Outstanding Graduate Student
Ifey Iwuchukwu
Ifeyinwa Iwuchukwu—Ifey, as she is known around campus—began her journey to the University of Tennessee’s Ph.D. program in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering a long way from The Hill—six thousand miles away, in fact: Ifey hails from Nigeria.
Ifey obtained her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Enugu State University of Science and Technology in Enugu, Nigeria. She was the only student who received First Class Honors in her graduating class and decided to continue her education in America.
Ifey found the University of Tennessee through the Internet, and she received her master’s degree in chemical engineering from UT’s Space Institute in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Ifey then came to UTK to obtain her Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering under the direction of Dr. Paul Frymier. “Ifey is a conscientious student and is very deliberate in the laboratory, which is necessary for experimental work,” Dr. Frymier said. “She spent a lot of time at Oak Ridge National Laboratory this past summer and drove back and forth many times a week, often having to go late at night to check her equipment.”
She is involved in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Women Engineers, and ORNL. She worked with a team of other students in Fall 2008’s AIChE’s ChemE Car competition under the direction of Dr. Frymier. Ifey is also involved with Dr. Frymier’s research at the Sustainable Energy Education and Research Center (SEERC). “I am trying to solve the world’s energy crisis,” she said. “I hope to re-engineer the components of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria as a possible solution to sustainable fuels production. I can do this in small spaces, on the lab scale for right now, but it can later be optimized on the global scale. It’s very exciting work.”
“Her experimental apparatus is custom built, and she was in charge of the construction and assembly of it from the ground up,” said Dr. Frymier. “It allows her to conduct most of her work on campus. This was a priority for us because she is not only a student but also a mother of two young children. She is able to continue to make progress with her research and maintain a family as well.”
Ifey has been married to her husband Ernest for six years. While at UTSI, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Oge who is now four years old. It was during her teaching assistantship in the Engineering Fundamentals Division that she gave birth to her baby boy, a one-year-old called Ife. “I should have named them Master’s and Doctorate,” she joked.
“It is very rewarding to see her make progress in her academic and professional development,” Dr. Frymier said. “She has high aspirations and is interested in running her own research program in a faculty appointment. She will be a fantastic representative of our program in whatever role she assumes when she graduates.”