Dr. Karen Haman enjoyed two summers of undergraduate research in Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State. Now, as a newly-hired lecturer in Chemical and Biological Engineering, the native of nearby Huxley, Iowa said she is ready to embrace a return to ISU. “This is like a homecoming for me,” said Haman, who recently completed her Ph.D. program in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota.
Her thesis research involved mechanistic investigations of a family of block copolymer surfactants and their therapeutic interactions with compromised cell membranes. The work was done in collaboration with the medical school at Minnesota. She received a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from The University of Iowa in 2009.
Haman said while teaching was always an interest of hers, it wasn’t until her graduate school experience that she began to think of it as a career choice. “It was during a certain teaching assistant assignment in product design when I began to consider it,” she said. “As part of that class, the full range of chemical engineering principles were employed in project-based learning, alongside ever-important communication skills. I found the combination enjoyable and rewarding, and I really enjoyed working with students to become better communicators.”
That desire to help students advance through communication has become a driving force. “As a lecturer, I will be seeking ways to grow my students’ confidence in conveying their technical expertise clearly and accurately to the mixed audiences they will encounter in the marketplace,” she emphasized.
Haman will teach CH E 426, Chemical Engineering Lab II, and will team with Dr. Matthew Panthani to teach CH E 381, Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, in the fall semester. Her faculty member web page can be found here.