Paulette Clancy is a British physicist who is Professor of Materials Science at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. Her research investigates the development of

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

strategies to advance innovation in materials design, with a focus on complex situations.

Early life and education

Clancy is from London. She was an undergraduate student at

Queen Elizabeth College Queen Elizabeth College (QEC) was a college in London. It had its origins in the Ladies' (later Women's) Department of King's College, London, opened in 1885 but which later accepted men as well. The first King's 'extension' lectures for ladi ...

, where she studied chemistry. She moved to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

for her doctoral research in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

Research and career

Clancy was a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at both

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. While at Cornell, she bought a

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...

and drove all around North America. She returned to the United Kingdom, where she worked for an oil company. In 1987, Clancy joined the faculty at Cornell University. She spent over thirty years at Cornell, eight as the Director of the Computational Science and Engineering and Bodman Chair of Chemical Engineering. Clancy founded the Women in Science community at Cornell, and has advocated for equity and inclusion throughout her career. She joined the faculty at the

Whiting School of Engineering The Whiting School of Engineering is the engineering school of the Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. History The engineering department at Johns Hopkins was originally created in 1913 as an educatio ...

in 2018, and was appointed the Edward J. Schaefer Professor in 2023. Clancy's research investigates the use of computational

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

. She looks to understand the relationship between atomic structure and material properties. At

, she leads the Data Science and AI Initiative. Her research involves computational simulations of semiconducting materials, include inorganic (e.g. silicon and germanium) and molecular systems. She is interested in the simulation of complex organic systems (e.g. antibacterial oligomers and covalent organic frameworks), understanding processes involved during nucleation and crystal growth, and the development of large-scale models for materials innovation (machine learning, force fields, Bayesian optimisation).

Awards and honours

* Alice Cook Award *

Zellman Warhaft Award * Elected to the board of directors * Elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers. Curr ...

(AIChE) * Elected to the advisory board of Materials Horizons

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clancy, Paulette Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Scientists from London Cornell University faculty Alumni of Queen Elizabeth College Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of London Johns Hopkins University faculty Fellows of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers British emigrants to the United States British materials scientists 20th-century British women scientists 21st-century British women scientists