Cary, N.C., USA - August 3, 2010, Cary, N.C., USA - LORD Corporation, an engineering company, has announced that Uma Chowdhry has joined its board of directors.
Article continues below
Ms. Chowdhry is the senior vice president and chief science and technology officer at DuPont. Joining DuPont in 1977 as a research scientist in Central Research & Development at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del., she was the first woman to be appointed laboratory director at this facility.
Ms. Chowdhry's early work at DuPont focused on developing catalysts for making tetrahydrofuran, a versatile industrial solvent. Her range of research interests then broadened to include electronics and ceramics. In 1987, she led DuPont's research effort in ceramic superconducting materials and developed a world-class program that generated more than 20 patents and 50 publications.
Ms. Chowdhry has subsequently held a number of research and business management positions with the company, integrating research and business planning and helping to improve the transfer of technologies from laboratory to market.
From 1988 to 1992, Ms. Chowdhry served as lab director and business manager in the Electronics Department before she moved to the Chemicals Sector as lab director of Jackson Lab. From 1993 to 1995, she served as R&D director for Specialty Chemicals and was appointed business director for the DuPont Terathane business in 1995. In 1997, she moved back to Specialty Chemicals as business planning and R&D director.
In 1999, Ms. Chowdhry was appointed director of DuPont Engineering's Technology division (DuET) and was named vice president - Central Research & Development in August 2002. In December 2004, she assumed responsibility for the company's core research programs and in June 2006, she was appointed senior vice president and chief technology officer, responsible for the company's market driven science and technology based innovations.
For her contributions to the science of ceramics, Ms. Chowdhry was elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 1989. For work ranging from catalysts to superconductors, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1996. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.
Ms. Chowdhry received her Bachelor of Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Mumbai University, in 1968; her Master of Science from Caltech in engineering science in 1970; and her Ph.D. in materials science from MIT in 1976. ■