Muller Is to Lead SoR

Susan Muller took office for a two-year term as president of the Society of Rheology during the society’s annual meeting in October. She replaced William Russel (see Physics Today, February 2002, page 67 ).

“I am delighted to serve the Society of Rheology and its membership,” said Muller. She added that she “looks forward to working with the society to find ways of increasing membership and to serving members who find themselves tackling an increasingly diverse array of synthetic and biological materials processing issues.”

Muller is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and an associate faculty scientist in the materials sciences division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1981 and her PhD in chemical engineering from MIT in 1986. After completing her postdoc at Schlumberger Cambridge Research in Cambridge, England, in 1987, Muller joined AT&T Bell Laboratories (now Lucent Technologies’ Bell Labs) in Murray Hill, New Jersey, as a member of the technical staff. In 1991, she joined the UCB faculty as an assistant professor. Muller was promoted to associate professor in 1997 and to professor in 2001. At UCB, Muller’s research interests include non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, polymer dynamics, rheology, and microfluidics.

The society’s new vice president is Andrew Kraynik (Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico). Jeffrey A. Giacomin (University of Wisconsin–Madison) retained his position as secretary and Montgomery T. Shaw (University of Connecticut, Storrs) was reelected treasurer. Morton M. Denn (City College of the City University of New York) also was reelected as editor of the society’s Journal of Rheology. The new members-at-large on the society’s executive committee are Wesley Burghardt (Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois), Timothy Lodge (University of Minnesota in Minneapolis), and Lynn Walker (Carnegie Mellon University).