Mary Cunningham Boyce

For the Zoroastrian expert at Cambridge University, seeMary Boyce.

Mary Cunningham Boyce
ProvostofColumbia University
In office July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2023
Preceded by	Ira Katznelson(interim)
Succeeded by	Dennis Mitchell(interim)
Personal details
Children	Chris Boyce
Education	Virginia Tech(BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology(SM,PhD)

Mary Cunningham Boyceis a professor of engineering at Columbia University. She was provost ofColumbia Universityfrom July 2021to June 2023.Previously, she was dean of theFu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciencefrom 2013 to 2021.

Her research focuses on materials and mechanics, particularly in the areas of multi-scale mechanics of polymers and soft composites, both those that are man-made and those formed naturally.

Background

Boyce received abachelor of scienceinengineering science and mechanicsfromVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityin 1981. She also received amaster of scienceand adoctor of philosophyinmechanical engineeringfrom theMassachusetts Institute of Technologyin 1984 and 1987. Prior to joining Columbia University, Boyce spent twenty-five years as a faculty member atMIT.During her last years at MIT, she was the Head of Department for Mechanical Engineering and the Ford Professor of Engineering.

Boyce's research interests include the multi-scale mechanics of polymers, soft composites and soft tissues. Her research has been in theory, computation and experimental elements of the nonlinear, finite deformation, elastic and inelastic, time-dependent behavior of polymeric-based materials. Her leadership in the field of the mechanics of materials has expanded the understanding of interplay between micro-geometry and the inherent physical behavior of a material, which has led to innovative hybrid material designs, as well as materials structures that transform or morph into a different structure. Models and results from Professor Boyce's group have the potential to influence a range of industrial and academic fields from polymer processing to composite material design, tire mechanics, biological cells and tissues. The author of more than 170 publications with her group, she is also the holder of five US patents. Boyce has mentored over 25 PhD studentsincludingEllen Arrudaand numerous postdoctoral researchers. Her PhD students and postdoctoral researchers have gone onto faculty positions across the country and the world, as well as to national laboratories, industries and consulting careers.

Boyce has been widely recognized for her scholarly achievements, including election as a fellow of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers,the American Academy of Mechanics, and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.She was also elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineeringin 2012 for contributions to understanding the mechanics of deformation in engineered and natural polymeric solids. In 2020, Dr. Boyce became the first woman to receive the Timoshenko Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

She has been honored for her teaching at MIT, where she was named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow and received the Joseph Henry Keenan Innovation in Undergraduate Education Award.

External links

• Columbia Engineering
• [1]
• Mary Boyce CV
• Columbia Engineering for Humanity