Dr. Wendy Roberta Cieslak, Sandia National Laboratories, Emeritus

“Materials, Management and Mentoring”

About the Seminar:

From my dissertation studies of pitting corrosion in stainless steels to my leadership of the Materials Capability at Los Alamos National Laboratory, metallurgy and materials science have maintained a presence throughout my career. My personal technical contributions at Sandia National Laboratories ranged from identification of the degradation mechanism causing failure in electronic connectors, to development of a Li/SOCl2 battery, to early work in materials compatibility and cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. As a 1st-level manager, I led a research and engineering group working in corrosion, tribology and adhesion. I had oversight for university research grants in materials at the Department of Energy while on assignment to D.C. for a year. Upon returning to Sandia, I progressed up the management chain to lead larger groups in Geoscience, Batteries, Explosives and Condensed Matter Physics. And I realized my career goal when Los Alamos National Laboratory asked me to join them as Materials Division Leader and lead one of their three core capability areas. Along the way, my experiences in management and mentoring drew me into learning about gender schema and advocating for mitigating gender bias in the research world.  I will share some of my successes and concerns, technical as well as interpersonal, with you.

About the Speaker:

Wendy Cieslak recently retired from Sandia National Laboratories, where she held the position of Principal Program Director for Nuclear Weapons Science & Technology. She was responsible for the programmatic stewardship of the technical foundations necessary for Sandia to perform its nuclear weapons mission today and into the future. Her immediate preceding job was as Materials Science & Technology Division Leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Altogether, she enjoyed a 30-year career at these laboratories in the time since earning her PhD and BS in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her assignments included a variety of management positions, including a rotation to the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Dr. Cieslak began her technical staff career performing basic and applied corrosion research of metals, followed by about a decade of research and development in lithium battery technologies. For her work in this field, she was named a Fellow of ASM, International. A graduate Hertz Fellow, Dr. Cieslak was inducted to the Hertz Foundation Board of Directors in October 2008. She is very active in supporting the Foundation through interviewing prospective fellows, mentoring in-school fellows, and championing education in gender schema that has served to mitigate gender bias in the Hertz selection process. Wendy pioneered the establishment of part-time employment at Sandia in 1989 so that she could continue her career while raising her daughters. She is an active mentor and coach, especially to women. Wendy performs regularly as a violinist in the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra and informal chamber ensembles.