Nadya Mason, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois, will receive the Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). Each year, the award recognizes a junior non-tenured faculty member under the age of 40 at an academic or research institution pursuing high-quality research in any field of engineering or physical sciences while contributing significantly to promoting diversity in his/her environment.
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Nadya Mason, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois, will receive the Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). Each year, the award recognizes a junior non-tenured faculty member under the age of 40 at an academic or research institution pursuing high-quality research in any field of engineering or physical sciences while contributing significantly to promoting diversity in his/her environment.
Mason's research focuses on electron behavior in low-dimensional, correlated materials, where enhanced novel interactions are expected to give novel results. In addition to her research, she is a spokesperson for increasing diversity in physics and for creating a climate in academia that embraces and supports minorities and women.
Prior to joining the Illinois faculty, Mason was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, where she collaborated with Professors Charles Marcus and Michael Tinkham on projects related to both carbon nanotubes and nanostructured superconductors. She received her bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1995 and received her doctorate in physics in 2001 from Stanford University, working in the group of Aharon Kapitulnik. Her thesis research was on phase transitions in two-dimensional superconductors.
Mason will be honored for her accomplishments and contributions to women in technology at an awards ceremony on October 1, 2009, during ABI’s 9th Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) in Tucson, Arizona. The Denice Denton Award is underwritten by Microsoft.
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Contact: Nadya Mason, Department of Physics, 217/244-9114.
Jerri Barrett, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, 650/857-6095.
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, writer/editor.