Graduate Student Highlight: Katie O’Harra

• June 8th, 2023

Katie conducted innovative research on ionic polymers during her time as a grad student.

For Kathryn (Katie) O’Harra, attending graduate school greatly benefited her, both academically and professionally. After studying polymers as an undergraduate student, she knew she wanted to pursue a career based in academics and research so that she could have the opportunity to be at the forefront of important innovations. Hence, she decided to pursue her Ph.D.

Katie’s research as a grad student enabled her to work independently, explore new information, and execute complex projects. Unlike her experience as an undergrad, she found herself applying skills in dynamic contexts to solve interdisciplinary problems and drive the development of new ideas and products. For example, Katie developed new material classes such as ionic polymers and played a role in the design of self-healing materials. Thus, through grad school, Katie had exciting opportunities to independently discover innovative technologies rather than just apply well-known engineering solutions.

Studying in graduate school yielded clear professional and academic advantages for Katie. She presented her work at numerous national and international events through which she made impressive connections with businesses like 3M, as well as professors at prominent universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Lastly, her research allowed her to stand out in the field, leading to numerous awards and recognitions* that have benefited her visibility in both academia and industry.

Currently, Dr. O’Harra is an Assistant Professor in the UA Honors College and holds an Adjunct Professor appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Most recently, she was awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study gas transport in ionic liquid membranes at different length scales.

Katie O’Harra Awards*

• Elias Klein Travel Award (North American Membrane Society Annual Meeting, June 2018)
• 3-Minute-Thesis (3MT) Semi-Finalist (University of Alabama, 2018 and 2019)
• 1st Place in Gas Separations Category (NAMS Student Poster Competition, June 2018)
• 1st Place Springer Award for Oral Presentation [selected from PhD students/postdocs] (ILMAT 5, Nov. 2019)
• Recognition & Oral Presentation within “Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research” Symposium (ACS National Meeting, March 2020)
• 2020 Women in Chemical Engineering (WIC) Travel Award (AIChE Annual Meeting, Nov. 2020)
• Selected as Speaker/Panelist for “Soft Matter for All: Celebrating Diversity and Creativity in Soft Matter Symposium” (Princeton/UDel, Oct. 2020)
• Recipient of Engineering Council of Birmingham (ECOB) Graduate Engineering Student of the Year Award (Feb. 2021)
• 2021 3M Raising Influence in Science & Engineering (RISE) Invited Research and Professional Development Symposium (June 2021)
• 2021 DSM Bright Science Award Finalist, Competition/Presentations in Award Symposium at ACS Conf. (August 2021)
• MIT Chemical Engineering Rising Stars Workshop, Invited Participant/Presenter (Sept. 2021)
• 2021 AIChE Annual “Excellence in Graduate Student Research” Session – Selected as Speaker/Presenter (Oct. 2021)
• 2021-2022 College of Engineering Overall Graduate Student of the Year, University of Alabama (February 2022)
• 2021-2022 Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award, University of Alabama Premier Award (March 2022

Graduate Student Highlight: Chethan (Chet) Acharya

• May 18th, 2023

Chet attended the University of Alabama from 2001-2008 and is now a Principal Engineer at Southern Company

Graduate school programs offer an extraordinarily valuable experience for students looking to apply their chemical engineering degree towards research and development. For example, Chethan (Chet) Acharya, who earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the Capstone, used his graduate-level education to accelerate his professional development. Through graduate school, Chet elevated his understanding of the research process, attained essential skills centered around collaboration and communication, and expanded his professional network and credibility, all of which played a major role in his ascension to Principal Engineer at Southern Company (Birmingham, AL).

During his master’s degree, Chet was part of Dr. Alan Lane’s team, which conducted research on hydrogen fuel cells as part of a Department of Energy funded initiative to develop more sustainable energy solutions for the transportation sector. This experience gave Chethan the opportunity to conduct innovative experimental work with meaningful impact on a real-world problem. After completing his Masters, Chethan pursued his Ph.D. and was advised by Dr. Heath Turner, whose work was centered around increasing the durability and sustainability of fuel cell electrodes. Chet’s contributions to the Turner group were two-fold. First, he executed key computational analysis to develop projections for the performance of fuel cells based on certain conditions. Then, he carried out experiments to validate the findings from his calculations. Hence, Chethan emerged from graduate school experienced in both experimental and computational research.

One of the biggest takeaways Chethan had from grad school was the importance of collaboration. In his Ph.D. research, Chethan consistently worked with other people to develop new ideas and gain insights for his calculations. For example, even though he was part of Dr. Heath Turner’s group, he worked with Dr. Tonya Klein to analyze the impacts of catalysis on his project. Moreover, he met with various professors from UA’s chemistry department to assess the properties and behaviors of certain compounds. This process illustrated to Chethan that research is an open-ended and interconnected process and taught him that collaboration is the key to success. This lesson has played an important role in his work at Southern Company. He is consistently meeting with new people to work on technologies and show how they can be implemented at powerplants. Thus, the emphasis on collaboration Chet experienced in graduate school served as valuable preparation for the professional world.

Chethan also credits graduate school for boosting his ability to communicate with others. In his master’s and Ph.D. programs, he frequently had to write reports and present on his research in a way that was intricate and complete, yet straightforward. In general, Chethan believes that grad school helped him become more articulate, which has helped him become a versatile asset as an employee. Lastly, Chethan claims that graduate school opened him to a vast array of career opportunities. At conferences, Chethan was able to meet with and share his work with major companies. Moreover, Chet received multiple prestigious awards* for the research that he published, which, in conjunction with his additional degrees, offered an enhanced degree of credibility to his resume. Hence, following the completion of his Ph.D., Chethan was in a great position to start his career.

Awards*

As a Grad Student

2008 UA college of engineering outstanding dissertation award

2007 AIChE Computational Molecular Science and Engineering Forum graduate student award

2007 AIChE Catalysis and reaction Engineering Division graduate student award

2008 Chemical and Biological Engineering Graduate Student of the Year chosen by Alabama Society of Professional Engineers

Professional

Technology Transfer Award from Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)