Profile of an Alumna

Mary Anne White received her PhD from McMaster University in 1979 for work carried out in the laboratory of the late Professor Jim Morrison. Her thesis involved the study of orientational ordering in solid methane at low temperatures. She was awarded an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship, and following her work with L.A.K. Staveley at Oxford University on phase transitions of inorganic compounds, she joined the faculty at University of Waterloo. Two years later she moved to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia where she is currently a Killam Research Professor in Materials Science with appointments in both Chemistry and Physics.

She describes her academic experience at McMaster University as being special and valuable, in that her collaborations with scientists in Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering served to foster an appreciation of and an ability to work across interdisciplinary boundaries. Her research group at Dalhousie University is focused on understanding the role of structure of materials in determining thermal properties such as heat conduction and heat storage, especially where there is dynamical disorder of molecular systems, in materials such as simple metals, inorganic solids, inclusion compounds and other supramolecular systems.

Scientific research has proven to be an extremely rewarding career path for Mary Anne White. "It is never dull and can provide many moments of real pride (understanding something for the first time)" she writes. Her interest in science stems from her parents who always encouraged her to ask questions and to wonder about how things worked. She credits teachers in school and professors who took an interest in her career, including her PhD supervisor, with inspiring her to pursue academic research.

Her enthusiasm for science also extends into the teaching of it. "I would like to see a more vibrant undergraduate curriculum, especially with respect to teaching interesting things in first year. All across North America we teach students how to calculate the pH of buffers, but never mention the importance of various shampoo ingredients (including buffers). We could include more connections with real life, as examples of some of the fundamentals that we teach".

Sonya Balduzzi