2024 Paubox Kahikina Scholarship Update — Montana Lagat
Aloha mai kākou!
I’m Montana Lagat, a rising junior at Stanford University majoring in Chemical Engineering. I am interested in learning more about how I can apply the engineering concepts I learn to ideate new and improved methods of energy storage for renewable energy in particular.
In addition to my academic interests, I enjoy spending time outdoors and playing disc golf at the nearby Villa Maria Disc Golf Course in Cupertino.
Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
In my previous update post, I shared that I am interested in materials science and engineering, but have since declared my major to be chemical engineering. I found that I enjoyed chemical engineering coursework in my “Introduction to Chemical Engineering” course and the research areas I am interested in (battery research) can directly apply knowledge of chemical engineering. After graduating, I hope to work in battery materials research and find new ways to improve energy storage systems for next-generation batteries that will be crucial to storing and distributing energy generated by renewable systems. My passion to curb negative environmental effects of fossil fuels drives my interest in the field of materials research for greater renewable energy storage. Although I am not sure about whether I would like to attend graduate school, I have enjoyed participating in research both last summer and during the regular school year as well.
One program I participated in during the mid-Winter and Spring quarters is the Materials Science and Engineering Undergraduate Research Grant Program. This program connected me with a graduate student mentor in Professor Joseph DeSimone’s lab on campus at Stanford. The DeSimone lab focuses primarily on polymer 3D fabrication methods and leveraging additive manufacturing techniques to develop new tools for use in both the biomedical and energy storage fields.
The project I am currently working on focuses on maximizing long-term energy storage capabilities of novel carbon electrodes for use in next-generation batteries. One way I am going about maximizing energy storage is to test how different resin materials and lattice geometries affect the ECSA (Electrochemically-active surface area) of a pyrolyzed carbon electrode. ECSA is a key measurement of our electrode samples since we want to maximize this as ECSA is directly correlated with anelectrode’s energy storage capabilities. I will present more on this work and results at the Chemical Engineering Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) poster session held at Stanford in late August.
Below is a microscope image I took of one of my 3D printed polymer disc samples using a custom resin formulation created in our lab (before being infused with a carbon precursor) pyrolyzed in a high-temperature furnace:
The Impact Of Paubox On My Educational Journey
The Paubox Kahikina STEM Scholarship has helped to relieve financial stress associated with attending college, especially out of state. I greatly appreciate the renewable financial support that Paubox provides to myself as well as to other scholarship recipients. Additionally, the access to the Paubox ‘ohana (family) network is very special to me. It is inspiring for me to see many other Native Hawaiians navigate unique educational journeys and succeed in many STEM-related fields. The gratitude of Hoala Greevy, as well as the Paubox organization as a whole, has allowed me to continue to grow as a young scholar and researcher with the opportunities avaibale at Stanford without significiant financial burden!
Mahalo nui loa to Paubox and a hui hou!
