Elizabeth Biddinger is a fifth year Chemical Engineering PhD candidate here at Ohio State. Before she began her graduate work at OSU, she earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a math minor from Ohio University, graduating magna cum laude in 2005. When it came to choosing where to attend graduate school, OSU came recommended by one of Biddinger‘s professors at OU. She was intrigued with the work of Dr. Ozkan, a professor in Chemical Engineering at OSU. She was impressed with her presentations and her team and decided she would fit well within the group.

Biddinger has always loved math and science, which led her to pursue a career in the engineering field. Before college she was able to explore science and engineering more in depth through some camps, including Buckeye Women in Science, Engineering, and Research and Women in Engineering & Technology at OU. Through these camps and research she did early in high school, she found that chemical engineering interested her most because she could study chemical and materials, energy, and the environ-ment while using math and chemistry knowledge.
Alternative energy is the main focus of Biddinger‘s research. Currently, she is working with Dr. Ozkan on the development and study of nitrogen-containing carbon nanostructures as cathode catalysts in PEM and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells. She is specifically trying to replace the expensive platinum materials in hydrogen and methanol fuel cells with inexpensive carbon and nitrogen materials. As an undergraduate student at Ohio University, Biddinger was also involved with research. She worked in the Electrochemical Engineering Research Laboratory studying the production of hydro-gen using ammonia electrolysis of waste streams. In addition to her research experience, Biddinger also has professional experi-ence, having co-oped for Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in Findlay and Cooper-Avon Tyres in Melksham, England.

Her plan is to graduate this year and then focus on a career in academia as professor at a university. Biddinger says she is proud to be an engineer because "It‘s really exciting to go to a conference and present your work and afterward have members of industry come up to you and say they are really excited about it…Alternative energy is such an emerging field. I think any progress that can be made can really have an impact."

Outside of research and her engineering life, Biddinger enjoys running and swimming and also likes to compete in triathlons for fun. She enjoys cooking and making fancy chocolates around the holidays. Biddinger has been married for three years and likes to spend time with her husband, Josh, and their two cats, Miracle and Merlin.

Originally from Puebla, Mexico, Nicole Guzman is quickly falling in love, not only with Ohio State, but the whole city of Columbus. Nicole received not one but two B.S. degrees before coming to Ohio State to start her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. In Spring of 2005 Nicole receive a B.S in Biology at the University ot the Ameri-cas (UDLA-P) in Puebla, Mexico. In the Spring of 2006 she graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Institute of Superior Studies in Engi-neering (IESI) also in Puebla, Mexico.

After graduating, Nicole decided to come to Ohio State to complete her Ph.D. for three reasons: her advisor‘s research areas, the city of Columbus, and the RPAC! Nicole says she loves the size of the city of Columbus, not too big, not too small, and with just the right amount of distractions. She loves the ARC and the RPAC because "there's no excuse for not getting into shape here."

Her love of exercising and being active really shows in her hobbies and interests. Just in the last year Nicole has: learned how to cross country ski, gone down a louge, snow shoed across Lake Michigan, biked in a 2 day, 200 mile cycling tour between Columbus and Portsmouth, Ohio, and gone white water rafting down the New River in West Virginia.

As for her start into engineering, Nicole gives credit to her father. As an engineer, Nicole‘s father showed her how to take a big complex problem and break it down into smaller, more solvable problems that could be more easily analyzed. Nicole chose chemical engineering in particular because it integrated her passion for biochemistry and the same problem solving her father taught her.

Nicole is currently in her fourth year of the chemical engineering PhD program, under the supervision of Professor Michael Paulaitis. Her research is a combination of chemical engineering and medical
immunology. More specifically, Nicole is applying thermodynamic and kinetic concepts to areas such as immunotherapy and vaccine
technology. Nicole‘s long term goal is to use her research to actively participate in a R&D team at one of the major vaccine companies.
When asked what advice she would give to women interested in engineering and those considering graduate school, Nicole re-sponded that grad school is not just for those people "interested in a future in academia." To prove her point Nicole said, "I chose grad school because I wanted to learn much more about a specific area of knowledge."
Nicole says she feels most proud of being an engineer when she is participating in outreach programs. She likes to spread the word that engineering and science are exciting fields of study.