Mildred Dresselhaus, who earned the National Medal of Science served as director of
the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Millie and her husband Gene Dresselhaus with Prof. J. Heremans in Flagstaff, Arizona
Professor Millie Dresselhaus
Millie working in the laboratory
Talking with keynote speaker Mildred S. Dresselhaus, an Institute Professor at MIT and professor of physics, at the symposium are (standing from left) Diana Bianchi, the Natalie V. Zucker Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and
Gynecology; Alice Lichtenstein, the Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy; and Brigitte Huber,
School of Medicine professor of pathology.
Mildred Dresselhaus speaks at Wirec 2008.
Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus with Dr. Peter Brancton and graduate students at Chiba University
Millie with her violin
Prof. Dresselhaus (center in red) along with other 2008 APS Prize and Award Recipients
Millie being awarded the Oersted Medal of the American Association of Physics
Teachers, January 2008.
Millie in the classroom.
Millie at NT09

About Millie

Mildred Dresselhaus is an Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.  She received her B.A. in Physics from Hunter College in 1951, her M.A. in Physics from Radcliffe College/Harvard University in 1953 and her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago in 1958.  Dr. Dresselhaus 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, and was named an Institute Professor in 1985.  She served as the Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy in 2000--2001 and as the Chair of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics 2003--2008.  Dr. Dresselhaus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and has served as President of the American Physical Society, Treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences, and President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the IEEE, the Materials Research Society, the Society of Women Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Carbon Society and a member of the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Dresselhaus has received numerous awards, including the US National Medal of Science and 28 honorary doctorates worldwide.  Her recent awards include the L'Oreal-UNESCO 2007 North American Laureate for Women in Science, the 2008 Oersted Medal for Physics Education from the American Association for Physics Teachers, the 2008 Buckley Prize for Condensed Matter Physics from the American Physical Society, and the 2009 Vannevar Bush Award from the National Science Board.


Professor Dresselhaus's research over the years has covered a wide range of topics in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics.  She is best known for her work on carbon science and carbon nanostructures, as well as nanoscience and nanotechnology more generally.  She is also one of the researchers responsible for the resurgence of the Thermoelectrics research field through her early work on low dimensional thermoelectricity in the early 1990's.  She co-chaired a DOE Study on "Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen Economy in 2003 and more recently co-chaired of a National Academy Decadal Study of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. She has co-authored more than 1400 publications including books, book chapters, invited review articles and peer reviewed journal articles.  She is co-inventor on five US patents.  She is an enthusiastic chamber music player, where she plays either violin or viola, and enjoys spending time with her husband, four children and five grandchildren.