Carol Trager-Cowan

Education and early career Trager-Cowan was an undergraduate student at the University of Glasgow, where she earned a bachelor's degree in natural philosophy in 1983. She moved to the University of St Andrews for her graduate studies, earning a master's degree in 1984. She moved to Royal Holloway, University of London for her doctorate, completing her thesis on electrostatic electron lenses in 1987 supervised by . In particular, Trager-Cowan works on nitride semiconductor thin films. Nitride semiconducting films form the basis of solid-state lighting, satellite communications and cable television.

Public engagement and outreach Trager-Cowan is involved in public engagement and outreach, delivering popular science lectures and running science workshops with schools. She was described by Gail McConnell as an inspiration. Trager-Cowan has worked with the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, Glasgow Science Festival and European Researchers Night. In 2007 she was named the "Strathclyder of the Year" in recognition for her work encouraging school students to study physics. She is an elected member of AcademiaNet and the University of Strathclyde Women in Science and Engineering group.

Awards and honours In recognition of her public engagement, Trager-Cowan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2014. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) and the Royal Microscopical Society.