Della Martin Roy

Della Marie Martin Roy (1926–2021 ) was an American materials scientist who worked for more than 50 years at Pennsylvania State University. She was "an international leader in the field of cement and concrete research", including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from cement production; she was also known for her work on radioactive waste disposal, on the industrial uses of coal combustion products obtained as waste from other processes, on methods for converting coral into hydroxyapatite while preserving its porous structure, and on applications of converted coral in medical implants.

Early life and education Della Marie Martin was born on November 3, 1926, in Merrill, Oregon. She completed high school at age 16, and majored in chemistry at the University of Oregon, where she graduated phi beta kappa in 1947.

Next, she traveled to Pennsylvania State University for graduate study in mineralogy, working there under the supervision of Elburt F. Osborn. As a graduate student, she shared an office with Indian-born physicist Rustum Roy; they married in 1948. They moved to India but returned to Penn State in 1950. Rustum Roy took a faculty position there while Della Roy continued her graduate program, completing her Ph.D. in 1952.

Career and later life After earning a doctorate, Roy stated at Pennsylvania State University as a faculty member. She became a full professor in 1975, and retired as professor emerita in 2012 after more than 50 years at the university. In her retirement, she took a second position as research professor at Arizona State University, with a part-time appointment shared jointly between the university's School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment and its School of Mechanical Aerospace, Chemical and Materials.

Roy and fellow Penn State faculty member Kathleen Mourant founded the journal Cement and Concrete Research in 1971; Roy remained its editor-in-chief until 2005.

Recognition The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) named her a Distinguished Life Member and Fellow. She was the 1982 recipient of the Jeppson Medal of The American Ceramic Society, the 1987 recipient of the L. E. Copeland Award of the ACerS Cements Division,