Patricia Rankin

Patricia Rankin is a British high energy physicist, equity researcher and Chair of the Department at the Arizona State University. Her research considers high energy particle physics and gender balance in scientific disciplines. She was previously responsible for the high energy physics section of the National Science Foundation.

Early life and education Rankin is from the United Kingdom. For her high school studies Rankin attended The Queen's School, Chester. Rankin eventually went on to study physics at Imperial College London. In 1978 she was awarded the Governor's Prize for outstanding academic achievement. She remained at Imperial College London for her graduate studies, specialising in high energy particle physics. Her doctoral research considered high energy particle physics. She has said that her professors encouraged her to stay in physics and pursue a research career. After graduating, Rankin moved to the United States. Here she joined the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where she worked as a research associate on SLAC's Mark II detector.

Research and career Rankin was appointed to the faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder in 1988, where she was eventually promoted to Professor in 2002. When she joined CU Boulder she was the only woman on the physics faculty. In 2008 Rankin was awarded an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award that looked to increase the representation of women on the physics faculty.

Select publications Book

Articles