July 1, 2019

Honors College alumna Tayler Hedtke (’19), who graduated this spring with degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from the Cullen College of Engineering, has been awarded an $8,500 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship toward her graduate studies. This fall, Hedtke begins a doctoral program at Yale University, where she will study environmental engineering with a research focus on water quality. 

Hedtke’s research career began as an undergraduate at the University of Houston. In summer 2017, she conducted research at Colorado School of Mines on the removal of water contaminants using ceramic membranes and activated carbon.

Supported by a DAAD RISE scholarship, she spent summer 2018 in Germany at the University of Kaiserslautern, where she conducted research on molecular modeling and simulations. Hedtke is an active participant in STEM outreach activities through the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and served as a teaching assistant for freshmen honors engineering courses. 

Hedtke credits in particular her senior honors thesis for giving her a solid foundation for graduate school. “I received valuable insight from mentors and learned to work through experimental setbacks,” said Hedtke. “In addition to research, rigorous coursework provided the framework for me to move into higher-level material and its applications.”

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi currently awards fifty fellowships of $8,500 each to members entering the first year of graduate or professional study. Each active PKP chapter may select one candidate from among its local applicants to compete with outstanding Phi Kappa Phi members across the country.

Graduating seniors interested in applying for a PKP fellowship should contact Dr. Ben Rayder at btrayder@Central.UH.EDU, director of national fellowships and major awards in the Office of Undergraduate Research.