Presented by Mary Galvin, Dean of the College of Science, as part of the Living Legends of Engineering Leadership Lecture Series

While for the majority of my career I was a fundamental researcher in academia and at Bell Laboratories, I have had the good fortune to serve in a variety of sectors including academia, the private sector and government.  One thing all three sectors have in common is that people tend to confuse being in a leadership position with being a leader.  During this talk I will describe my experiences in developing a career and what key attributes distinguish a leader from a manager.

Biography

Mary Galvin became the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science in August 2015. Mary leads and inspires more than 550 faculty, staff, and postdoctoral researchers in the college which is home to more than 1,680 undergraduate and 450 graduate students.

Prior to coming to Notre Dame, Mary had experience in the government, industry and academia.  She served as director for the Division of Materials Research in the National Science Foundation (NSF) where she managed a $307M budget and was responsible for setting scientific priorities for materials and condensed matter physics.

After graduating from MIT with master’s and doctoral degrees in polymers and materials science, Mary worked at Bell Laboratories, where she served for 14 years and became a distinguished member of the technical staff. In 1998, Mary joined the University of Delaware as a professor of materials science and engineering and in 2004 was promoted to distinguished professor. At both Bell Labs and the University of Delaware, Mary established research programs on the structure and property relationships that govern the performance of organic materials in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photovoltaic cells and thin film transistors. She has co-authored many publications in this area as well as on inorganic/organic nanocomposites and polymer blends, and has given numerous invited talks at national and international meetings. She currently holds five U.S. patents.

Mary is a fellow in the American Physical Society, was elected to the board of directors of the Materials Research Society and has served on National Research Council panels, including the Board of Chemical Science and Technology.