Celebrating Diversity - Courtney Keiser

Women's History Month: March

In the College of Engineering, all are welcome. To better share the stories of how our faculty, staff, students and alumni are diverse in their many varying forms, we are celebrating various heritage and other nationally recognized months. This recognition will include stories about those in our greater engineering community, as well as sharing events and other opportunities.

Courtney Keiser

Graduate Research Assistant, Ph.D., Materials Engineering
Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Q: Describe a bit about your personal and/or professional background.

A: I pursued my undergraduate studies at the University of Northern Iowa, where I earned a B.S. in physics and minors in math and nanoscience/nanotechnology. While I was in school, I had the opportunity to perform undergraduate research with a female physics professor who played a pivotal role in inspiring my curiosity for materials research. In her lab, I learned Raman spectroscopy techniques to study vibration modes in graphene nanostructures, laser-induced oxidation, and optical properties of topological insulator nanoplates. In addition, I had the honor of spending two summers as a research intern at Purdue University and Argonne National Lab. At Purdue, I worked in the Physics Department on graphene exfoliation and transfer methods to fabricate twisted bilayer graphene as practice for developing a superconductor-insulator-superconductor device from the same process. While at Argonne, I studied terahertz radiation from bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (BSCCO) mesa devices fabricated within the lab. From my undergraduate experiences in materials research, I knew I wanted to further develop my skills and learn as much as I could about materials science. This stimulated me to pursue a Ph.D. in materials engineering. I am currently a fifth-year materials engineering Ph.D. student. After graduating, I aspire to lead my own research group in materials R&D.

Q: What is your role in the College of Engineering – and what do you enjoy (love!) about what you are doing?

A: I am a graduate research assistant in the MME department and work in Dr. Alexey Kamenskiy's cardiovascular biomechanics research group. My research is focused on designing and manufacturing reinforced elastomeric vascular bypass grafts capable of longitudinal pre-stretch for treating patients with peripheral artery disease. While working on this project, I have gained diverse academic knowledge in different fields of engineering and biology. I have the opportunity to work with a team of multidisciplinary experts that foster my professional development in advanced nano- and bio-materials for medical applications. I am interacting with vascular surgeons and engineers on a daily basis, which allows me to study the most important clinical problems in the field of cardiovascular biomechanics. I love the exposure to all aspects of cardiovascular device development I have been able to experience, and the overall impact of our work towards developing next-generation vascular grafts.

Q: How do you bring your own unique background to your role/responsibilities in the college or your professional life?

A: When I was an undergraduate, I founded and led a Women in Physics (WiP) club at my University. Being the only female in my graduating class, I knew the importance of supporting other females within the department as they pursued a male-dominated degree. We utilized WiP to share our experiences, participate in outreach, and support each other's growth as we pushed onwards to earn our degrees.

When I came to UNL I immediately wanted to get involved in the collegiate SWE (Society of Women Engineers) section but noticed there were no graduate students involved. I took it upon myself to advocate for the female graduate engineering students and formed a graduate SWE group. GradSWE has brought together 30+ members over the last year towards a common goal of building a positive graduate student community that reminds everyone that they are smart, valued, and deserving of their graduate position.

Q: What advice or words of wisdom could you share with others in our engineering community (staff, faculty, students, alums)?

A: Your persistence will be your biggest key to success. There will be times when the project you are working on fails and becomes very overwhelming despite how much effort you put in. This is good, it means you have chosen to work on a challenging problem and you are pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone! Don't give up.

And secondly, find a group of people that will support you professionally and personally. You are not on this journey alone, and these people will be your reminder that you are smart and capable of anything put in your way.