Izabela Szlufarska, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Izabela Szlufarska is the Harvey D. Spangler Professor of Engineering and Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She received her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville in 2002. After a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Southern California, she joined the faculty at UW-Madison in 2004, where she has worked since. 

Szlufarska has served in multiple leadership positions, developing and implementing strategies for advancing and promoting the field of materials science and engineering and increasing engagement with diverse stakeholders. As Department Chair, Szlufarska established the first departmental External Advisory Board, significantly increased alumni engagement, and developed new fundraising strategies, leading to a quintupling of the annual fund and securing the first 10 major gifts to the department in many years. In 2021, Szlufarska was elected to the executive committee of the University Materials Council (UMC), a council of materials science and engineering chairs and heads in North America. She was elected by her peers to chair UMC for 2024/2025. As Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Szlufarska has promoted new ideas and the latest advancements in materials science. She has served on multiple advisory boards and committees, including leading a panel for the DOE BES workshop on Basic Research Needs in Materials for Nuclear Energy.

Szlufarska has been dedicated to service to professional materials societies, including MRS. In the Spring of 2016, she was one of the meeting chairs, providing vision and guidance for the scientific content of the meeting. She represented MRS during Congressional Visit Days in 2017, organized multiple symposia, and has served on MRS Postdoctoral Award Committee and Materials Theory Award committee.

In her research, Szlufarska focuses on the fundamental understanding and design of materials for extreme environments, including the effects of mechanical stresses, corrosion, radiation, and high temperatures. Her research is driven by applications in nuclear energy, high-energy particle accelerators, and tribology. Szlufarska’s primary expertise is in the development and application of theory and atomistic simulations, complemented by nanoscale and microscale experimental characterization. She has led multiple research teams, including Interdisciplinary Research Groups within the UW Materials Research Science and Engineering Center through renewals of the center in 2011 and 2023.

Szlufarska’s contributions to materials science have been recognized with numerous awards, including the TMS Brimacombe Medalist and TMS Light Metals Subject Award – Aluminum Alloys, Outstanding Alumni Award from Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland, the Vilas Associate Award, and the H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship from the UW – Madison, as well as NSF CAREER and AFOSR Young Investigator Awards. Szlufarska was also placed on the National Academy of Engineering’s list of Frontiers in Engineering.

Candidate's Statement

MRS plays a pivotal role in promoting advances in materials research by fostering strong engagement within a diverse international community and providing a multifaceted platform for exchanging ideas, exploring new frontiers in materials science, and articulating the impact of materials on society to stakeholders. This inspiring mission aligns well with my own aspirations and values, and I would be honored to contribute my skills and expertise as a member of the MRS Board of Directors.

Modern technologies heavily rely on the innovation and advancement of materials.  Materials are also critical to addressing current and future societal challenges, including climate change, the supply of energy and clean water, next-generation computing, and healthy ageing, to name a few. Consequently, MRS as a society has a vital role in helping bridge fundamental discoveries with translational research and technological applications. This is achieved by promoting fundamental technical content while simultaneously creating engagement opportunities with industrial partners and providing learning opportunities around entrepreneurship. Addressing technological challenges requires integration across multiple scientific and engineering disciplines, and materials science occupies a unique position in this space due to its inherently interdisciplinary nature. I believe, it is important for MRS to continue experimenting with interdisciplinary and cross-cutting research topics without compromising the essential objective of deepening knowledge in traditional areas.

MRS is a crucial player in communicating the message of the impact of materials on technology and society to the public, the government, industries, and future generation of scientists. In addition to the many highly effective outreach activities already in place, I believe MRS has an exciting opportunity to partner with materials-related Academic departments to inspire and inform the younger generation about pursuing degrees and careers in materials science and engineering and to increase participation of younger scholars in MRS meetings. I would leverage my position as the chair of the University of Materials Council (UMC) to experiment with collaborative activities between MRS and UMC members and I would promote successful examples to expand such activities beyond institutions in North America.

Efforts at inclusion and diversity are not stand-alone activities, but they represent culture and values that need to be reflected across the many different functions and groups in an egalitarian organization such as MRS. Inclusion breathes life into diversity efforts, and the two cannot be separated. As the global landscape in materials research shifts and expands, MRS faces a challenge of keeping the increasingly multinational and multicultural community engaged and I would work to promote continued discussions on how to evolve and adapt to create a welcoming environment to all.

Strong participation in MRS meetings could become a challenge not only due to globalization of the materials community, but also because of the changes in expectations for virtual participation, and by the ever-increasing availability of data and information that can be accessed remotely. I would work to keep MRS the essential venue for meetings of the materials community by leveraging leadership roles played by its members. MRS meeting should not only be a place to showcase one’s latest research, but also a place where thought leaders meet to map out future directions and provide guidance for navigating our rapidly changing technological landscape, as exemplified by the accelerated pace in which artificial intelligence and robotics are changing our lives and research, as well as the race to reliable quantum computing.