Women in Engineering Profile: Katherine Faber
This profile series introduces leading materials scientists from around the world who happen to be females. Here we speak with Katherine Faber, Simon Ramo Professor of Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology. Faber was recently selected as the ASM Edward DeMille Campbell Memorial Lecturer for 2019.
What part of your job do you like most?
I love working with students in a research setting. It is both humbling and uplifting to watch students’ different approaches to solving problems. I enjoy challenging them and being challenged by them. It is extremely satisfying to see them grow to be my colleagues with successful careers of their own.
What is your engineering background?
I was trained as a ceramic engineer at Alfred University, went on for a master’s degree in ceramic science at Penn State, and then worked in industry at the Carborundum Company in Niagara Falls where I got my first taste of structural ceramics. After two years, I realized that I would need a Ph.D. to have the career I wanted, so I moved west and received my Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at UC Berkeley. There I became smitten with academia and have held faculty positions at The Ohio State University, Northwestern University, and for the past three years, Caltech.
What attracted you to engineering?
Growing up during the Sputnik Era and at the start of the Space Age, I was captivated with space and took a number of astronomy courses at the Buffalo Museum of Science. One of my most prized possessions was my telescope. During high school, my interests in science broadened and I thought I wanted to be a chemist. However, between the unpalatability of organic chemistry, the excitement of problem solving, and the applications orientation of engineering, I moved in that direction. I was also influenced by my father who wanted to be one of the first aeronautical engineers. He had to discontinue his education when the Great Depression hit. However, his curiosity of all things science and engineering-related was inspirational.
Did you ever consider doing something else with your life besides engineering?
If only I had the requisite talent, I would be an orchestral conductor, thrilled with the opportunity to lead an orchestra in Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto.
How many people do you work with?
I currently have five Ph.D. students, a research scientist, and three undergraduates in my lab. But the boundaries of our laboratory don’t limit the size of the group. We collaborate with Caltech mechanical engineering faculty on fracture problems and chemical engineers on porous ceramics for membrane applications. Outside of Caltech, we interact with materials folks at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on materials that might go to Mars, and at the University of Padua and the University of Erlangen on porous ceramics from preceramic polymers.
Hobbies?
Walking/hiking, theater, museums, and music.
Last book read?
Sara Paretsky’s “Brush Back.” Paretsky created the detective series featuring V I Warshawski, a gutsy female Chicago-born-and-bread private eye. Her books are always a fun read, especially if you know Chicago.
Learn more about ASM’s Women in Materials Engineering Committee.
Do you know someone who should be featured in an upcoming Women in Engineering profile? Contact Vicki Burt at [email protected].
