OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 12, 2014 – Maria Varela, a researcher at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the Microscopy Society of America's Burton Medal for early career scientists.
Varela's research experience includes thin-film growth, transport properties and structural characterization by x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. She specializes in aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and atomic resolution energy loss spectroscopy.
After receiving her doctorate in physics from Complutense University, Madrid, Spain, Varela came to ORNL as a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow. She has approximately 180 publications in refereed journals and has presented more than 100 invited talks and seminars. She has collaborated with scientists from more than 50 universities in the United States and abroad.
The Burton Medal annually honors distinguished contributions to the field of microscopy and microanalysis by a scientist who is less than 40 years of age.
Varela, who works in the Materials Science and Technology Division's Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy group, resides in Oak Ridge.
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