Kristie J. Koski

Kristie J. Koski is an Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis.

Education and Career
Originally from Powell, Wyoming, she acquired her Bachelors of Science in Physics, another Bachelors of Science in Chemistry, as well as a minor in Latin at the University of Wyoming in 2002. She would then relocate to California to attend graduate school and obtain her PhD at University of California, Berkeley, specializing in Physical Chemistry where she also simultaneously worked in the Alivisatos group which studied nanomaterials. Koski would then move to Arizona for a brief period to start her postdoctoral studies at Arizona State University. During her time in Arizona State University, Koski studied and analyzed the mechanical properties of spider silk. Koski would move back to California once again, but this time to finish her postdoctoral studies in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

After completing her postdoctoral studies of Material Science and Engineering at Stanford University, Koski moved to Providence, Rhode Island to be an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department at the prestigious college of Brown University in 2013, marking the beginning of her career as an Assistant Professor. Koski would spend 3 years teaching at Brown University. In the year of 2016, Koski eventually left Brown University and moved back to California. She would then be hired, and is currently working, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis.

While at the University of California, Davis, Koski would become the lead investigator of her own lab. The goals of her lab include, “spanning physics, chemistry, and material science & engineering”. The current research is centered around two-dimensional (2D) layered nanomaterials. Their work incorporates every facet of 2D nanomaterials, including: developing novel synthetic growth methods and new chemical methods/techniques for electro-optical tailoring, optical property measurements, and direct application.

Awards and Professional Highlights
During her time working within academia and in the field of Material Science and Engineering, Koski has published research papers ranging from Physical Review Materials to The Journal of Chemical Physics. Koski also has research paper published in the highly prestigious Journal of Physics. Additionally, Koski was also awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2015 for her work and contributions in Condensed Matter Physics, Solid State & Materials Chemistry. The NSF CAREER Award is the most prominent award offered by the National Science Foundation and is awarded to Assistant Professors who are on track to become tenured which provides the winners with a federal grant for research as well as education opportunities over a 5 year time period. Another award that Koski acquired was the Nano Research Young Innovator (NR45) Award in nanoenergy. The NR45 award is offered to “young researchers in various fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology, in recognition of their distinguished accomplishments and/or potential to make substantial contributions to their fields”. The NR45 Award is also given only to researchers under the age of forty five, and are selected through a rigorous and competitive process by an award committee from an editorial board. Koski had been given this award for her work in measuring pressure-induced semiconductive-to-metal phase transition behavior for 2D layered silicon telluride nanoplates.