out of a possible 1,000 points at the regional level. They then won the Engineering Technology and Design category at the SkillsUSA state competition and became the first Fallbrook High School students to advance to the SkillsUSA national competition.

In addition to the presentation of the product, the students had already designed, during the national competition, the students were given a problem and materials and had to develop a solution to the problem. The scoring rubric did not provide points for creativity and innovation and emphasized the presentation, and the Fallbrook students placed 22nd despite not being familiar with the rubric.

Arnold also wrote for the Fallbrook High School student newspaper The Tomahawk, was a member of the school's academic team, participated in the San Diego County Academic Decathlon, and was involved with the Model United Nations and the school's Garden Club.

She also volunteered with the Fallbrook Beautification Alliance and tutored other students in physics and mathematics.

Her excellence in fields other than science did more than just demonstrate Arnold's various talents.

"Very helpful for college applications," she said.

She narrowed her college choices to four before selecting Georgia Tech.

"I thought it would be a good place," Arnold said.

Arnold earned some Advanced Placement credits, which helped her complete college sooner.

"They didn't credit everything, unfortunately, but I had a decent number of credits," she said.

Palomar College and Mira Costa College courses Arnold took while in high school also contributed to her college credits. She took French at the community college level, and during the summer between her first and second years at Georgia Tech, she studied abroad in France.

During the summer between her second and third years at the university, she completed an internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. In her final undergraduate year, Arnold was chosen to participate in a research project for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program hosts the annual Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awards reception to honor students who have exemplified excellence in research. Each college is invited to nominate a student to receive the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award on the basis of involvement in long-term research projects, participation in conferences, published research papers, displayed leadership within the research environment and unique contributions to the field.

Arnold worked in the radiological engineering, detection, and dosimetry laboratory. She focused on an internal seed grant project with Georgia Tech Research Institute called "Assessing Medical Countermeasures to Protect Brain Health in the Space Radiation Environment" and conducted neutron measurements and Monte Carlo simulations – calculations to predict possible outcomes of an uncertain event – during her investigation of linear energy transfer comparisons to determine the suitability of ground-based analogues for developing countermeasures to long-duration space mission radiation exposure.

The engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi accepted Arnold as a member. She graduated from Georgia Tech with a 4.0 GPA.

"I was one of those students who kept asking why about everything," Arnold said.

Arnold will remain at Georgia Tech to pursue a doctorate in nuclear engineering. She said she hopes to work in improving radiotherapeutic cancer treatments.

"I'm interested in the medical side," she said.