As a bright student growing up in Ukraine, Vlada Olkhovych was driven to succeed by her mother, Alla.
“She was a single mother, and she didn’t have a college degree,” Vlada said. “Growing up, she always pushed me to get a good education, a good job, to have a better life than she had. She was a big inspiration for me.”
When it came time to pick an undergraduate major at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Vlada chose chemistry. A curious person, she loved how broad the subject was, and how it kept her options open for future careers.
“I just wanted to learn as much as possible about the world around me, and chemistry sits at the intersection of all the sciences,” she noted. “I didn't want to limit my career options just yet. With chemistry, you can work in basically any industry that produces something — food science, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and more.”
Vlada’s journey eventually led her to the United States, where she enrolled in the UW Master of Science in Applied Chemical Science & Technology program. In this Q&A, she explains how her experience in the program paved the way to a dream job: helping to create hope for people with cancer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.
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