Bio

I was born in Portland Oregon and raised near by in Oregon City. Before I received my bachelors in chemistry, I worked as an independent glass artist under an apprentice of Homer Hoyt (the father of scientific glass).  My mentor had a degree in chemistry, and would regularly explain to me why different kinds of glass were colored the way they were, such as the oxidation/reduction of gold and silver glass additives. It was these discussions that sparked my interest in chemistry and ultimately inspired me to pursue a degree in the field.

I received my Bachelors of Science in Chemistry at Portland State University (PSU).  At PSU I participated in both the NSF REU program and the Semiconductor Research Corporation's undergraduate mentorship program, as a researcher in nanomaterials under Professor Jun Jiao.  I developed a novel non-aqueous binder free synthesis of spinel nanoparticles, in collaboration with a team at Shandong university, for potential use in data storage via the magneto-electric effect. For this project I designed the synthesis and constructed a supercapacitor specifically to be used in a SQUID magnetometer for testing of the nanoparticles.  I even incorporated my glass blowing skills by creating a glass containment system to hold the supercapacitor.  

I was the lab safety officer for the Jiao Lab, overseeing chemical inventory, coordinate safety protocol, and weekly group safety discussions.  Additionally I was a voting chair member on Portland State's Chemical Hygiene Committee as the nanomaterials  representative, which oversaw chemical hygiene and develops safety standards in all departments.  

During the 2018-2019 school year I was the Presidents of PSU's Student Affiliates of the ACS (SAACS), in SAACS we ran a number of events including an undergraduate research poster symposium, hosting talks with professors about graduate school admissions, liquid nitrogen ice-cream socials, ACS Chemistry in a box, and fund-raising events. I also gave multiple public demo's and guest lectures for PSU's "scientific glass blowing" class, generally going over sculptural techniques that were not covered in the course. 

PSU's proximity to Intel also allowed me to take many specialty course related to semiconductor processing, such as electronic materials and surface chemistry. I also had the opportunity to take a lab course with Professor Shankar Rananavare, where I went through performed photolithography on silicon; beginning from creating the initial oxidation layer, gaining experience with proprietary Prolith software, and real clean room etching.

I am currently a PhD student in the department of Chemistry at Michigan State University.  I work under the guidance of Professor Katharine Hunt.  I TA CEM 484, Statistical Mechanics and Molecular Thermodynamics where I oversee a class project and run recitation sections. During my time as a TA for this class I undertook a Teach as Research project as a FAST fellow, where I explored novel forms of homework and test questions that uses verbalization as a tool for students to better understand and follow the mathematics of physical chemistry problems. The motivation for this project came after I noticed students over the years making minor mathematics mistakes that led to unphysical answers, one example is anwsers giving negative heat capacities. The idea was if the students simply verbalized what the meaning of their answer, eg "A heat capacity of -5 J/K implies adding 5 J lowers the temperature by 5K", they would be able to catch this as an unphysical result and check their work. The project built off that idea, as well as establish educational tools such as scaffolding and POGIL.

In the 2022-2023 academic year I participated in the STEAMPower Fellowship where I conducted a project at the intersection of Art and Science. My project was to use my skills in chemistry to explore the creation of pigments as a DIY project. I used natural plant materials as the colorant and the reaction between potassium aluminium sulfate and sodium bicarbonate. I was able to re-explore the use of experimental techniques, such as spectroscopy and wet lab work, to optimize the reaction and produce the most vibrant pigments I could. I found materials such as blackberries, carrots and orange juice to be excellent sources of color and have continued to explore various plant materials after the project was completed.