My name is Dani Murphy and I came to Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in 2008 to pursue my PhD in Mechanical Engineering (ME). I completed my bachelors of science in ME at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana where I also pitched for their Division I softball team. With one year remaining of NCAA eligibility I decided to play for the CSM Softball Team during my first year of graduate school. The team made it to the NCAA Regional tournament and I was named 2009 most valuable player. I enjoy playing almost any sport, being outdoors, and traveling. I chose CSM because of its outstanding reputation and small town atmosphere. The fact that CSM is nestled within Colorado’s beautiful scenery and close to multiple ski areas was also an added incentive.

My research at CSM is focused on upstream fuel reforming for solid oxide fuel cell systems. The utilization of biogas from waste water treatment facilities, n-butanol reforming, and reactive ceramic microchannel heat exchangers have been my main areas of research.

My experiences at CSM have fostered intellectual as well as personal growth. In the fall semester of 2010 I had the opportunity to work and learn alongside researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany. This experience not only opened my eyes to the world around me, but also accelerated my PhD research by having the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s leaders in catalysis and microreactor technology.