{"id":9675,"date":"2026-02-05T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=9675"},"modified":"2026-02-27T10:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:15:20","slug":"student-spotlight-charles-umhey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2026\/02\/05\/student-spotlight-charles-umhey\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Charles Umhey"},"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>Charles Umhey\t<\/h1>\r\n\t\t<\/header>\r\n\n\n\n<p>Voiland School graduate student Charles Umhey received the <a href=\"https:\/\/science.osti.gov\/wdts\/scgsr\">Graduate Research Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He shares his WSU experiences 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<div class=\"wp-block-image wsu-image--style-framed\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/01\/1000003115-e1768931521580-792x1031.jpg\" alt=\"Person wearing a lanyard poses in front of a poster that shows chemical bond structures.\" class=\"wp-image-9678\" width=\"606\" height=\"788\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/01\/1000003115-e1768931521580-792x1031.jpg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/01\/1000003115-e1768931521580-396x516.jpg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/01\/1000003115-e1768931521580-768x1000.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/01\/1000003115-e1768931521580-152x198.jpg 152w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/01\/1000003115-e1768931521580.jpg 1116w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column  wsu-overlap--surface-column wsu-overlap--overlap-xxmedium\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<div style=\"height:224px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer wsu-hide--tablet\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-container wsu-dropshadow--medium wsu-spacing-top--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-right--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-left--xmedium wsu-spacing-bottom--sxxsmall wsu-align-item--left wsu-color-background--white wsu-border--color-crimson\" >\r\n    \n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Field of Study: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/degrees.wsu.edu\/degree\/chemical-engineering\/\">Chemical Engineering<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Advising Faculty Member:<\/strong> Jean-Sabin McEwen<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>College: <\/strong>Montana State University, Bozeman<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Awards:<\/strong> U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship<\/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\">What does it mean to receive this award?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I am excited to explore the national laboratory system and to learn from experts in my field of research. This reward offers me the opportunity to do both which is great.<\/p>\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 choose WSU because I wanted to stay in the Pacific Northwest and several professors at my undergraduate institution recommended WSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">What is your area of research?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I study computational catalysis using density functional theory. Basically when someone wants to understand why a catalyst behaves a certain way I run simulations to model the system at the atomistic level.<\/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>I&#8217;ve always found catalysts interesting and theory allows me to dive into investigations into why catalysts behave the way the do and how they change during reactions. In industrial settings most chemical reactions are carried out with the aid of catalysts so understanding the exact mechanisms governing catalyst synthesis and activity can enable us to tailor catalysts for specific reactions which increases efficiency and makes formerly impossible things possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">What advice would you give to students thinking about grad school?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever someone asks me about grad school I always tell them to make sure they are excited about three things, the projects they are going to be working on, the person they will be working under, and the area they will be living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">What do you like to do on the Palouse when you aren&#8217;t working\/studying?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;When I&#8217;m not working or studying I enjoy hiking in spots like Moscow Mountain or Kamiak Butte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Voiland School graduate student Charles Umhey received the Graduate Research Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14162,"featured_media":9678,"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\/9675"}],"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\/14162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9675"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9912,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9675\/revisions\/9912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9675"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=9675"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=9675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}