MY STORY
My name is Laura Chatham
I grew up in Vernon, BC—the sunny Okanagan—privileged to spend weekends hiking, camping, and skiing with my family. My journey has since taken me into sports coaching, travelling abroad, and deep into science. Now, my goal is to bring these experiences together through Sustain Athletics and help others build healthier, more sustainable lifestyles. This is my story:
Downhill skiing was a huge part of my childhood. I trained as an athlete with Silver Star Freestyle Ski Club until 2012, when I started coaching for the club at 16 years old. I coached SS Freestyle junior and girls teams until 2020, becoming a Head Coach in 2017 and the club's Female Program Coordinator in 2018. Through this, I completed several coaching courses (see my qualifications) and had the opportunity to learn from some of the best freestyle coaches in the world.
From 2014–2017, I travelled abroad to New Zealand and Australia, enjoying the stress-free life of a young vagabond on a working-holiday visa. I initially went for the skiing but stayed for the summers, returning home for winters to coach. I lived in a van or a tent, hitchhiked across the country, and experienced so much beautiful terrain and met so many incredible people. Near the end of my trip, I spent three months in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia), which was an incredibly profound experience that I will forever carry with me.
Yet, when I returned home in 2017, I felt lost. The excitement of travelling and vagabondage had worn off and I was struggling to find my place. I had a loving family to return home to, but I was not the same person as when I'd left. I wasn't as happy and carefree as I had been, and I was burned out socially. I still loved coaching and enjoyed everything I was learning and experiencing as a Head Coach and Program Coordinator with SS Freestyle, but I can't deny that many days I wore a smiling mask... a mask that was slowly cracking.
Through these darker emotions, two incredible things began in 2017: science and trail running. I'd always enjoyed running, but this was the first time I trained seriously for it. That summer, I completed my first trail race—the 25 km Slay the Dragon—solidifying my love for the sport. The following September, I started studying Biology at Okanagan College, which altogether, was exactly the new adventure I needed. There would be LOTS of hard work ahead—to train, to learn, and to lift myself out of my depression—but I felt that I could do it.
Studying Biology led me to Chemistry, a field I'd always been interested in. When I transferred to the University of British Columbia Okanagan (Kelowna, BC), I changed my field of study and completed my BSc in Chemistry in 2023 with Honours in Physical Chemistry.
I am now completing a MSc in Physical and Computational Chemistry through UBCO, happily working remotely from North Vancouver, living with my wonderful partner and our dog, and staying active in the beautiful coastal mountains.
MY RESEArCH
If you're interested in the project I am working on for my MSc, this section is for you. It has nothing to do with sports, but everything to do with science and sustainability.
Through UBC Okanagan, I am studying physical chemistry (physics and math applied to chemistry) and computational chemistry (using computer programs to model and understand chemical systems). My research focuses on hydrogen (Hâ‚‚) energy as a sustainable fuel source.
For hydrogen fuel to be industrially viable, improvements are needed in its storage and transport systems. Hydrogen is difficult to handle because, at room temperature and pressure, it is an extremely light and low-density ("airy") gas. One way to store more hydrogen in a smaller volume is to liquefy it. However, this requires extremely low temperatures (around −253°C) and considerable energy. Technologies for producing, storing, and transporting liquid hydrogen at large scales continue to be developed, with researchers around the world working on these challenges.
Although Hâ‚‚ is classically a simple molecule—two hydrogen atoms bonded together—its behaviour becomes much more complicated through quantum mechanics. The nuclear spins of its two protons lead to two different forms of Hâ‚‚: higher-energy ortho-Hâ‚‚ and lower-energy para-Hâ‚‚. Para-Hâ‚‚ is the preferred form for stable, long-term liquid hydrogen storage.
During liquefaction, a magnetic catalyst is used to accelerate the conversion of ortho-Hâ‚‚ into para-Hâ‚‚ at ultra-cold (cryogenic) temperatures. Iron oxide is commonly used for this purpose because it is cost-effective, abundant, and non-toxic. However, the exact mechanism through which these ortho-to-para conversion catalysts work is still not fully understood.
My research uses computational chemistry to model ortho- and para-Hâ‚‚ an iron oxide catalyst to determine how the different nuclear spin states affect Hâ‚‚ binding energy and location on the surface. These results should help assess how Hâ‚‚ nuclear spin state needs to be represented in computational models and, ultimately, contribute to our understanding and design of improved catalysts.
I am entering the third and final year of my program, anticipating a Spring or Summer 2027 defense.
It is a wild ride balancing my studies with Sustain Athletics and some semblance of a personal life, but I am so excited by how everything is tying together. I look forward to applying my degree toward sustainable materials design!
Social Media
Address
Online | North Vancouver, BC ~ all services
Kelowna, BC ~ Sustain Run Club
Land Acknowledgement
As Sustain Athletics, we respectfully acknowledge that we are guests on lands that have long been stewarded by Indigenous Peoples, many of which remain unceded. Wherever we are, we encourage our athletes to learn and listen from the native cultures of their area.
For Sustain Run Club, we enjoy the beautiful trails of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. Other Sustain Athletics activities are largely based on the lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and sÉ™lÌ“ilwÉ™taɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.