2022 COMMENCEMENT
Class of 2022 Student Speaker
Dr . Evgeniya Volkova completed her Ph . D . with a GPA of 4.0 in the Earth Science and Engineering Program with Professor Georgiy Stenchikov at KAUST .
Evgeniya ’ s Ph . D . focused on the fundamental properties of dust particles , how they form aggregates and their impact on solar device surfaces , which presents a significant issue in the Middle East .
She published the first part of her thesis in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C entitled : “ Molecular dynamics modeling of kaolinite particle associations ” and won a Supplementary cover award with her graphics , having collaborated with Professors Udo Schwingenschlögl and Shuyu Sun in the Physical Science and Engineering Division at KAUST and Professor Johann Engelbrecht of the Division of Atmospheric Sciences , at the Desert Research Institute in the US .
Evgeniya was one of the founders and the former vice-president of the Students for Sustainability initiative , enjoyed sharing her experience and knowledge as a volunteer with undergraduate students within the KGSP program who wanted to learn more about the Earth Science and Engineering program at KAUST and was a panelist in two recent Alumni events .
Prior to KAUST , she received her Bachelor ’ s and Master ’ s degrees with honors in Applied Mathematics from Izhevsk State Technical University , Russia , where she studied mathematical modeling of processes and technologies . She has broad research experience in engineering , material science , and computational chemistry fields using state-of-the-art methods and developing interdisciplinary and multiscale approaches for solving modern critical problems .
Before joining KAUST , she worked as a researcher in three countries developing projects on complex nanostructures for gas storage ( Russia ), investigating the next generation of high-performance and lightweight nanocomposites ( UK ), and computing the mechanical properties of inorganic fullerenes nanostructures ( Germany ).