Umema Khan, a Chemical Engineer on Found Energy’s Fuel Development Team, has been researching how to turn different aluminum feedstocks into potent aluminum fuel.
With her Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Carolina and Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto, she is able to apply her wealth of knowledge in material characterization to rapidly advance the development of our aluminum fuel.
Tell us about your career journey.
My background is in Chemical Engineering. I received my Bachelor’s from the University of South Carolina, and then obtained a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto.
It has always been important to me to feel like I'm working on something that is contributing to a net positive in this world.
I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid (and then realized I'm too afraid of blood), so I ended up majoring in chemical engineering - mostly because I liked chemistry and both of my parents were engineers.
It wasn’t until my junior year of college, when I joined a 3D printing research lab, that I really saw how my degree could help make the world a better place. In this lab, they were developing 3D printed parts that were plastic but reinforced with continuous carbon fiber, giving you the high strength of carbon fiber with the printability of a thermoplastic.
One day, we had a potential partner visit our lab. They wanted to see how the technology could be used to print prosthetics.
I thought it was so cool how, just by combining a new technology with some innovative new materials, you could give someone the opportunity to walk more comfortably.
This experience made me want to learn more about materials and their applications, so I got my Masters at the University of Toronto where I worked on developing high stiffness polymer composites via a 3D printing system called iSLA.
After this, I became a Materials Print Engineer at Markforged, a metal and polymer 3D printing company. There, my role was new material development for Markforged’s printers. I ended up on the metal side of the business - something that I knew basically nothing about at the time - but due to the amazing mentors and people I met there, I became the technical lead of the launch of two new materials (H13 v2 and D2 v2). During my ~3 years here, I saw and learned about the importance not just of something working but of properly scaling up a solution so that customers can have access to it.
I was able to use my newfound knowledge in metals, scaling up, and passion to make a positive impact in the world to end up here!
What do you do at Found Energy?
I help Found Energy understand how we can best take aluminum materials in the wild and turn them into fuel.
I use different types of material characterization methods to better understand a material and how to optimize it’s fuel potential.
What drew you to Found Energy?
I was interested in the role because while it was somewhat similar to what I did before, it was different enough that I thought it would be challenging. It’s important to me to work in a place where I’m contributing to a net positive.
I felt like the idea of Found Energy - using something we use almost every day and turning that into a source of clean energy, is very cool and unlike anything I have ever heard of before.
What do you like to do outside of the office?
I have a coffee spreadsheet with my sister where we rank every coffee shop we go to. We are currently on entry number 286 in North America.
