Madsen elected CAE Fellow for materials innovation, public service

Lynnette Madsen, a visiting scholar at Cornell University and program director at the National Science Foundation, has been elected a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering for her research of thin films and her innovation in nitrides, carbides and complex oxides, among other contributions.

Madsen, whose Cornell appointment is shared between the College of Engineering, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Office of the VP for Research and Innovation, is among the class of 2022 fellows announced June 13 at the academy’s 2022 Annual General Meeting.

Canadian Academy of Engineering fellows are nominated and elected by their peers for distinguished achievements and career-long service to the engineering profession. Election is one of the highest honors awarded by the academy.

Madsen’s research spans epitaxial and pseudomorphic thin films, combinatorial nanomaterials science applied to magnetic recording media, contact formation to silicon carbide, and nanoscale graphite intercalation compounds. She has published two books and more than 100 articles, has been awarded three patents, and has delivered more than 125 invited talks.

“Dr. Madsen made seminal advances to thin film research and innovation in nitrides, carbides, glasses and complex oxides in a career spanning industry, academia, and government in Canada and abroad,” according to a news release from the academy. “From this platform of experience and expertise, she also developed a legacy in public service where she adeptly established industrial connections, created strong communities, and increased and leveraged funding through interagency and international cooperation.”

Madsen spent a decade in industry working for telecommunications and data-networking equipment manufacturer Nortel Networks before holding faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University and Linköping University. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Ceramic Society, ASM International, the American Vacuum Society, Materials Research Society, and the Washington Academy of Sciences, as well as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

She will be formally inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering during a ceremony scheduled for June 27 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.