Marjorie Ann Olmstead is an American condensed matter physicist.

Education

Olmstead majored in physics at Swarthmore College for her B.A. and graduated with highest honours in 1979. After her junior year, she worked at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

for a summer through a research program to support women and minority groups, where she became interested in the interactions between semiconductors and insulators when creating stacks. She received her M.A. in 1982 and her PhD in 1985, both from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

After graduating, Olmstead took position at the

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Sta ...

in 1985. Though she could have stayed there permanently, she was interested in teaching and applied for faculty positions. She became assistant professor at the

in 1986. Olmstead is currently a professor at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

. She also acts as Undergraduate Faculty Advisor, Associate Chair of physics and manages a Nanotechnology PhD Program. She was hired at UW in 1991 as an assistant professor, then became associate professor in 1993 and full professor in 1997. Her main research focus, broadly stated, is investigating "interfaces between dissimilar materials". She develops techniques to grow and characterise high-quality thin films and layered systems including materials such as calcium fluoride, silicon and gallium arsenide. In 1999, Olmstead was chair of the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics.

Awards and honours

* 2002 Fellow of the American Physical Society for ''innovative studies of interface formation between dissimilar materials, especially the competition between thermodynamic and kinetic constraints in controlling morphologies and properties of heterostructures''. *1999

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

Research Award Programme. *1999 University of Washington Society of Physics Students Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award. *1996

Maria Goeppert Mayer Award The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award is an annual prize presented by the American Physical Society in recognition of an outstanding contribution to physics research by a woman. It recognizes and enhances outstanding achievements by women physicists in ...

for ''her innovative application of electron spectroscopies to surfaces and interfaces that has elucidated the importance of interfacial reactions on the structure, properties and morphology of both the interface and growing film in systems involving dissimilar materials, especially when heteroepitaxy is involved''. * 1996 Fellow of the American Vacuum Society. * 1994 Peter Mark Memorial Award for ''elucidating the nature of semiconductor surfaces and the heteroepitaxial growth of insulating materials on these surfaces''. *1989 Department of Energy "2% Initiative" Competition. * 1987 National Science Foundation

Presidential Young Investigator Award The Presidential Young Investigator Award (PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Presiden ...

. * 1986 IBM Faculty Development Award.

Personal life

Olmstead is married and has two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olmstead, Marjorie University of Washington faculty Swarthmore College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society American condensed matter physicists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women physicists American women physicists