On April 13, President Clinton nominated MIT Professor Mildred Dresselhaus as the next Director of the US Department of Energy Office of Science. The DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences is a part of the Office of Science.

Professor Dresselhaus is Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),

Professor Dresselhaus has an A.B. from Hunter College and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Following her doctoral studies, she spent two years at Cornell University as an NSF postdoctoral fellow and then seven years as a staff member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Solid State Physics Division. She joined the MIT faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1967 and the Department of Physics in 1983. She was named an Institute Professor in 1985.

Professor Dresselhaus previously held the Abby Rockefeller Mauze chair at MIT in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She is also affiliated with the Center for Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, which she formerly directed, and the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, where some of the experimental work of her group is carried out.

Professor Dresselhaus has been active in the study of a wide range of problems in the physics of solids. Her recent interests have been directed toward the modification of the properties of electronic materials by intercalation and implantation and the investigations of the structure and properties of carbon fibers, of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, and of high Tc superconductors. She is widely published in these areas and is the co-author of three books on carbon science.

Professor Dresselhaus has a long history of service to the scientific community. She has served as President of the American Physical Society, treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and on numerous advisory committees and councils. In 1988 she served as chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Planning Committee to assess possible initiatives for improving the representation of women in scientific and engineering careers.

Professor Dresselhaus has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science and 16 honorary doctorates. In March of this year at the American Physical Society meeting, she was honored with the 1999 Nicholson Medal for Humanitarian Service "For being a compassionate mentor and lifelong friend to young scientists; for setting high standards as researchers, teachers and citizens; and for promoting international ties in science."

Professor Dresselhaus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, IEEE, the Materials Research Society, and the Society of Women Engineers.