Dr. Debbie G. Senesky

The Emerging Leader Abie Award in Honor of Denice Denton recognizes a junior faculty member for high-quality research and significant positive impact on diversity. This year’s winner is Dr. Debbie G. Senesky, an Assistant Professor at Stanford University in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, with a courtesy appointment to the Electrical Engineering Department. In addition, she is the Principal Investigator of the EXtreme Environment Microsystems Laboratory (XLab).

Debbie’s research interests include the development of nanomaterials for extreme harsh environments, high-temperature electronics, and robust instrumentation for Venus exploration. She previously held positions at GE Sensing (formerly known as NovaSensor), GE Global Research Center, and Hewlett Packard. In 2001, she received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California. She received a master’s degree in 2004 and doctorate degree in 2007 in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Debbie recently chaired the 2018 Women in Aerospace Symposium (WIA2018) at Stanford University. She has served on the technical program committee of the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEEE IEDM), International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems (Transducers), and the International Symposium on Sensor Science (I3S). She is currently the co-editor of three technical journals: IEEE Electron Device Letters, Sensors, and Micromachines. In addition, she currently serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Scientific Adventures for Girls.  In recognition of her research, she received the Early Faculty Career Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2012, the Gabilan Faculty Fellowship Award in 2012, and the Sloan Ph.D. Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2004.

Debbie’s career path and research has been featured on the “People Behind the Science” podcast, the “Future of Everything” radio show, Space.com, and NPR’s “Tell Me More” program.

More information about Prof. Senesky can be found at https://xlab.stanford.edu, on Instagram (@debbiesenesky), and on Twitter (@debbiesenesky).

Thank you to Medidata for sponsoring the 2018 Emerging Leader Abie Award in Honor of Denice Denton.