Teaching Assistant Professor
Department of Engineering Fundamentals
- BSc in Chemical Engineering, Montana State, Bozeman, MT
- PhD in Chemical Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
- Featured AIChE Annual Meeting Presentations: “Virtual Reality Movies and Marshmallows: A Crystal Structure Workshop for Middle School Students” for the Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering (CACHE) Winter Newsletter (2024)
- Zhang, S.*, Stratton, S.M.*, and Montemore, M. M. (2025). "Adsorbed O promotes alternative, nonselective oxametallacycle reaction pathways in Ag-catalyzed epoxidation." Catalysis Science & Technology, 15 (8), 2551-2557. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cy01486c
- Stratton, S.M., Zhang, S., and Montemore, M. M. (2023). “Addressing complexity in catalyst design: from volcanos and scaling to more sophisticated design strategies.” Surface Science Reports, 78 (3), 100597. Https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfrep.2023.100597
- Job, A. L., Stratton, S.M., Umhey, C. E., Hoo, K. A., and Wettstein, S. G. (2021). “Using Artificial Neural Networks to Estimate Xylose Conversion and Furfural Yield for Autocatalytic Dehydration Reactions.” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 10 (1), 177–181. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05413
- Stratton, S.M., C. Riviere, M.M. Montemore. “Virtual Reality Movies and Marshmallows: A Crystal Structure Workshop for Middle School Students” 2024. Talk given at the AIChE annual meeting. San Diego, California, USA.
- Stratton, S.M., M.M. Montemore. “Computational Design of Alloy Catalysts for Propane Conversion” 2024. Talk given at the AIChE annual meeting. Orlando, Florida, USA.
- Stratton, S.M., M.M. Montemore. “Efficient Predictions of Methane Steam Reforming Pathway Energetics” 2022. Talk given at the AIChE annual meeting. Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Biography
Sarah Kumar is an Teaching Assistant Professor in the Engineering Fundamentals Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She received a BSc in chemical engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT in 2020. She then earned her PhD in chemical engineering, with an emphasis on computational catalysis from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA in 2025. Sarah's PhD research involved utilizing computational tools such as Python and VASP to screen and discover highly efficient catalysis for heterogeneous reactions, such as methane steam reforming and propane dehydrogenation.
Sarah's teaching experience is in outreach, creating and running a VR crystal structure workshop for middle school students during her time at Tulane. She also had a focus on the freshman experience, creating an introductory course into engineering for freshmen to be exposed to the field.
Selected Presentations:
