Monica Olvera de la Cruz obtained her BA in Physics from the UNAM, Mexico City, in 1981 with her thesis supervised by Prof. A. Mondragon at the Instituto de Fisica, UNAM. She completed her PhD in Physics from Cambridge University, UK, as a member of Trinity College in 1985, and supervised by Prof. Sir Sam Edwards at the Cavendish Laboratory. She came to the United States as a guest scientist of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, to work with Prof. Isaac Sanchez (now at UT Austin). She joined Northwestern University in 1986, where she is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Chemistry and the director of the Materials Research Center. From 1995-97 she became a Staff Scientist in the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, Saclay, France, where she also held visiting scientist positions in 1993 and in 2003. She has developed theoretical models to determine the thermodynamics, statistics and dynamics of macromolecules in complex environments including multicomponent solutions of heterogeneous synthetic and biological molecules. Her major awards include: 2007 Cozzarelli Prize, National Academy of Science (NAS); 1990-95 Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation (NSF); 1990-92 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship; 1989-94 David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Vice-Chair of the National Research Council (NRC) NAS Solid State Science Committee. She has served in many committees including the NRC NAS Research at the Intersection of Life and Physical Sciences Committee (2007-09), the NSF Mathematical Physical Science Directorate Advisory Committee (2005-09; DMR Advisory Committee Chair, 2007-09) and the NSF MRSEC Executive Committee (Chair, 2008-09). She has taught in prestigious workshops and schools and has directed various educational programs.
