Anne Fay Kyner, 2009 valedictorian of Fuqua School and daughter of Randy and Marion Kyner of Cumberland, received her Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville. Dr. Kyner presented her doctoral thesis Impulse Mitigation on Structures Impacted by Granular Media in July 2017 at UVA and has published her work in the International Journal of Impact Engineering and the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. The commencement ceremony was held at UVA Sunday, May 20.

In 2013, Kyner earned her bachelor’s degree in both mathematics and physics and graduated with honors from Roanoke College in Salem. As an undergraduate student, she began her research with the physics department at Roanoke College analyzing Mossbauer data from the planet Mars. In 2012, she attended a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program at Michigan State University physics department where she had the opportunity to conduct 10 weeks of summer research with some of the country’s leading physicists.

Kyner presented her work from this program in 2012 at the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Conference/Conference Experience for Undergraduates (CEU) hosted by the University of California in Newport Beach California. At age 26 she is working at NSWC Indian Head in Maryland in the research department.