Clair Sullivan was inspired to become an engineer when she heard a Physics Nobel Laureate’s degrading comment about engineering. She was determined to prove him wrong.
Sullivan graduated with a PhD. in NPRE from the University of Michigan in 2002 and then worked with the Department of Homeland Security. “I wanted…to take what I learned during my PhD. and apply it to counterterrorism,” Sullivan said.
Ten years later, she joined the NPRE faculty at Illinois as an assistant professor. Her research won her the 2014 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award and later the 2015 American Nuclear Society Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women’s Achievement Award. That same year, she also developed an undergraduate course in detector development.
Sullivan has won her department’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award twice. Read more about her accomplishments here.
Article: Susan Mumm, NPRE Illinois
Vignette: Taylor Tucker, July 2017
Updated: December 2018
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