Carol Handwerker


Carol Anne Handwerker is an American materials scientist. She is the Reinhardt Schuhmann Jr. Professor of Materials Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. She is a fellow of both The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and the Materials Research Society.

Early life and education

Professor Handwerker has said that she wanted to become a scientist at the age of nine. She attended Wellesley College, earning a B.A. in Art History. After graduating, she worked for an organization investigating air and water pollution where she realized that she was interested in engineering. She eventually joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied and worked as an analyst at the MIT computer centre. At MIT, Professor Handwerker received another undergraduate degree in materials science and ceramics. She remained at MIT for graduate studies, where she earned her Ph.D. in Ceramics studying the grain growth of magnesium oxide.

Research and career

Professor Handwerker began her career as a postdoctoral researcher in the National Bureau of Standards in 1984. She was appointed to the metallurgical processing group at National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1986. She was promoted to Group Leader in 1994 followed by Chief of the Metallurgy Division in 1996. She joined Purdue University as a professor in the Materials Engineering department in 2005
Dr. Handwerker became an expert in materials for soldering. Working with the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, she developed a lead-free solder that could be used in microelectronics.
Her current research interests include the development and application of thermodynamic and kinetic theory and experiments of phase transformation and interface motion to complex industrial and scientific problems. Her group focuses on understanding how specific microstructure can be designed in polycrystalline materials and thin films by controlled interface properties. They also are developing models for how single crystal nanowires nucleate and grow using the vapor-liquid-solid method to improve the manufacturing and reliability of the current generation of Pb-lead solder interconnects on printer circuit boards. They are also developing new nanoparticle-based interconnect structures for next generation circuit assembly.
She joined The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society during her early career, specifically the functional materials division.

Awards and honors

Selected publications

*

Personal life

Handwerker met her husband, John Blendell, while studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Together they have two daughters.