Nadya Mason Explained

Nadya Mason
Fields:SuperconductivityQuantum ComputingNanomaterials
Thesis Title:Superconductor-metal-insulator transitions in two dimensions
Thesis Url:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001PhDT.......241M
Thesis Year:2001

Nadya Mason is dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at The University of Chicago, receiving that appointment in October 2023. Prior to joining The University of Chicago, she was the Rosalyn Sussman Yalow Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] As a condensed matter experimentalist, she works on the quantum limits of low-dimensional systems. Mason was the Director of the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (I-MRSEC), and Director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology from September 2022 through September 2023.[2] [3] She was the first woman and woman of color to work as the director at the institute.[4] [5] In 2021, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[6] [7]

Early life and education

As she described herself in interview, Mason was born in New York City, and lived in Brooklyn for the first six years of her life; after that, she grew up in Washington, D.C. before moving to Houston.[8] As described to Aubrie Williams in interview, Mason spent from ages 7–16 ("most of my childhood") involved in gymnastics at a highly competitive level, making the Junior National Team at age 13, and ranking 27th nationally at age 15.[9] This period of intensive training included a year (1986) spent with Bela Karolyi,[10] a demanding course she ultimately set aside to pursue science.[9]

Mason completed a bachelor's degree at Harvard University in 1995,[11] and a PhD under Aharon Kapitulnik at Stanford University in 2001.[12] Mason always enjoyed math and science, and completed several science-focused internships during her education,[13] including a fellowship in condensed matter at Bell Laboratories.[14]

Career

Mason returned to Harvard as a MRSEC Postdoctoral Fellow in 2001, where she was elected junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows. In 2005, Mason joined the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as an assistant professor.[15] In 2014 she was appointed a John Bardeen Faculty Scholar in Physics at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In 2016 she was promoted to full Professor.[16] As of 2018, Mason was a General Councillor for the American Physical Society.

On October 1, 2023, Mason was appointed Dean of the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, succeeding Matthew J. Tirrell.[17] [18]

Research

In 2006, Mason was on a team that was first to demonstrate the non-equilibrium Kondo effect, and in 2011 she was on a team that observed individual superconducting bound states in graphene-based systems.[19] [20] In the 2014-2018 period, Mason's research focused on carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanostructured semiconductors and topological insulators.[21] In these systems she has concentrated on electron interactions, and how to apply her understanding to quantum computing.[15]

Service and outreach

As of 2017, Mason was Chair of the APS Committee on Minorities, and was featured by the National Society of Black Physicists for Black History Month in 2017.[22] Also in 2017, she discussed the limit on the size of electronics and impact of novel nanomaterials on the "Saturday Physics for Everyone 2017" program of the UIUC YouTube channel.[23]

In November 2019, Mason gave a TED talk called, "How to spark your creativity, scientifically."

Honors and awards

Mason is also described as having been named a Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellow, the dates of which is unclear from the sources.[29] [31]

Personal life

As of a September 2011 interview, Mason was indicated as being married (husband, Dillon), and having two daughters.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1400 Degrees: Exploring the Universe of Materials with Nadya Mason. Betancourt-Martinez . Gabriele . February 5, 2023 . Heising-Simons Foundation . 2024-11-11.
  2. Web site: Mason, Nadya & I-MRSEC Staff . 2018 . Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: People . MRSEC.Illinois.edu . 2018-02-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180219200241/https://mrsec.illinois.edu/people . 2018-02-19 . dead. en . Urbana, IL . UIUC I-MRSEC.
  3. Web site: OVCRI Staff . July 28, 2022 . Nadya Mason Named Director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology . 2022-11-04 . research.illinois.edu . Urbana, IL . UIUC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (OVCRI).
  4. Web site: Clayton . Daja . Dr. Nadya Mason becomes Beckman Institute' first woman of color Director . 2022-11-04 . WAND-TV . 31 August 2022 . en.
  5. Web site: McClure . Julie . Checking in with Nadya Mason, the new Director of Beckman Institute : Culture : Smile Politely . 2022-11-04 . www.smilepolitely.com. 31 August 2022 .
  6. Web site: NAS Staff . 26 April 2021 . National Academy of Sciences Elects New Members - Including a Record Number of Women - and International Members . 31 August 2024. Newly elected members and their affiliations at the time of election are: …Mason, Nadya; director, Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and Rosalyn Sussman Yalow Professor in Physics, department of physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
  7. Web site: NAS Staff . 2021-07-04 . Member Directory. 2021-07-04. Washington, DC . National Academy of Sciences.
  8. Mason, Nadya & Baccouche, Aziza [draziza1] . 2008 . Profile of Dr. Nadya Mason . streaming video . en-us . 2018-02-07 . Washington, DC . Azia Productions .
  9. News: Williams, Aubrie & Mason, Nadya . September 7, 2011 . Chambana Mom to Know: Nadya Mason. ChambanaMoms.com. interview . en-US. 2018-02-07.
  10. Web site: Hyman. Paul. December 2, 2009 . Nadya Mason: From Pirouettes to Carbon Nanotubes. Communications of the ACM . 2018-02-07. New York, NY . The Association for Computing Machinery.
  11. Web site: Harvard MRSEC Staff . 2018-02-07 . Dr. Nadya Mason. www.mrsec.harvard.edu. en. 2018-02-07 . Cambridge, MA . Harvard University, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.
  12. Mason. Nadya. August 2001. Superconductor-metal-insulator transitions in two dimensions . PhD dissertation . Stanford University . 2001PhDT.......241M . 978-0-493-40427-1 . .
  13. Web site: Goad, Angela . 2024-04-12 . Women in STEM: Nadya Mason . Introductions Necessary . vblog transcript . en-US . 2024-04-21. See also the Women in STEM, Season One: By Air Date, entry for April 12, 2024, for the details of the citation.
  14. Web site: Dr Nadya Mason. . Harvard College MRSEC . 2024-11-11.
  15. Web site: Mason, Nadya & APS Staff . 2014 . About APS: Nadya Mason, University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign, 2014-2017 General Councilor, Biographical Summary . . 2018-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180208123632/https://www.aps.org/about/governance/election/nadya-mason.cfm . 2018-02-08 . dead. en . College Park, MD . American Center for Physics - APS.
  16. Web site: Mason, Nadya & Vilfranc, Chrystelle [#VanguardSTEM Staff, compiled by] . February 8, 2017 . #WCWinSTEM: Nadya Mason, Ph.D. . (VanguardSTEM.com) . 2018-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303133025/http://vanguardstem.com/wcwinstem-nadya-mason-ph-d/ . 2017-03-03 . dead. en-US . VanguardSTEM.
  17. Web site: JBHE Staff. August 14, 2023 . The Next Leader of the School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago . . 31 August 2024 .
  18. Web site: UChicago News Staff. July 24, 2023 . Physicist Nadya Mason Appointed Dean of Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . UChicago News (News.UChicago.edu) . 31 August 2024 .
  19. News: Schwink, Siv . 2014-10-21 . Mason named John Bardeen Scholar. Physics.Illinois.edu . 2018-02-07 . en-US . Urbana, IL . UIUC Department of Physics.
  20. Paaske. J.. Rosch. A.. Wölfle. P.. Mason. N.. Marcus. C. M.. Nygård. J.. 2006. Non-equilibrium singlet–triplet Kondo effect in carbon nanotubes. Nature Physics. En. 2. 7. 460–464. 10.1038/nphys340. 1745-2481. cond-mat/0602581. 2006NatPh...2..460P. 10840835.
  21. Mason. Nadya. 2016-05-20. Superconductivity on the edge. Science. en. 352. 6288. 891–892. 10.1126/science.aaf6604. 0036-8075. 27199401. 2016Sci...352..891M. 206649295.
  22. Web site: NSBP Staff . February 19, 2017 . The National Society of Black Physicists honors Dr. Nadya Mason . National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) . 2018-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180209002746/https://nsbp.org/upcoming-events/15-bhm-2017/20-nadya-mason . 2018-02-09 . dead. en . Arlington, VA . NSBP.
  23. Mason, Nadya & UIUC Physics Staff . 2017 . Saturday Physics for Everyone 2017: Nadya Mason, "How Small Can We Go? The physics behind..." . streaming video . en-us . 2018-02-07 . Urbana, IL . UIUC Department of Physics . Date of event may have been 15 November 2017.
  24. Web site: AmAcad Staff & Mason, Nadya . 2021 . Member Directory, Professor Nadya Mason, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign . AmAcad.org . 2021-04-22 . Cambridge, MA . American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  25. Web site: APS Staff . August 31, 2024 . Edward A. Bouchet Award, Recent Recipients, Nadya Mason, 2020 recipient . American Physical Society (APS.org) . 2019-11-12. en . College Park, MD . American Center for Physics - APS.
  26. News: Schwink, Siv . 2018-10-01 . Nadya Mason elected APS Fellow. Physics.Illinois.edu . August 31, 2024 . en-US . Urbana, IL . UIUC Department of Physics.
  27. News: Schwink, Siv . 2013-04-29 . Nadya Mason and Mark Neubauer win Dean's Award for Excellence in Research . Physics.Illinois.edu . 2018-02-07 . en-US . Urbana, IL . UIUC Department of Physics.
  28. Web site: APS Staff . August 31, 2024 . Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in Physics, Recent Recipients, Nadya Mason, 2012 recipient . American Physical Society (APS.org) . August 31, 2024. en-US . College Park, MD . American Center for Physics - APS. One must click on the "See all recipients" link below the 2020 recipient, to reveal this information.
  29. Web site: AnitaB.org Staff & Mason, Nadya . 2009 . ABIE Award Winners, Denice Denton: Nadya Mason, 2009 Winner of the Denice Denton Emerging Leader ABIE Award . . 2018-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171004155134/https://anitab.org/profiles/abie-award-winners/nadya-mason/ . 2017-10-04 . dead. en . Sacramento, CA . Nadya has received multiple awards for her work, including a National Science Foundation CAREER award and a Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Award, and she was honored as an “Emerging Scholar” by Diverse Magazine in 2008..
  30. Mason, Nadya & AnitaB.org Staff . 2009 . Nadya Mason, 2009 Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award Winner . streaming video . en-us . 2018-02-07 . Sacramento, CA . .
  31. Book: Mason, Nadya & the Committee on Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey, National Materials and Manufacturing Board, Board on Physics and Astronomy, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences . 2019 . Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey . Appendix C, Committee Biographies . 260 . 31 August 2024 . Washington, DC . National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and The National Academies Press . 10.17226/25244 . 978-0-309-48387-2 . Dr. Mason has received multiple awards for her work, including an NSF CAREER award and a Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Award, and she was honored as an “Emerging Scholar” by Diverse Magazine in 2008.. The DOI for the overall volume is this.
  32. Web site: NSF Staff . January 18, 2011 . Award Abstract # 0644674, CAREER: Tuning Transport in Nanostructures . National Science Foundation (NSF.gov) . 2018-02-07 . en . Arlington, VA . National Science Foundation.

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