Diane Folz

Diane Folz is a Senior Research Associate and Instructor in MSE at Virginia Tech, working primarily in the area of microwave processing of materials, since January 2001.  She graduated from the University of Florida in 1987 with a B.S. in materials science and engineering.  She stayed at Florida as a project and laboratory manager until joining VT-MSE.  Since 2001, Folz has been the Advisor for the Materials Engineering Professional Societies (MEPS), the MSE department’s student professional society and recently assumed the role of advisor for TMS/ASM and for MRS.  She also has served as the advisor for the Journal of Undergraduate Materials Research (JUMR) since its inception in 2004.  

From 1994 to 2006, Folz served as the Executive Director of the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE).  She is Past-Chair of the Education and Outreach Committee of The American Ceramic Society (ACerS), Past-Chair of the Florida Section of ACerS and is an evaluator for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).  In 2006, she completed a two-year term on the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) Board of Governors and she is Chair of Link 180 of the Order of the Engineer.  For the past four years, she has been the Instructor for the Materials Processing Laboratory, a junior-level class on materials processing applications and experimental design.  

She holds memberships in the Ceramic Education Council, ACerS, Keramos Ceramic Engineering Fraternity, The Materials Society, ASM International, the American Institute for Steel Technology and Epsilon Lambda Chi (Engineering Leadership Circle).  She is a Fellow of the NICE and ACerS.  

Folz has served as editor on 6 books, has more than 25 technical publications and 2 patents.  She served as Technical Vice Chair of the Third World Congress on Microwave and Radio Frequency Applications (September 2002, Sydney, Australia) and Chair of the Technical Program Committee for the Fourth World Congress scheduled for November 2004 in Austin, TX.  She co-chaired the Technical Program Committee for the 2nd Global Congress on Microwave Energy Applications in Long Beach, CA, July 2012.  In 2009, Folz received the Graduate Certificate in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, and she completed a Master’s in MSE in 2011.