Krista Walton, an Assistant Professsor of Chemical Engineering at Kansas State University, USA is currently researching functional porous materials for use in applications such as adsorption separations, air purification, gas storage, chemical sensing and catalysis.

 What inspired you to become a scientist? 

I attended Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, when I was young. I fell in love with the space program and imagined conducting experiments on the shuttle or space station. In later years, my wonderful high school chemistry teacher, Mrs. Vicki Farina, helped focus my love of science into an interest in chemistry and chemical engineering. By the time I was a senior in high school, I had already decided that I wanted to obtain a PhD in chemical engineering.

 What was your motivation behind the work described in your ChemComm article?

The selective removal of carbon dioxide from methane is an important application in the natural gas industry and for applications in biogas upgrading. With this work, we wanted to create a new porous structure with open metal sites that would interact preferentially with carbon dioxide while reducing interactions with methane.

 Why did you choose ChemComm to publish your work?

Research in porous coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks is expanding quickly. Upon characterization of our new material, we wanted to publish our work in a high impact journal with an international readership. ChemComm fits both of these criteria and has consistently published some of the top articles in our field. We knew that publishing in ChemComm would ensure that our work would have high visibility within the scientific community.

 Where do you see your research heading next? 

We are currently examining more effective methods for introducing unsaturated metal centers into porous coordination polymers to achieve molecule-specific adsorption behavior.

 What do enjoy doing in your spare time? 

I love to travel and spend much of my spare time visiting family and friends. I also really enjoy playing piano, although I don't have as much time for that as I used to.

If you could not be a scientist, but could be anything else, what would you be? 

I would probably be a classical pianist. 

Interviewed by Philippa Ross