Beate Schmittmann is a German-American condensed matter physicist and academic administrator who is dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. Her research includes work on driven diffusive systems, biomolecular transport, and

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

Education and career

Schmittmann earned a diploma in physics in 1981 from

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

, and completed a Ph.D. in 1984 at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Her dissertation was jointly supervised by David Wallace and A. D. Bruce. After working as a researcher and then assistant professor at

Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) (german: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf) was founded in 1965 as the successor organisation to Düsseldorf's Medical Academy of 1907 and was named after German poet Heinrich Heine. Followi ...

, she moved to the US in 1991 to become an associate professor of physics at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

. She was promoted to full professor in 1997, and served as department chair from 2006 until 2012, when she moved to Iowa State as dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 2017, Schmittmann was reappointed to the LAS deanship. While working in the United States, Schmittmann acquired American citizenship. In 2019, she was considered a finalist for the provost position at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Book

Schmittmann is the coauthor with Royce King-Ping Zia of the book ''Statistical Mechanics of Driven Diffusive Systems'' (

Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena ''Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena'' is a 20-volume series of books, comprising review articles on phase transitions and critical phenomena, published during 1972-2001. It is "considered the most authoritative series on the topic". Volum ...

, vol. 17, Academic Press, 1995).

Recognition

Schmittmann was named a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

(APS) in 2004, after a nomination from the APS Topical Group on Statistical & Nonlinear Physics, for "seminal and sustained research on fundamental and applied problems in non-equilibrium statistical physics, in particular driven diffusive systems". In 2010, the Southeastern Section of the APS gave her their for research excellence. Schmittmann was the first woman to receive the Beams Award. She became a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 2015 for "seminal and sustained research on fundamental and applied problems in nonequilibrium statistical physics, and for contributions to administration and to increasing diversity in STEM".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmittmann, Beate Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century German physicists German women physicists 21st-century American physicists RWTH Aachen University alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academic staff of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Virginia Tech faculty Iowa State University faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society American women physicists 21st-century American women scientists Naturalized citizens of the United States 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American physicists American condensed matter physicists German emigrants to the United States American university and college faculty deans Women deans (academic) 20th-century German women scientists 21st-century German women scientists 20th-century German physicists German academic administrators