Mary Case is a doctoral candidate at the University of Idaho who interned at Idaho National Laboratory. She will be graduating with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Idaho. Once she completes her degree, she hopes to become a research scientist at a national laboratory.
In describing her internship experience, she said: “Working at INL in the internship program on a CMI project has done a lot to help prepare me for my future career. I have gained skills and knowledge that are diverse from what is learned in the university. I have also been able to network extensively within INL, within CMI, and also at several conferences. Without the internship program and my mentors, Robert Fox and Donna Baek at INL, I wouldn't have had these opportunities to expand my skills, knowledge, and network.”
Mary was a poster winner at the 2017 CMI winter meeting for her presentation of “Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Chloride Media with Terabutyldiglycolamide in 1-octonal and Liquid CO2.”
Later, Mary Case became a staff scientist at Idaho National Laboratory with the Chemical Systems Department and lead the CMI project "Low Temperature Chemical-Mediated Reduction of Rare Earth Elements." She specializes in solvent extraction of f-elements with traditional and non-traditional methods. Primarily she has expertise in using compressed carbon dioxide as a solvent for extraction of metals from various materials. She is also involved in metallization of rare earth elements through low temperature methods such as electrochemical and chemical methods. She earned her doctorate in chemistry from the University of Idaho, where she studied the solvent extraction of rare earth elements from end-of-life products.
In 2018 she participated in a Critical Materials Institute student exchange to foster collaboration between INL and Colorado School of Mines.