Christopher Hawxhurst is a fourth year PhD student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering working with Associate Dean Leslie Shor on microfluidic devices for biological and agricultural technology applications. The majority of his time is spent optimizing 3D printing devices.

Hawxhurst attended UConn as an undergraduate, and received his master’s from Columbia University. The decision to come back to UConn for his PhD was based on Hawxhurst’s fondness of UConn’s CBE department.

Outside of his academic life, Hawxhurst bakes bread and plays in Reddit’s Dota 2

video game league. Christopher is the former president and current Board member of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Student Association (ChEGSA). Through the departmental organization, he helps organize game nights and barbecues.

Hawxhurst was accepted into JLLA’s first cohort and will graduate from the program this May. He says JLLA has had an “interesting journey, trying to figure out how to maximize the utility of JLLA for everyone involved.”

Since the program was initiated, Hawxhurst has seen the organization make a variety of adjustments in order to attain the most effective curriculum. His decision to pursue the program was solidified by the dedication of other members of JLLA.

“The amount of effort that everyone in the program puts in to figure out how to make the program as beneficial to ourselves as possible is one of the big reasons why I’m still in the organization.”

One benefit that Hawxhurst has gained from JLLA is presentation skills. The program provided constructive feedback that he says helped him feel more confident when presenting to others.