HerStory: Amy Elliott, Ph.D. Meet Amy Elliott, Ph.D.

Current Position: Research Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Education:         

• B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Tennessee Technological University
• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Awards/Accomplishments:

• 2019 - Selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) "IF/THEN Ambassador" to encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Areas of Interest: Additive manufacturing, 3-D printing

How do you go about mentoring or guiding young scientists, especially women?

“I think the biggest and most important part of mentoring is just the encouragement.

Science is hard. Engineering is hard. It can get really difficult. Working with new people can be hard. And so, just someone to be there to tell you, "Hey, this is normal. It's going to get better. You're going to have good times, just like any job, you're going to also have bad times, but it's going to be worth it. There are so many great things. There's so many great opportunities for you."

Past ORISE Participant: 

• 2013-2014 – Advanced Short-Term Research Opportunity (ASTRO) program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
• 2014-2015 – Oak Ridge National Laboratory Postdoctoral Research Associates program.

Current ORISE Mentor: I have had several ORISE students over the past several years.