By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
Randy Carney of Jacksonville, who graduated from North Pulaski High School in 2004, has earned a master of science degree in materials science and engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He will graduate next week after submitting his thesis, “Probing Nanoparticles and their Assemblies with Analytical Ultracentrifugation.”
Carney, 23, joined Prof. Francesco Stellacci’s project at MIT, studying cell penetration of nanoparticles for drug delivery.
Stellacci has accepted a faculty position at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, a premier technical institute in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Carney will continue his Ph.D. studies.
Carney was president of the North Pulaski High School band and graduated as valedictorian. He was an all-region and all-state band member on two different instruments, baritone saxophone and trombone.
While in high school, he also attended Governors School, where he became interested in chemistry and decided to study in college.
He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he graduated summa cum laude and earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. He spent a year in the Razorback Marching Band.
He is the son of retired Chief Master Sgt. Rich and Karen Carney of Jacksonville.
Rich Carney retired from the Air Force in 2005 after 28 years of active duty. He works for the Arkansas State Military Department at Camp Robinson. His wife has been a bookkeeper at Tolleson Elementary since 1998. They still live in Jacksonville.
Karen Carney was also in the Air Force and gave birth to their children while on assignments with her husband.
No one in their families attended college before their children started accumulating college degrees.
The Carneys have two other children, Ricky and Kylee, and a daughter-in-law, Tamara, all high achievers.
Randy, who is 26, was born at Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland. Ricky was born at Chanute Air Force Base, Ill.
Randy and Tamara met at North Pulaski High School and they were married last May. They live in Boston.
Randy, Ricky, Kylee and Tamara all attended and graduated from North Pulaski High School, and all four were in the NPHS band and all four were officers in that band.
They were all honor students and in the top 10 of their respective graduating class.
Ricky Carney, 26, graduated North Pulaski High in 2002, was an officer and an all-region band member, playing trumpet. He then attended University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where he received a bachelor of science degree in geography with a minor in psychology. He was also a trumpet player in the band at UCA.
He continued his education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to work on his master’s degree.
He recently graduated with a master of arts in geography. His thesis is “Exploration of Remote Sensing Imagery created by Dr. Harold MacDonald, 1971-1979.”
Tamara Carney, 24, Randy’s wife, who graduated from North Pulaski High School in 2003, was an officer and all-region band member, playing French horn.
She went on to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she graduated summa cum laude and earned a bachelor of science degree in biology.
She spent a year in the Razorback Marching Band. She went on to Boston University and will graduate this summer with a master of arts degree in molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry.
Her thesis is “Investigating a Role for Bioelectricity in Sea Urchin Development.”
Kylee Carney, 20, is following in her siblings’ footsteps.
She graduated from North Pulaski High School in 2007, was president of the band and an all-region band member playing French horn.
She spent her first year at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
She was also a Razorback Marching Band member for a year.
She is attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she is enrolled in the early-childhood education program. In
December 2011, she will receive a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education.
“They’re great kids,” said Karen Carney. “We did a lot of family things together. They’ve never given us any heartaches.”
She remembers when her husband was assigned to Desert Storm and she had to take care of their children by herself.
“It was hard,” Karen Carney said, “but all worth it.”
