Katy Kao, Ph.D., is a professor in the department of chemical and materials engineering at San José State University, or SJSU. Prior to joining SJSU in 2019, she was an associate professor in the department of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU). She earned a B.S. in chemical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.

Dr. Kao is committed to student learning and student success, using highly effective practices in her teaching and inspiring her students to think beyond the Bachelor of Science degree. Many of her mentees have gone on to advanced degree programs.

Her teaching style involves meticulous planning and active learning, using technology such as iClickers, and using problem-solving strategies in class to increase student engagement and understanding of complex problems. This practice has been shown to be particularly effective at reducing equity gaps, which is a goal of the California State University System’s Graduation 2025 initiative. Dr. Kao also incorporates industry guest speakers and field trips into her instruction, providing invaluable opportunities for students to connect class content to real-world applications.

For her strengths as an educator, Dr. Kao has received many awards from both TAMU and SJSU, including the Fluor Distinguished Teaching Award; the Association of Former Students’ Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching; the Newnan Brothers Award for Faculty Excellence; and the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association Faculty of the Year Award.

Dr. Kao’s research focuses on understanding microbial adaptation for strain development and stress tolerance in human fungal pathogens. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications and four book chapters and has resulted in one U.S. patent. She has mentored more than 100 doctoral, masters, undergraduate, and high school students in research. For scholarly excellence, Dr. Kao received the National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, and the TEES — Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station — Young Select Faculty Award.

Apart from teaching and research, Dr. Kao serves as treasurer of the Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. She is also faculty advisor for the Society of Women Engineers SJSU Collegiate Section and served as conference chair for the 2023 and 2024 Silicon Valley Women in Engineering student conference.

Dr. Kao’s childhood love of computer games attracted her to software engineering, but her “unhealthy obsession with coding” led her to pursue other engineering fields. She chose chemical engineering because she believed her career options would be more diverse.

Outside of work, Dr. Kao is married with canine and feline kids, and she enjoys hiking, camping, photography, and building with LEGO pieces.