Erin Johnson
Erin Johnson, a postgraduate chemical engineering student at Imperial College London, U.K., is awarded the Ashok Kumar Fellowship 2017. The Fellowship is jointly funded by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the North-East England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) and awarded annually to a graduate chemical engineer working in research. The prize is an opportunity to spend three months working at the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) with a focus on producing a parliamentary briefing note for Members of Parliament on a relevant subject.
The Fellowship was created following the sudden death of Ashok Kumar, a Fellow of IChemE and Labor Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and Cleveland East, U.K., in 2010. At the time, he was the only chartered chemical engineer in the U.K. House of Commons.
Johnson decided to study chemical engineering because she was passionate about sustainable energy and wanted to help address the challenges of climate change, according to IChemE. She graduated with a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College London, U.K. in 2010 and was accepted into National Grid’s graduate program in the same year, spending five years with the organization working in various areas.
Johnson enrolled back into Imperial College in 2015 to study for her Ph.D. at the University’s Centre for Process Systems Engineering. Her doctorate looks to establish how green gas should be deployed in the U.K. to maximize environmental benefits and minimize cost.
Erin will start the Fellowship at POST in a few months, according to IChemE.
For more information, visit: www.icheme.org