{"id":5452,"date":"2023-02-16T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=5452"},"modified":"2025-08-18T11:44:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:44:39","slug":"student-spotlight-marcus-sharp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2023\/02\/16\/student-spotlight-marcus-sharp\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Marcus Sharp"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"breadcrumbs\" typeof=\"BreadcrumbList\" vocab=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/\">\r\n\t<!-- Breadcrumb NavXT 7.2.0 -->\n<span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture.\" href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/\" class=\"main-home\" ><span property=\"name\">Voiland College<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"1\"><\/span><span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Voiland College Student Success.\" href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\" class=\"home\" aria-current=\"page\"><span property=\"name\">Voiland College Student Success<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"2\"><\/span><\/div><header class=\"wsu-article-header \">\r\n\t<h1 class=\"wsu-article-header__title\">\r\n\t\tStudent Spotlight: <br>Marcus Sharp\t<\/h1>\r\n\t\t<\/header>\r\n\n\n\n<p>Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate Marcus Sharp for his outstanding student presentation and success at AVS 68.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We asked him to share his experiences as a Washington State University graduate student that have contributed to his success.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap wsu-spacing-after--xxmedium\">\r\n\t<div class=\"wsu-overlap__container\">\r\n\t\t\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large wsu-image--style-framed\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"1056\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-792x1056.jpg\" alt=\"Marcus Sharp.\" class=\"wp-image-5456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-792x1056.jpg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-396x528.jpg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-990x1320.jpg 990w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-1188x1584.jpg 1188w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/01\/Marcus-Sharp-HeadShot-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column  wsu-overlap--surface-column wsu-overlap--overlap-xmedium\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<div style=\"height:70px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer wsu-hide--tablet\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-container wsu-dropshadow--medium wsu-color-background--white wsu-spacing-top--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-right--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-left--xmedium wsu-spacing-bottom--sxxsmall\" >\r\n    \n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Field of Study: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gradschool.wsu.edu\/degrees\/factsheet\/doctor-of-philosophy-chemical-engineering\/\">Chemical Engineering<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Awards:&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Platinum Award for Outstanding Student Presentation from the Heterogeneous Catalyst Focus Topic Symposium at<a href=\"https:\/\/avs68.avs.org\/\"> AVS 68<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1st place for graduate student presentation from the <a href=\"https:\/\/pnwavs.org\/\">PNW-AVS<\/a> conference<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\t<\/div> \r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Why did you choose WSU and your program for grad school?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I chose WSU for the opportunities it has to offer which would help me grow during my program. It has an accredited PhD program and great research facilities. I was also interested in its collaborations with its academic and government partners such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where I&#8217;m able to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">How did you get interested in this field of research? Why do you think it&#8217;s important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Catalysts are important to our everyday lives because most materials we use daily had some form of catalyst involved in its manufacturing. I wanted to be one of those people who helps to make new catalysts that are more environmental, less energy intensive and less wasteful. With climate change looming, improved catalysts are part of how we will overcome this and other challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">How is grad school different than your undergraduate experience?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest difference is your focus and how you use your time. In undergrad, you&#8217;re focused on taking classes and doing course work. Even though you still take some classes in grad school, course work isn&#8217;t your focus. Rather, you are looking into a problem or a question that doesn&#8217;t have an answer yet and you try to solve it. In many ways, it&#8217;s more rewarding than undergrad in that when you learn something, it&#8217;s what you have pieced together for yourself rather than learning about it in a lecture or textbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What advice would you give students thinking about grad school?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the most useful thing a person can do is to join a research group while they are working on their undergrad. This will give them the opportunity to see what it&#8217;s like to do research. Further, if they choose to pursue grad school, they will have the experience and, if lucky, a paper published, which will go a long way when applying to schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What do you hope to do with your graduate degree?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, I am leaning toward going into industry and want to choose a profession that is environmentally and climate change conscious. I&#8217;m interested in areas such as renewables, energy storage, energy efficiency, CO2 capture and bioenergy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marcus Sharp is a Ph.D. candidate at Washington State University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30232,"featured_media":5456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[570],"tags":[591],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[498,443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5452"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9089,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452\/revisions\/9089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5452"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=5452"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=5452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}