ESP Biography



KATHERINE PHILLIPS, MIT Chemical Engineering Researcher




Major: Chemical Engineering

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: G

Picture of Katherine Phillips

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Katherine grew up in Charlotte, NC, before heading to Brown for college, where she graduated in 2010 with a degree in chemistry and mathematics. After spending several months conserving artwork, Katherine joined the chemistry department at Harvard, where she graduated in 2016 with a PhD. Since then, she has been a researcher at MIT studying materials for carbon capture and conversion.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

S11839: Chemistry of Art Conservation in Splash 2017 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2017)
Science and art are often seen as disparate topics, but they frequently intertwine in surprising and interesting ways. In this lecture, we will see how science can help us analyze and understand works of art. In particular, we will discuss how analytical chemistry can answer questions about visual art – questions such as: How was this made? Who made it? How old is it? Is it made with chicken eggs or duck eggs? The lecture will lead students on a visual adventure that will be fascinating for art-lovers and science-lovers alike.