In 2017, Phelps won the YWCA Knoxville Tribute to Women Technology, Research, and Innovation Award. This award recognizes "local women who lead their fields in technology and excel in community service". Phelps is a member of the American Chemical Society. Phelps helped start a program to teach robotics, drones, circuitry, and coding to inner city high school students in Knoxville, TN. In 2019, Phelps was featured in the IUPAC Periodic Table of Younger Chemists "for her outstanding commitment to research and public engagement, as well as being an important advocate for diversity."