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.
