Graduate Student Highlight: Charlie Crowe
Each week, the Department of Chemistry highlights a graduate student who is doing interesting and exciting work within the department. In this installment of our highlight series, we are featuring Charlie Crowe, who is a seventh-year student in the Keating group.
Charlie’s research involves the production of multiphase aqueous emulsions that mimic aspects of the cellular environment. He uses microfluidics and aqueous phase separation to control the chemical and physical aspects of the final droplets.
This week, we met virtually with Charlie to discuss his life in and outside of the lab! Please enjoy our interview with Charlie Crowe.
Question: How did you get interested in chemistry?
Answer: Ever since I was a kid, I've always liked to take things apart and understand how they work. After I took a chemistry class in school, I started thinking about chemistry as a way to explore the world at one of its most basic levels.
Q: What inspires you as a scientist?
A: I love learning new things and figuring out how complicated things work, so I've always been inspired to better understand the world around me.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky. It's the state capital, even though it's only the fourteenth largest city in Kentucky, making it one of the smallest capitals in the United States. It's also home to Buffalo Trace, a distillery that makes some of my favorite bourbon!
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: I like to build models, cook new things, go hiking, and visit museums.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I have two cats, Molly and Frankie. Even though they don't really like each other, I like them both.
Q: What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?
A: Especially when I'm new to an area and the weather is nice, I like to pick a direction and just drive a few hours, seeing what there is to see. It's been a really enjoyable way to learn more about central Pennsylvania and make it feel like it's home!
Q: What’s your dream vacation?
A: I would love to visit the Grand Canyon, or really any natural wonder of the world.
Bonus Question: Do you have any fun science trivia to share?
A: One of my favorite scientific articles ever published is "Do Large (Magnitude ≥8) Global Earthquakes Occur on Preferred Days of the Calendar Year or Lunar Cycle?" (Hough, Susan E.; Seismological Research Letters 2018, 89 (2A), 577–581. DOI: 10.1785/0220170154) because it has one of the clearest and most authoritative abstracts ever written.
Thanks to Charlie for these interesting and thoughtful answers! We hope you enjoyed this interview. Stay tuned for more graduate student highlights in the weeks to come!