Sankhya Hirani received her bachelor’s degree in 2021 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in Materials Science and Engineering, with a focus on electronic materials and ceramics. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Dr. Peter Pauzauskie’s group. Her research interests include studying electronic and photonic interactions in materials in materials for laser cooling and for quantum sensing and communication.
Her first undergraduate research experience was with Dr. Aimy Wissa at UIUC (2018-2019), leading a project characterizing compliant materials for bio-inspired robotic devices. She also worked on a project focused on robotic devices inspired by the mechanics and materials of a click beetle’s body that are involved in the beetle’s jumping defense mechanism. Through the National Science Foundation’s x-FU(s)ION program, Sankhya did research at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan (2019). She worked with Dr. Tatsumi Ishihara on synthesizing, characterizing, and testing solid oxide electrolysis cells. Sankhya later worked with Dr. Nicola Perry at UIUC (2020) on oxygen exchange kinetics in thin films. Through the US Department of Energy Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program, she worked at Argonne National Laboratory with Dr. Maria Chan analyzing dynamic structural fluctuations of various materials (2020).
Education:
- B.S. Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2021)