Mecartney_M_125Martha L. Mecartney is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of California, Irvine.  She completed a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science and a B.A. in Classics at Case Western Reserve University. She obtained her M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, followed by post-doctoral research at the Max-Planck-Institut in Stuttgart, Germany.  Professor Mecartney started her academic career at the University of Minnesota in 1985 as an assistant professor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and in 1990 was recruited to UC Irvine as a tenured associate professor.  

She has published over 100 articles on microstructural development in ceramics for applications in electronics and energy, with an emphasis on how grain boundaries and interfaces affect physical properties such as superplasticity.  

Professor Mecartney chaired the 2012 Ceramics Gordon Research Conference, was awarded the Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, was given the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring by the White House, and was selected as Professor of the Year at UC Irvine. She is a past Chair of the Basic Science Division of ACerS, organizer of meetings and symposia for ACerS, and has served on the Public Relations, Jeppson Award, and Member Services committees for ACerS.  She has been a member of the Basic Science Division since 1979 and also holds membership in the Nuclear, Electronics, Engineering Ceramics, and Art and Archaeology Divisions.

Her current research investigates the role of water vapor on enhanced diffusion in ceramics, uses computational modeling to predict properties of multiphase ceramics, and evaluates radiation damage in ceramics for nuclear applications.