UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Theresa Mayer, distinguished professor of electrical engineering, has been named the College of Engineering's associate dean for research and innovation.
She will assume her new role Oct. 15.
Mayer said, "This is an exciting time for engineering at Penn State. There are tremendous opportunities for our college to build on our strong foundation of interdisciplinary research excellence and deep collaborative industry and global partnerships to address grand engineering challenges that will have a profound impact on society."
Amr Elnashai, Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering, said, "Dr. Mayer brings extensive experience in research and management of centers and large multi-disciplinary groups. She will provide thoughtful and effective leadership in overseeing the implementation of the college's research and innovation goals as expressed in our strategic plan."
Mayer will be responsible for providing strategic leadership, development and coordination of research initiatives, technology transition, and industry and global collaborations in the college.
She served as an associate director of the Materials Research Institute, where she was the director of the Nanofabrication Laboratory. She is a site director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, which serves broad and diverse nanoscale science, engineering and technology communities from academia and industry.
Mayer led an interdisciplinary research group on photonic nanostructures within the Center for Nanoscale Science, an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.
She is widely recognized for her research in hierarchical nanomanufacturing and its applications in electronic and photonic microsystems with new functionalities. Her work in directed assembly of nanoparticles is being applied to a variety of device and manufacturing challenges, ranging from low-power integrated nanosensor circuits to nontraditional nanopatterning processes.
Mayer has published more than 170 refereed articles and proceedings and holds seven patents. Two companies have licensed the technologies.
She received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award in 1995 and the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Outstanding Teaching and Research Awards in 2000 and 2009, respectively.
Mayer earned her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and her master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University.
She joined Penn State in 1994.