Marjorie Ann Olmstead is an American condensed matter physicist.

Education

Olmstead majored in physics at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

for her B.A. and graduated with highest honours in 1979. After her junior year, she worked at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

for a summer through a research program to support women and minority groups, where she became interested in the interactions between

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping levels ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Career

After graduating, Olmstead took position at the

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

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 and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. 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 Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a Zincblende (crystal structure), zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monoli ...

. 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 The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

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 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

Research Award Programme. *1999 University of Washington

Society of Physics Students The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association with international participation, granting membership through college chapters with the only requirement that the student member be interested in physics. All college majors a ...

Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award. *1996 Maria Goeppert Mayer Award 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 AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing (formally the American Vacuum Society, Inc.) is a professional and scientific society founded in 1953 as a committee on vacuum technology. The AVS supports networking among its ...

. * 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 Preside ...

. * 1986

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

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 21st-century women physicists American women physicists