Student spotlight: Megan Walsh

While interning with the hospitality and decarbonization sector at Carrier, Megan Walsh discovered Carnegie Mellon connections. The models she worked on were previously developed by a CMU chemical engineering master's degree alum. Larry Biegler consulted on the project. "The support from CMU comes from everywhere," Walsh says.

With the tools and skills she's learned as a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering at CMU, Walsh says she felt capable in tackling the problems that Carrier was looking to solve. She worked on models that help building owners decide how they should operate to be as energy efficient as possible.

"Carrier needed to get an idea of how a new HVAC system for a multi-zone building would work in real life," Walsh says. Because the system hadn't been deployed yet, there was no real data. As a process systems engineer, Walsh put the new system into math to model it, then used optimization techniques to help decision-makers.

She was interested in the internship because of Carrier's efforts to increase energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and help meet net-zero goals. Although Walsh's dissertation has applications in a different industry–pharmaceutical–its underlying motivation is the same: trying to make a process more efficient.

The idea is to give them a tool to see what operating conditions will be as efficient as possible.

Megan Walsh, Ph.D. student, Chemical Engineering

Walsh, who is advised by Carl Laird and Chrysanthos Gounaris, is working with a large pharmaceutical company to develop an optimization tool to select parameters for peptide synthesis, an emerging class of pharmaceuticals.

Her work will help scientists in the process development groups. "The idea is to give them a tool to be able to see what operating conditions will be as efficient as possible in making those pharmaceuticals," she says.

In recognition of her work, Walsh was selected as a 2024 Student Award winner by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Pharmaceutical Discovery, Development and Manufacturing (PD2M) Forum.

She has also been recognized within the Department of Chemical Engineering for contributions that extend beyond her research. In May 2024, Walsh received the Mark Dennis Karl Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. The award is given annually to a student judged by the faculty and students to have done an outstanding job as a teaching assistant (TA).

As TA for the Chemical Product Design course for the past three years, Walsh led teams of students through their design projects. "I think it's particularly fun to be a TA in that class because you get to guide the seniors along their project journey and see how they're starting to use the knowledge that they've gained here and turn it into something creative," she says.

Walsh was recognized for being very student-centered, for taking initiative as a mentor, and for truly attending to the individual needs of undergraduates and new TAs.

She has been a connecting force in the department since her first year, when she served as an outreach coordinator for the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association (ChEGSA). Park cleanups, food drives, and other initiatives helped her get to know the department, the university, and Pittsburgh. She has continued to stay involved with outreach through the Gelfand Center for Service Learning and Outreach at CMU. Once a semester, Walsh helps Joanne Beckwith Maddock lead a complex fluid toys class for local elementary students.

As a second year Ph.D. student, Walsh was elected president of ChEGSA. She enjoyed helping to plan the open house for admitted students. The more connected she has become within the department, the more she wants to keep the community strong. "It feels like students, faculty, and staff really know each other, and they also want to know each other, and I think maybe that's more important," she says.

Walsh has also served as a diversity, equity, and inclusion chair for ChEGSA. "My goal is to help people feel like they belong and they have a place in the department," she says. "I want people to see themselves represented here."

As a student leader, teacher, and researcher, Walsh is committed to projects that impact people's lives and their well-being.