Mildred Dresselhaus

“Electrons are the carriers for electricity, but they are also carriers for thermal energy. This means thermal conductivity is increased when the carrier density is increased.”

“Diversity and inclusion of women and underrepresented minorities in science should not affect the way education is handled or research is carried out. So diversity should not be a problem but rather an opportunity to involve a large talent pool.”

“Commercial thermoelectrics are a reality. The automobile industry is now working with conventional thermoelectric materials. They are interested a little bit in nanostructuring because under some conditions, the nanostructures work.”

“People who have it too easy in early life have a disadvantage for later on, because they get to thinking that everything is going to be easy.”

“I was very much taken with carbon fibers because they seemed like the perfect medium to explore transport studies in carbon-based systems.”

“It's hard for people who come from traditional homes to take women seriously. I do it myself. We're just not used to seeing women professionals. Women have to go out of their way to prove themselves.”

“Being a woman has helped my career more than it's hindered it.”

“People in academia and industry are not accustomed to people who have long lapses in their careers.”

“At my first job as an independent researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, they told me I could work on most anything, but not what I knew something about. That is actually very good advice to a young person starting a career because you bring new ideas to the field.”

“Superconductivity helped broaden my professional phase space. When I started my work, it was already known that magnetic fields could quench superconductivity. I found that the transition was not continuous, that superconductivity was initially enhanced in the presence of magnetic fields, then it would suddenly fall off.”

“Mentoring is about listening to people, helping them go over what the issues are and how to clarify ways to deal with any problems that may arise.”

“I've been lucky. I've been at a place that's a meritocracy. It doesn't really matter that much what your gender is if you do the work well.”

“My entry into the field of hydrogen came as a great surprise. President Bush of the United States was interested in hydrogen for energy applications, and I was asked to chair a committee on hydrogen for the Department of Energy.”

“I behaved the way I was taught to behave: like a woman in the company of men. If you behaved aggressively in the company of men, they wouldn't accept you.”

“I would say the first three or four papers on nano-thermoelectricity in bismuth went almost unnoticed, but all of a sudden when Dirac cones came along - pop! - there was huge interest in bismuth-related materials.”

“I want to try to do something for women in physics worldwide.”

“If you don't have material, you don't have an experiment.”