Katharine Smith graduated with a BEng in Aerospace Engineering from Queen Mary University of London in 2000. She then went on complete her PhD research on the “Characterisation of electrospray properties in high vacuum” at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, which she received from the University of London in 2005. She has since worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Electrospray research group at Queen Mary University of London.

Working within the electrospray group at Queen Mary Katharine has been fundamental in the development of a new micro-fluidic technology for the high resolution patterning of surfaces with functional materials. This work has resulted in two patent applications on which Katharine is named as joint inventor. Katharine is also a founding member of Queen Mary’s newest spin-out company EMdot Ltd, which was formed to commercially exploit this printing technology. She is joint winner of the 2008 ERA Foundation’s Entrepreneurs Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Katharine’s principle research interests are directed towards the understanding of the basic physical processes involved in electrospray and the development of novel technologies using electrospray.