Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network
 WEPAN 2006 National Conference

Plenary Session Speaker: Dr. Debra Rolison

Tuesday, June 13, 2006
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
 
The Path Forward:  Title IX as a Change Strategy for Science and Engineering
 
Dr. Debra Rolison

Head, Advanced Electrochemical Materials

Naval Research Laboratory

 

Dr. Debra Rolison received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980 and immediately joined the Naval Research Laboratory as a staff scientist; she currently heads the Advanced Electrochemical Materials section and is also an Adjunct Full Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah. 

WEPAN 2006 National Conference: Plenary Session Speaker Debra Rolison
Her research at the NRL focuses on multifunctional nanoarchitectures for catalytic chemistries, energy storage and conversion, biomolecular composites, porous magnets, and sensors.  She is a Fellow of the AAAS (2001) and of AWIS (2006), and has served on numerous editorial advisory boards in chemistry and nanoscience.  She lectures on the impact of nano(bio)technology on society and the ethical obligations of scientists who perform research in nanoscale science and technology.  Rolison also writes and lectures widely on issues affecting women in science.  In 2000, she proposed using Title IX, which prohibits discrimination in any educational “program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”, to evaluate academic Science & Engineering departments.  Her strategy was echoed in the 2004 General Accountability Office report Women's Participation in the Sciences Has Increased, but Agencies Need to Do More to Ensure Compliance with Title IX.  The primary recommendation in this report to the U.S. Congress directs the agencies that fund scientific research to “take actions to ensure compliance reviews of grantees are conducted as required by Title IX.”