M. Grace Burke

Mary Grace Burke is an American materials scientist who is an emeritus professor at the University of Manchester. She was awarded the 2020 International Metallographic Society Henry Clifton Sorby Award and was the 2019-2023 President of the Royal Microscopical Society.

Early life and education Burke was raised in Pittsburgh. She remained in Pittsburgh for undergraduate studies, during which she specialized in metallurgical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Burke attended Imperial College London, where she did her PhD research on stress corrosion cracking (SCC). Working under the supervision of P. R. Swann and F. J. Humphreys, Burke studied the mechanism of SCC of austenitic stainless steel. Burke was interested in the relationship between materials behavior and microstructure. She transferred to the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, where she studied how microstructure impacted the performance of materials.

Awards and honors 1995 Elected Fellow of ASM International 2005 President of the Microscopy Society of America 2018 Elected Fellow of The Microanalysis Society 2019 Elected President of the Royal Microscopical Society 2019 Elected Fellow of The Metals, Materials and Minerals Society (TMS) 2020 International Metallographic Society Henry Clifton Sorby Award 2021 Henri Coriou Award