Associate dean named as UF's first woman dean of engineering

July 6, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An associate dean and longtime professor of materials science and engineering who earned her doctorate from Stanford University will become the University of Florida College of Engineering’s first female dean.

Cammy Abernathy, the engineering college’s associate dean for academic affairs, will start as UF’s ninth dean of engineering July 17, Provost Joe Glover announced Monday.

“Cammy brings vast experience and knowledge to the table,” Glover said. “The fact that she will make history by becoming UF’s first woman engineering dean makes her selection all the more exciting.”

Abernathy said she is thrilled at her selection and looks forward to continuing outgoing Dean Pramod Khargonekar’s legacy of improving and expanding the college.

“Thanks to Pramod’s leadership as well as the leadership of previous deans, we are one of the most productive engineering colleges in the country. We are one of the most diverse colleges in the country in terms of our disciplines. And we have a lot of strong departments,” she said. “We have great opportunities ahead of us.”

She noted that 2009-10 is the 100th anniversary of the engineering college — auspicious timing for its first female engineering dean.

“It’s not really about me. It’s a sign of where engineering has to go in the future,” she said. “We have to change the way engineering is perceived and we have to change the way it is introduced to potential students. This is especially important because engineering — and educating the next generation of engineers — is so critical to our country today.”

Abernathy, who specializes in the fabrication of semiconductor materials and devices, joined UF as a professor of materials science and engineering in 1993. She came here from AT&T’s Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., where she served as a member of the technical staff between 1985 and 1993. She worked as a research assistant in Stanford University’s department of materials science and engineering between 1981 and 1985.

She received her doctorate and master’s degrees in materials science and engineering from Stanford in 1982 and 1985, respectively. She received her bachelor of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in materials science and engineering in 1980.

Abernathy was named a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society in 2000, an AVS Distinguished Lecturer in 2001, and a Fellow of the AVS in 2002. She has authored more than 500 papers in science and engineering journals. At UF, Abernathy has received the MSE Faculty Excellence Award three times, in 1997, 1998 and 2003. She held the Alumni Chair in Materials Science and Engineering from 2001 to 2004.

Abernathy’s husband, Steve Pearton, is a UF distinguished professor of materials science and engineering. The couple have one son, Max, 10.

Khargonekar, who began serving as dean in 2001, will resume teaching and research as a faculty member in the department of electrical and computer engineering.