When she started her undergraduate degree at a community college, Emma had no idea what she wanted to major in. After taking her first chemistry course as part of a general education requirement, she quickly fell in love with the subject and decided to pursue it. When she transferred to UC Merced, she quickly became involved in research and professional development, including the CITRIS EDGE in STEM program. As a woman in STEM, she found her responsibility to help mentor other underrepresented groups interested in the field. She also pursued research under the mentorship of professor Hrant Hratchian, where she developed a code that allows for visualization of electron transfer through a chemical reaction. She will be beginning a PhD program in the fall of 2023, with plans of becoming a chemistry professor in the future.
