Evan Cline is a PhD candidate in the chemistry department. His poster, Multifunctional Electronic Textiles for the Simultaneous Detection and Uptake of Hydrogen Sulfide, won an award at the 2025 Guarini Graduate Student Poster Session.
What do you consider your hometown, and where did you earn your undergraduate degree? What was it in?
I was born in Saginaw, Michigan and grew up in the neighboring town of Freeland. The greater Saginaw Valley of Michigan is my hometown, and I have a lot of love for the region.
After high school, I took a couple of gap years to play hockey and was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin where I graduated with a BA degree in chemistry.
What graduate program are you currently in, and what excites you most about it?
I am currently a PhD candidate in the chemistry department within the Guarini School of Graduate Studies.
I love the iterative nature of experimenting in the world of chemistry. It is fascinating trying to understand the phenomena that dictate how materials and molecules interact with each other. And, I enjoy the challenge of sharing these complex interactions in a meaningful way to different audiences. Pushing forward the chemical enterprise through experimental research while being a positive representative of chemistry, and broadly of science, to the world is what drives me.
What is your area of research? What inspired you to pursue this research?
My area of research is referred to as materials chemistry. Generally, I synthesize electronically conductive materials, I characterize these materials using techniques like electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and I use them within human safety-related applications.
Specifically, I work with solid state, stimuli-responsive materials in form factors such as textiles and electrode devices that can sense toxic gases through an electrochemical interaction referred to as chemiresistive sensing.
I was inspired to pursue this particular field of chemical research when I first met with my research professor, Dr. Katherine Mirica, during my undergraduate visit to Dartmouth. Prior to graduate school, I knew that I wanted to use chemistry to make materials capable of solving problems facing humanity at large.
When Katherine described how the research performed in the Mirica lab would address modern challenges in healthcare and environmental stewardship through research techniques I enjoyed, like synthetic chemistry, in-situ spectroscopy, and electronic device design, I was sold on the research.
Your poster was recognized with an award at the Guarini Graduate Student Poster Session–what does this achievement mean to you?
It is a tremendous honor to win this award at an event with so many exceptional Dartmouth graduate student researchers in a wide array of scientific fields. I have worked hard and prioritized developing my scientific communication skills because effective communication of science is paramount to scientific impact.
I am honored and proud to have won a poster session award where the judging was reliant on scientific communication to non-specialists. And, on a lighter note, I also participated in the poster session last year– it was nice to get a win this time around.
Which resources, career support programs, or professional development opportunities at Guarini have been most valuable to you, and how have they impacted your experience?
One resource I am thankful for during my time at Dartmouth has been the Guarini externship program. I initially participated in the program in my third year, and the experience revealed what research would entail for me in a professional, non-academic setting.
I have benefitted from the externship program by being connected to three different Dartmouth graduates who all had very unique careers in science. Their insights, as well as their advice, have assisted me immensely in my own professional development. I am much more confident in my decision to pursue a career in materials science research and development due to this networking opportunity.
Why did you choose Dartmouth to pursue your degree?
I chose Dartmouth to pursue a PhD in chemistry for a few reasons. First and foremost, my now wife, Galini Poimenidou, is also a PhD candidate in the molecular and cellular biology (MCB) program at Dartmouth, and being geographically close to her was important to my decision.
Another reason I chose Dartmouth for graduate research was to work under the guidance of Professor Mirica. My undergraduate research mentor Professor Graham Sazama worked with Professor Mirica while they were both at MIT, and he suggested I work with Katherine due to the impact of her science.
While the research within the chemistry department brought me to Dartmouth, the beauty of the region and the sense of community I have felt within the graduate student body and the Upper Valley have made pursuing my degree an enriching experience.
What advice would you give to other graduate students about making the most of the resources available through Guarini?
My best advice to my fellow graduate students is to engage with as many opportunities available to you (and as your bandwidth can manage), especially with the coming development of GuariniGRAD. These experiences can shape your perception of what your future after Dartmouth will look like while also giving you valuable, low-risk networking opportunities close to home.
