Alice White (physicist)
American physicist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alice Elizabeth White is an American physicist. She is a professor and chair at the Boston University College of Engineering.[1] Previously, she was Chief Scientist at Bell Labs.[2] She is a fellow of the APS, the IEEE and the OSA.
- OSA Fellow
- IEEE Fellow
- Bell Labs Fellow
- APS Fellow
- Alumni Achievement Award from Middlebury College
- Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award
- Physics
- Engineering
Alice White | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alice Elizabeth White |
| Education | |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
|
| Workplaces | |
| Thesis | Resistance rise in ultrathin metallic wires at low temperatures (1982) |
Academic advisors | Douglas Osheroff |
| Website | https://www.bu.edu/eng/profile/alice-white/ |
Early life and education
White was born to physicist parents and grew up in New Jersey. Her father worked at Bell Labs.[3] Her parents helped to foster her interest in science and mathematics.[4]
She did her undergraduate studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she enjoyed a supportive science learning environment. She interned at Bell Labs during the summer through the Summer Research Program, eventually leading to a fellowship through the Graduate Research Program for Women to study at Harvard University.[3][4] Her PhD thesis, completed in 1982, was entitled Resistance rise in ultrathin metallic wires at low temperatures.[5] She was mentored by Doug Osheroff of Bell Labs during her time at Harvard.[4]
Career
White returned to Bell Labs after her PhD, and occupied various roles in the organisation from 1982 to 2013. She spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow before joining the permanent technical staff.[3] Her last position was Chief Scientist. Her research areas during this period include mesotaxy techniques to grow metals on silicon, photonic circuitry, fiber optics and low temperature physics.[4]
White became chair of Boston University's mechanical engineering department in 2013 after 30 years at Bell Labs.[2] She is a professor of mechanical engineering, materials science, biomedical engineering, and physics. She is also affiliated with Boston University's Photonics and Nanotechnology centers.[1] She is interested in nanomechanics.[6] One potential application of her research is in creating biomedical structures to repair tissues after a heart attack.[7] She uses 3D printing technology to create micromechanical structures.[8] In 2014, she established the Multiscale Laser Lithography Lab at Boston University.[1] This facility houses a Direct Laser Writing tool to create 3D polymer structures at high resolution as well as systems to design and characterise samples.[9]
White and her team worked on 3D printing nasal swab components in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10][11]
She became a Councilor-at-Large for the APS in 1993 and was a founding member of the Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics.[12] In 2001, she was chair of the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics.[13] She is a mentor for the Bell Labs Graduate Research Program for Women, and gives physics talks at elementary schools.[3]
Awards and honours
- 2013 OSA Fellow for "developing advanced nanofabrication techniques and applying them to integrated electronics and photonics to enable next-generation lightwave devices".[14]
- 2011 IEEE Fellow for "leadership in development and commercialization of integrated silicon optical components for communication networks".[1][15]
- 2001 Bell Labs Fellow for "developing and applying novel integrated photonic device technologies in advanced optical networks".[1]
- 1995 APS Fellow for "contributions to the study of transport phenomena in metallic thin films and for her work on buried silicide films formed by ion implantation".[16]
- 1994 Alumni Achievement Award from Middlebury College.[17]
- 1991 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award from the APS.[18]
Personal life
White married another Bell Labs scientist and has two children. She enjoys skiing and cycling.[3]