Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics
MIT
(profile at the time of induction in 1998)
Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Mildred Dresselhaus spent two years at Cornell University as an NSF postdoctoral fellow and then seven years as a staff member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the solid state physics division. She joined the MIT faculty in the department of electrical engineering and computer science in 1967 and the department of physics in 1983, and she held the Abby Rockefeller Mauze chair in electrical engineering and in physics. She was named an institute professor in 1985. She is also affiliated with the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, which she formally directed, and the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory.
She is active in the study of a wide range of problems in the physics of solids. Her recent interests have been the modification of the properties of electronic materials by intercalation and implantation, the structure and properties of carbon fibers, of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, and of high T2 superconductors.
Dr. Dresselhaus has served as president of the American Physical Society, treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences, and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), as well as on numerous advisory committees and councils. In 1988, she served as chair of the National Academy of Sciences Planning Committee to assess possible OSEP initiatives for improving the representation of women in scientific and engineering careers. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Philosophical Society and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the IEEE, the Materials Research Society, and the Society of Women Engineers. She is currently the chair of the board of the AAAS.
Dr. Dresselhaus has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science and 13 honorary doctorates. She is the co-author of three books on carbon science.
More information on Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus is available at the following: MIT Physics Faculty
