Named in honor of President Philip J. Hanlon '77, the Hanlon Scholar Program supports students who demonstrate great promise to bring positive change in society with a strong commitment and creative thinking. This highly selective scholar program offers generous learning grants to help students navigate and leverage resources to implement ideas in their research proposals.
"I came into college wanting to study biology. But, as I took more chemistry classes and began working with Professor Qi through the WISP program, I found that what I was actually interested in was chemistry." Early course and research experience in Chemistry at Dartmouth offered Katie a fresh view on what Chemistry entails, "Biology often left me asking why–why would certain processes occur? Why do these molecules 'want' to do this? And the answer to that 'why' was always chemistry. As the central science, I found so many answers in chemistry." A deeper dive into research as a sophomore in a computational chemistry lab, along with the relationships she formed with other undergrads, graduate students, and faculty in the chemistry department, reinforced Katie's determination to pursue a PhD degree in Chemistry and continue research in academia or industry.
Through the Hanlon Scholar Program, Katie aims to make an impact on society by "pushing the pharmaceutical field to rethink how research and development is done: pivoting from a trial-and-error wet lab approach, to a computational, rationally-designed approach." Over the next two years, Katie will work under the guidance of Professor Xin Qi to explore protein engineering using innovative computational methods. She will wisely use the learning grant to visit labs at other institutions, attend conferences, and participate in other events to enrich her experience. In her free time, Katie enjoys skiing, peak bagging, and helping others discover a love for chemistry.