Three Women Scholars Appointed to Chair Their Academic Departments

Paula T. Hammond was appointed chair of the department of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the first woman and the first African American to hold the post.

Professor Hammond is the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering at MIT. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. from MIT. Dr. Hammond earned a master’s degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Susan Sinnott was named chair of the department of material science and engineering at Pennsylvania State University. She has been serving as the Alumni Professor in Material Science and director of the Cyberinfrastructure for Atomistic Simulation at the University of Florida. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal Computational Materials Science.

Professor Sinnott is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Iowa State University.

Ann M. Mastergeorge is the new chair of the department of human development and family studies in the College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She was a professor in the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Mastergeorge is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, where she majored in speech communication. She holds a master’s degree in communication disorders from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.