Sara Walton

Dr. Walton is originally from a potato farm in Glenburn, Maine and an alumna of Bangor High. She received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Maine with the help of a Pulp and Paper Foundation Scholarship. Throughout undergrad, she worked for the UMaine Process Development Center in the pulp and paper pilot plant, and completed a co-op at the Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill in Old Town, ME. She went on to earn a Ph.D in chemical engineering, also at UMaine, studying the fermentation of hemicellulose sugars from wood into ethanol and lactic acid for biofuels and chemicals. After completing a post-doctoral research stint on flow cytometry at the University of Minnesota Biotechnology Institute in St. Paul, followed by a year in Philadelphia in non-profit education, she returned to Orono and joined the University of Maine Chemical Engineering faculty as a Lecturer in 2014. She was promoted to Principal Lecturer of Chemical Engineering in 2024.

Professional Memberships

American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)