Faculty Profile
Tonya Kuhl
Professor,
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
In her short time at UC Davis, Tonya Kuhl has already managed to make quite an impression on campus. After finishing her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and completing her Ph.D. and postdoctoral research in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Research Laboratory at UC Santa Barbara, Kuhl came to UC Davis eager to interact with students in a teaching position as she continued her research. She stresses the balance between her home life and work life, but has still already managed to become involved in every aspect of the College of Engineering as a professor, researcher and student advisor.
After winning the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in the fall of 2006, an award given in recognition of professors who, early in their careers, have already distinguished themselves in teaching, research and public service, Kuhl used the fellowship’s $25,000 grant to further her laboratory research. Studying intermolecular and intersurface forces in complex fluid systems, the Kuhl Research Group seeks connections to these materials’ biocompatible and biodegradable renewable research properties. Using a Neutron Confinement Cell, the group’s researchers can measure the molecular density and orientation of confined, ultra-thin, complex fluids under static and dynamic flow conditions, and apply these findings to new applications of the materials’ membrane interactions. Kuhl’s research has application in drug delivery systems and tissue engineering and replacement therapies in osteoarthritis treatment and sports medicine.
Although she is heavily involved in her laboratory research, Kuhl also enjoys taking time out of the classroom and laboratory to interact with her graduate and undergraduate students. She is well known for her fresh, open take on the diversity of engineering lifestyles present on the UC Davis campus. “If you come to campus at UC Davis, you will find that there's a tremendous amount of diversity. There are lots of women, people of color, it's very diverse.” And it is precisely this attitude towards her students and fellow engineers that makes Kuhl such an approachable advisor. “Here you want to have a mentor, (and) your advisor sort of becomes your science mother or father. They’re there to really nurture you and develop you into a complete scientist and engineer.” And it is this open and personal connection with her students that makes Kuhl such an integral part of their drive for individual success.
