How to become well-known in the research community while being a PhD student
The best way is to be highly active in your field. (Note: this will take work.) Here are my suggestions for accomplishing this, and I hope others will post more in the comments or other answers:


Do awesome work. It all starts here. As a PhD student, this typically requires being in an awesome lab under an awesome professor, but it is possible to achieve awesome work without that.
Publish in respected journals in your field.
Network within your field. This includes attending field-specific conferences, talking to other PhD students and professors in other labs, and forming collaborations.