Welcome to our "Who keeps PhD Balance running?" series! We're going to be introducing our current team over the next few weeks, (and our new team members when they're onboarded!) so keep an eye out! 👀
First up, the PhD President, Liesl Krause (@sourkrause94)!
Liesl Krause (she/her) is a current PhD candidate in Technology, Leadership, and Innovation at Purdue University Polytechnic Institute. Her dissertation is related to the mental health of graduate students, especially as it is related to their advisor. Liesl has previously obtained her bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and her master's degree in Biomedical Engineering. She hopes to use her engineering experience to expand the field of mental health in academia and also help bring up the next generation of engineers. In her spare time, Liesl loves to train dogs, hang out with her puppy, go for runs and planning her wedding. Liesl acknowledges that the land she is currently on was occupied from the Myaamia, Potawtomi, Kaskaskia, Peoria, and Kiikaapoi nations.
What does Liesl do as President?
Everything, she overseeing everything, manages team leads communicates with our board and fills in wherever she's needed!
Why does Liesl volunteer with PhD Balance?
She had her own mental health struggles when she was a master's student in biomedical engineering. When she switched to STEM education for her doctorate, Liesl was really interested in learning more about how we could support graduate student mental health and well being, then she found PhD Balance and Susanna and just knew that she had to be a part of it, both for herself and for her research.