Princeton Engineering

Linda Abriola, dean of the School of Engineering at Tufts University, and Alice Gast, president of Lehigh University, have been included in the encyclopedia American Women of Science Since 1900.

This 2-volume compilation focuses on 500 notable women scientists from the beginning of the last century up to the present and summarizes their wide ranging and varied significant advancements. Also included are general features on 50 different scientific disciplines as well as essays on related sociocultural topics, including recognized obstacles that have been particular to women working in the fields of science.

Linda Abriola received her Ph.D. in civil engineering from Princeton, following a B.S.E. in the same major from Drexel University in 1976. She was a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Michigan, then later moved to Tufts to hold positions as professor of civil and environmental engineering, adjunct professor in chemical and biological engineering and dean of the engineering school.

Abriola's primary research focus is the integration of mathematical modeling and laboratory experiments for the investigation and prediction of the transport and fate of reactive contaminants in the subsurface. She is particularly known for her work on the characterization and remediation of aquifers contaminated by chlorinated solvents. Abriola has served on advisory boards of environmental organizations, is the author of more than 130 refereed publications, is an elected member of the National Engineering Academy and has received a number of awards in recognition of her work.

In 1984 Alice Gast received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton. Her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering was earned at the University of Southern California in 1980. Early in her career, Gast was a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. In subsequent years, she was the vice president for research and associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and held the Robert T. Haslam chair in chemical engineering before moving to Lehigh University.

Gast studies surface and interfacial phenomena, in particular the behavior of complex fluids. Her areas of research include colloidal aggregation and ordering, protein lipid interactions and enzymes reactions at surfaces. She is the co-author of Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, 6th edition, a classic textbook on colloid and surface phenomena.

Besides being a member of a number of national advisory boards and committees, as well as scientific organizations, Gast’s accomplishments led to her being named in 2010 one of three science envoys by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the U.S. Department of State. In this post she will travel to the Caucasus and Central Asia and advise the White House, the Department of State, and the U.S. scientific community about ways to deepen existing ties and foster new relationships there.