Katie decided to return to school, motivated to be the best mother she could be and show her daughter that, with enough hard work and determination, anything is possible.

Katie Liddell is a driven and determined mother, student, and rising chemist. Katie always highly valued education: growing up, Katie watched her mother attend college while raising six children on her own and working several jobs. Katie worked hard in high school, but during her senior year, her sister suffered a mental health crisis that upended Katie and her family emotionally and financially. Under these circumstances, Katie made the difficult but necessary decision to delay college.

When Katie had her own daughter several years later, she decided to return to school, motivated to be the best mother she could be and show her daughter that, with enough hard work and determination, anything is possible. Katie enrolled at Washtenaw Community College in the STEM Scholars Program and discovered her love for chemistry and math. Katie passionately dedicated herself to the field and her community, serving as a college chemistry tutor and earning a place on the dean’s list. She also completed an internship with the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) at the University of Michigan, conducting research on biosensors that earned her a Community College Summer Fellowship Program Blue Ribbon Award and a third-place poster presentation award at the LAND conference. Her professors describe her as a “very dedicated, motivated, and intelligent student” who “truly wants to help others.”

Katie has since participated in UROP, where she assisted in the development of a fully automated radiosynthesis of [18F] BCPP-EF for mitochondrial complex 1 imaging in the human brain, and has taken a research assistant position in the department of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. After completing her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, Katie plans to continue her education and earn a PhD in chemistry.

CEW+ applauds Katie’s determination and names her an Irma M. Wyman Scholar.