Chekesha Liddell


Chekesha Liddell Watson is an Associate Professor of Material Science and Engineering at Cornell University. She researches colloidal materials, trying to understand their properties, structure and function.

Early life

In 1999, Liddell graduated both from Spelman College, receiving a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry and graduating with Highest Distinction, as well as Georgia Institute of Technology, where she earned a Bachelors of Science in Materials Engineering. She was awarded a NASA Women in Science and Engineering Scholarship, which allowed her to study the metabolism of arsenic in poultry. During her scholarship she worked at Kennedy Space Center. After defending her thesis titled Non-spherical zinc sulfide colloids as building blocks for three-dimensional photonic crystals, She earned her PhD in Material Science at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2003. Liddell was awarded a $20,000 Career Initiation Grant from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Research

Liddell creates photonic crystals for solar cells using colloidal building blocks. She has worked on the Self-assembly of microparticles with hemispherical and dimer shapes. Liddell joined the faculty of Cornell University in 2003. She is a member of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. In 2006 she was awarded a National Science Foundation Career Award. In 2009 Liddell was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. She was recognised as one of Cornell's Emerging Scholars in 2011.

Awards and Honors