Mildred Dresselhaus Award and Recipients

MILDRED DRESSELHAUS AWARD AND RECIPIENTS March 2019 EDITORIAL GREETING Dear reader, SUPPORT FROM AND FOR WOMEN Presenting the Mildred Dresselhaus Award is the career of a female scientist: To show herself and Few months before Mildred Dresselhaus always a very special experience: to see what to be confident of her professional skills. died at age 86, she sent us a greeting writ - outstanding female scientists we can bring to ten for the 20th Women in Physics Confer- Hamburg thanks to the award. Experts who have All her professional life the professor of physics ence of the German Physical Society, which already achieved a very good international reputa- and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts was organized by CUI together with the tion and who will now be there for us as collabora- Institute of Technology (MIT) engaged herself in im- Physics Department at Universität Ham- tors, source of ideas, and discussion partners. But proving the opportunities for women in the natural burg in 2016. also excellent role models and advisors for young sciences. She herself had experienced how difficult researchers who are still at the beginning of their it can be for women to follow their vocation. In spite career. of her successes as a student, the doors were not am delighted to have an opportunity to write open for her. In fact, she was advised to become a a few words to express my appreciation of the In addition, the prize is awarded each year to a teacher, a secretary, or a nurse. Mildred Dresselhaus, establishment in my honor of the Mildred Dressel- promising junior female researcher. It is exhilarat- however, had an outstanding mentor, who inspired Ihaus Guest Professorship at the Hamburg Center ing to see the potential these scientists have and her to graduate in natural sciences. So she became for Ultrafast Imaging. I am also very happy for the how much they can profit from the time spent with a highly decorated expert in physics, who until her woman in physics receiving this professorship to us. Therefore it is always a great pleasure to select death at 86 never got tired of engaging herself for a have an opportunity to speak at the annual meet- the recipients and to present the award. good cause. ing of the German Physical Society about her recent research. Women have become increasingly impor- Mildred Dresselhaus said, “It is important for us Be inspired by the awardees we were allowed to tant in physics internationally since the start of my to get these things going, to show that we can do honor in the name of Mildred Dresselhaus. independent career, when only two percent of PhDs it, too.” We are printing this quote on our certificate in physics in the U.S. were awarded to women. Sup- as it describes in few words what is important for Your CUI board of directors port by women was important to giving me a start as a faculty member at MIT as the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor in 1967, funded by a female member of the Rockefeller family. This highly vision- ary chair also provided a small research grant for creative work on any topic of personal interest. This small amount of unrestricted funding allowed me to do my most creative research, and over the years similar small unrestricted grants have provided opportunities for highly creative research involving Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus started her career as a faculty high-risk experiments with limited probability for member at MIT as the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor in success, but that resulted in the contributions to 1967, funded by a female member of the Rockefeller family physics that I am known for. Women have always been When I started my independent career at MIT in interested in natural sciences and the 1960s, women undergraduate students at MIT the same science as men, and society needs more worked successfully in research. made up only four percent of the entering class, physicists. I have found that women physicists pro- All her professional life Mildred compared to about 50 percent nowadays. I have for mote more collaborative research and are dedicated Dresselhaus, shown here as a a long time worked hard to increase the participa- mentors. In my own late career, I still love my work postdoc at Columbia University, tion of women students’ careers in physics. Fellow- and remain highly active in research and student engaged herself in improving the ships for women have been and remain helpful in training, and I still enjoy lectures by women doing opportunities for women in the encouraging women to persist in their careers in interesting physics research. natural sciences physics, and I personally have spent much time in running seminars to promote this cause. Women do Yours Mildred Dresselhaus, October 2016 2 Mildred Dresselhaus Guest Professorship Program/March 2019 Mildred Dresselhaus Guest Professorship Program/March 2019 3 THE MILDRED DRESSELHAUS GUEST PROFESSORSHIP PROGRAM ABOUT MILDRED DRESSELHAUS INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED AWARD QUEEN OF CARBON, roadening one’s horizons, initiating collabora- PIONEER AND ROLE tions, creating role models. Within the Mildred Dresselhaus Guestprofessorship Program, CUI MODEL Bhas established an award for successful senior scientists as well as junior scientists with high potential ildred Dresselhaus, Professor of Physics, Pro- - to the benefit of the recipients but also of the local fessor of Electrical Engineering and Institute scientific community. Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of MTechnology (MIT), was a pioneer in promoting oppor- Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus came to Hamburg in the tunities for women in science and technology and a year 2012 just before the Cluster of Excellence was worldwide role model for junior scientists. founded. Everybody was extremely pleased, when she agreed to give her name to the program. The guest The daughter of poor Polish immigrants, she was professorship program invites women researchers The organizing team of the Mildred Dresselhaus Guest born in the Bronx, New York, in 1930. At the age of to work within CUI for a period of up to six months. Professorship Program was awarded Universität Hamburg’s four she started playing the violin and received a Excellent research conditions are provided to inter- Equal Opportunity Prize 2018. To the right: Vice President scholarship to attend a music school where she made national outstanding scientists, who can focus on a Prof. Jetta Frost contact with children attending much better schools research topic of their choice, give lectures or en- than her own. Being a talented girl, she appreciated gage themselves in a variety of activities within the the difference and thus got inspired to push for the research community. The award includes a certificate well as experts on equal opportunity, diversity, and same opportunities. At the age of 13 she won a place and a personal prize money. It is presented within the scientific careers. at Hunter College High School for girls. Although festive frame of CUI’s New Year’s Reception by repre- successful as a student, she was advised that the sentatives from the scientific and political community only jobs open to her were schoolteacher, secretary of Hamburg. or nurse. However, Mildred Dresselhaus had a good Mildred Dresselhaus Guest Professors role model: inspired by her physics teacher, early Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus has been awarded 36 honorary Within a short period of time, the award became 2013-2017 mentor and future Nobel Laureate Rosalyn Yalow, she doctorates, the Fermi Award, and the Presidential Medal of an internationally visible honor for young and senior • Prof. Dr. Anna Krylov, University of Southern graduated in 1951 with a science degree from Hunter Freedom – among others women scientists in the broad CUI research field of California, USA (2017) College – with the highest honors possible. photon and nanoscience. The number of self-appli- • Prof. Dr. Tanya Zelevinsky, Columbia University, cations and recommendations from Germany and New York, USA (2017) After working stays in Cambridge, Great Britain, and abroad has always been high, which put the selection • Prof. Dr. Cristiane Morais Smith, Universiteit Cambridge, USA, Mildred Dresselhaus obtained her haus has kept an artistic side of herself. In an interview committee in the happy but difficult situation of hav- Utrecht, the Netherlands (2016) Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1958. In the same with the MIT Faculty Newsletter (FNL) in 2006 she ing to choose the recipients from many extraordinary • Dr. Friederike Ernst, Stanford University, USA year she married physicist Gene Dresselhaus and had described her daily routine and explained why she was applicants and recommended women. In the past (2016) four children in quick succession. Some of her superiors the first professor in the office in the morning: years worldwide leading women scientists came to • Prof. Elspeth Garman, University of Oxford, UK were not eager to support her in juggling work and Hamburg; new collaborations developed, existing (2015) childcare commitments; however, due to a professor- “My schedule is a little bit unusual for an MIT pro- contacts were strengthened. • Dr. Liesbeth Janssen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, ship funded by a female member of the Rockefeller fessor. I’m an amateur musician; I play violin, mostly, Düsseldorf, Germany (2015) family she had already made her mark on the MIT but also viola as a pinch hitter. And most evenings I In recognition of its success, the German Research • Prof. Roseanne Sension, University of Michigan, campus: in 1968 she became the first female tenured have a musical event going on that’s usually at my Foundation (DFG) included the program in its tool- Ann Arbor, USA (2014) professor in MIT’s engineering school, in 1977 she house. And if you have a musical commitment at box.

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