Graduate Student Profile: Colleen Lawlor

Colleen Lawlor is a Ph.D. student working in Professor Jim Engstrom's research group. Her work utilizes atomic layer deposition (ALD), a technique in which a substrate is exposed to precursor gases that undergo self-limiting and irreversible chemical reactions with the substrate surface to create conformal thin films with particular composition. In area selective ALD, the objective is to prevent irreversible growth in areas of the substrate where deposition is not desired. A significant advantage of area selective ALD is the potential to improve throughput at semiconductor chip production facilities. A novel idea is to introduce a gaseous inhibitor molecule with the precursor; this inhibitor should compete for binding sites and prevent precursor adsorption on one substrate, while the deposition on the other substrate proceeds unrestrained. 

Colleen used AutoCAD to design a vacuum chamber that incorporates a quartz crystal microbalance, which will be used to characterize potential inhibitors for competitive adsorption. Quartz wafers have an intrinsic vibrational frequency which can be exploited to measure deposition and adsorption/ desorportion behavior on the crystal. This allows the dynamics and thickness changes of individual ALD cycles to be analyzed where post-deposition analysis may only provide the total thing film thickness after a particular time or number of cycles. 

Outside the lab, Colleen joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Women's Group (CBE Women) during her first year as the representative for her class, and organized the first Lisa Walker Seminar entitled, "Be the architect of your own life." While serving as Vice President the following year, she planned professional development events and the second Lisa Walker seminar, given by an instructor at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. As President in her third year of service, Colleen ensured that all events were planned and executed properly and effectively and identified new initiatives for the group to pursue. Next year she will serve as Publicity Coordinator for the group, which will require designing and distributing advertising materials for events and is the planning for the Graduate Research Symposium. Colleen also volunteered as the Parent Program lead for the signature WOMEN Outreach Event for three years, a role that explains the complicated college admissions and financial aid processes to parents of student attendees. 

The CBE Graduate Alumni Reunion was envisioned by another graduate student to celebrate the achievements of CBE graduate alumni and connect them with current graduate students. Colleen assisted in planning the inaugural 2018 Reunion and the second Reunion in 2019. The event showcased the value a of CBE degree and the diversity of career opportunities available for students to pursue. It also allowed alumni to meet with other graduates and former advisers, to learn about current research initiatives in the department, and enjoy some time back in Olin Hall.

During her Ph.D., Colleen will work hard to become proficient at a new set of skills, including maintaining a vacuum chamber and several sophisticated thin film characterization techniques. She also plans to improve her leadership and management skills by continuing to seek positions in various organizations where she can be of service to others while supporting her values and goals.