Tay Tallerday didn't know she'd be pursuing a graduate degree until the deadline to sign up was almost over, but not long after that she was presenting research at the 2024 American Chemical Society National Conference in Denver and preparing manuscripts for publication.
"Dr. Jena McCollum had an open research position in her Advanced Manufacturing Lab, so I applied and got on a contract with her doing research on fluoropolymers, which are a special kind of polymer that have very desirable mechanical properties and a wide range of applications," Tay said. "For instance, they can withstand large temperature ranges, useful for aerospace applications, and they don't degrade under many harsh chemicals. A well-known fluoropolymer would be Teflon, used to coat nonstick pans."
Tay is a College of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS) alumna, with a master's in mechanical engineering. Funded by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Tay's research focused on leveraging machine learning techniques to assess similarities in polymer performance under different synthesis conditions.
“Polymer synthesis, also known as polymerization, is the process of creating polymers. Variations in temperature during this process, changes to chemical composition and many other factors can dramatically change the properties and performance that polymer exhibits,” Tay explained. “Since these materials are so complex and the relationships between their structures, properties and performance are not straightforward, we are unable to visualize and understand all the various shifts in performance using only our eyes, and this is where machine learning can help us. By applying machine learning techniques like dimension reduction and clustering algorithms we can simplify the problem and begin to determine and visualize the most important trends and relationships within our datasets.”
Tay wasn't very familiar with machine learning before pursuing her master's, and the first semester was particularly challenging as she transitioned from her undergrad.
“It was very intense at first,” she said. “It was a lot of learning, running code and troubleshooting, which can be very difficult to juggle. Coding machine learning-based programs is one thing, understanding the math behind the algorithms and analyzing results is another. The first semester was a lot of coding, troubleshooting and understanding surface-level material, the second semester was trying to understand each machine learning algorithm fundamentally and making sure that it’s running properly and the last semester was putting all of that together along with the fundamental knowledge of polymer structures and dynamics and making it coherent.”
"My master's went through different phases, and the first phase was the hardest because you're thrown into the work and trying to learn and retain so much while applying what you're learning without a clear roadmap," she continued. "I am very glad to have had that experience because it made me grow a lot, but at the time it was really tough."
Tay advised current engineering students to make connections with classmates and be there for each other as a way to navigate the tough curriculum of engineering.
"It's really important that you have friends because engineering classes are hard, especially when you're doing it by yourself," Tay said. "Engineering is all about collaboration and teamwork, so if you can develop those skills early on, that'll help you get through your tough classes."
One of Tay's goals was to learn many different topics and areas of engineering, which she was able do at UCCS and in EAS.
“What I was aiming to do from the get-go was to be a jack-of-all-trades,” said Tay. “I’m constantly wanting to learn new things, and was able to learn about aerospace engineering, materials engineering and even machine learning – a little bit of all these specialty fields even though I was mechanical engineering.”
That mindset is present in Tay's personal life as well, as she has a background in music, and even performed the National Anthem at her own commencement ceremony, enjoys dancing, figure skating, skiing, video games, drawing, crochet and other arts and crafts.
With two degrees and several years of schooling behind her, Tay is looking towards the next steps in her journey and is committed to continuous learning, and is interested in possibly continuing to pursue research and development in her career.
“I am still a mechanical engineer at heart,” Tay shared. “I like the data analysis and technical writing aspect of things, and I’m interested in doing research and development. My engineering degree was in a concentration of thermal fluid sciences, so I’m really interested in heat transfer and fluid dynamics. Ultimately, I would love to do something that combines all these interests and constantly challenges me to become a better more well-rounded engineer.”
Tay and her partner, Christian, also a UCCS engineering grad, now reside in Littleton, Colorado, and Tay is ready to take on whatever challenges await her.
"My catchphrase is 'Take the path of most resistance,'" she laughed. "If you want to grow, then you should take the path of most resistance."