Kimberly L. Foster (née Passerello, formerly Kimberly L. Turner) is an American mechanical engineer specializing in microelectromechanical systems including stick-slip phenomena, biomimetic adhesives, parametric oscillators, and microsensors. She is dean of science and engineering at Tulane University, where she is also a professor of physics and engineering physics and (by courtesy) of biomedical engineering.[1]

Education and career

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Foster is originally from Michigan, and studied engineering at Michigan Technological University,[1] where her father Chris Passerello was a faculty member.[2] She graduated in 1994,[1] taking only three years for her degree.[2] Originally planning to become a veterinarian, she continued in engineering after obtaining a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship.[3] She completed her Ph.D. in 1999 at Cornell University, in theoretical and applied mechanics.[1]

She joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1999,[3] and served as chair of the department of mechanical engineering there from 2008 to 2013. She moved to Tulane as dean in 2018.[1][4]

Recognition

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Foster was named an ASME Fellow in 2014, "for her major contributions in the area of micro-electro-mechanical-systems" and "extensive service to her professional community".[5]

In 2021, Michigan Technological University named Foster to their Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Academy.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kimberly L. Foster, Ph.D., Tulane School of Science & Engineering, retrieved 2022-05-01
  2. ^ a b c "Kimberly Foster", Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Academy, Michigan Tech, retrieved 2022-05-01
  3. ^ a b "Question and answer: Kimberly Turner", Convergence: The Magazine of Engineering and the Sciences at UC Santa Barbara, no. 12, pp. 8–11, Fall 2008
  4. ^ Bronston, Barri (9 April 2018), "Kimberly Foster named dean of Tulane School of Science and Engineering", Tulane News, retrieved 2022-05-01
  5. ^ ICB Project Leader Kimberly Turner Elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), UCSB Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, retrieved 2022-05-01
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