Uma Chowdhry

Uma Chowdhry (1947 – January 7, 2024) was an American chemist whose career was spent in research and management positions with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. proton conductors, superconductors and ceramic packaging for microelectronics.

Early life and education Chowdhry was born in Mumbai, India, in 1947. She received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Bombay (now Mumbai University) in 1968 before coming to the United States. She received a Master of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in engineering science in 1970. After two years with Ford Motor Company, she entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she earned a Ph.D. in materials science in 1976.

Career DuPont She joined DuPont in 1977 as a research scientist in Central Research & Development Department of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. By 1985 she had been promoted to research manager of Central Research. In 1987 she led DuPont's research effort in ceramic superconducting materials and developed a program that generated over 20 patents and 50 publications. In 1988 she became laboratory director of the Electronics group, She retired in September 2010, becoming chief science and technology officer emeritus.

In response to contamination of Ohio river caused by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, also known as C8), the key ingredient in Teflon, and subsequent cases of cancer and other medical issues, when asked if this C8 chemical could be responsible for babies born with deformities in 2 out of 8 former DuPont women employees, Ms. Uma responded "In the realm of scientific facts, this is not considered a statistically significant sample."

Other contributions Chowdhry served on study groups for the National Research Council to assess various technology topics of national interest, and was a member of National Research Council's Committee on Globalization (2004). Chowdhry was a member of the National Committee on Women in Science and Engineering sponsored by both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering since 1999.

She served on the board of directors for the Industrial Research Institute (2002-2005), LORD Corporation (2010-), the Advisory Board for Advanced Technology at the National Institute of Standards (NIST, 2010),

Awards and honors For her contributions to the science of ceramics, Chowdhry was elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 1989, where she chaired the academy's emerging technologies committee, 2002–2004.

She was elected a member to the National Academy of Engineering in 1996 for the application of advanced ceramic technologies to novel catalyst structures, large-scale chemical synthesis, and multilayer electronic circuit manufacture. Besides her membership, she served on the program advisory board and election subcommittees. She was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.

Chowdhry received the 2011 IRI Medal for her leadership contributions at DuPont. Chowdhry received the 2011 Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management from the American Chemical Society.