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Monica Olvera de la Cruz
Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

Professor, Chemical & Biological Engineering
Professor, Chemistry
Director, Materials Research Center

Northwestern University
2220 Campus Drive
4011 Cook Hall
Evanston, IL 60208-3108

Curriculum Vitae (needs Adobe Reader)

Phone: (847) 491-7801

Monica grew up in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. In 1981 she obtained her B. A. in physics, from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, with a B.A. thesis supervised by Prof. A. Mondragon from the Instituto de Fisica, UNAM, in the area of phase transitions. She completed her Ph.D. in Physics from Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, as a member of Trinity College, in 1985. Her PhD thesis on polymer physics was supervised by Prof. Sir Sam Edwards at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK. She came to the United State as a postdoctoral Fellow of the Polymer Science and Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, and as a Guest Scientist in the Polymer Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly NBS), Gaithersburg, MD. She joined the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University in 1986, as an Assistant (86-91), Associate (91-98) and Full (98-Pr.) Professor. From 1995-1997, she was on leave from Northwestern University, and became a Staff Scientist (Eng. C3) in the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA), Saclay, France; where she also held visiting scientist positions in 1993 and in 2003. Olvera de la Cruz is interested in macromolecular physics and material properties. She has developed theoretical models to determine the thermodynamics, statistics and dynamics of macromolecules in complex environments. She has analyzed phase segregation in multicomponent systems, in chemically heterogeneous macromolecules, and in synthetic and biological polyelectrolytes. Her major awards include: 2001 Fellow of the American Physical Society.; 1990-95 Presidential Young Investigator Award (National Science Foundation).; 1990-92 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship.; 1989-94 David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering.; 1988-93 FIRST Award (National Institutes of Health).; 1981-84 UNAM scholarship, Mexico, held at Cambridge University, England. ; 1983-84 Overseas Research Scholarship award (ORS-award) England, held at Cambridge University, England.; 1981-82 Graduate Studies Fellowship, Trinity College, Cambridge University, England (declined).; 1979-81 Conacyt-UNAM scholarship award, Mexico, held at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico.


Home Education Members Research Publications Degrees Associates Awards