Dr. Susan Kauzlarich has been professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis, since 1987. Her work focuses on solid-state and materials chemistry. The primary focus of her work is the search for new materials with novel structures and properties using synthesis and characterization of novel magnetic and electronic materials and synthesis and characterization of nanoclusters. Dr. Kauzlarich received the Maria Goeppert Mayer Distinguished Scholar Award from Argonne National Laboratory in 1997. Dr. Kauzlarich has built and continues to develop a pipeline of women and underrepresented students into chemistry from high school through graduate study. Dr. Kauzlarich has been involved in the mentoring of women and underrepresented students with a focus on low income students. She has received two awards for her mentoring efforts from the University of California: Outstanding Mentor Award from the UCD Consortium for Women and Research (2002) and in 2005 UC Davis Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award.
Dr. Kauzlarich's one-on-one mentoring has produced excellent results with students excelling in STEM research and innovation. She has reached out to fellow faculty to introduce mentoring concepts and helped non-advisees to understand what the importance of mentoring means and how to harness the positive effects of mentoring. Dr. Kauzlarich?s efforts can be patterned on other campuses and provides a role model for those faculty members that would like to better understand and participate in mentoring. Dr. Kauzlarich models behavior on personal mentoring and mentoring through both development and participation in programs. Dr. Kauzlarich developed the American Chemical Society Summer Educational Experience for the Economically Disadvantaged (SEED) program and then brought in other faculty and released leadership in the program but continued to serve as mentor. She has also worked to spread the culture of high quality mentoring to faculty and students through the organization of discussions and workshops.
Dr. Kauzlarich has taken a one-on-one approach to her mentoring efforts and among her graduates are 25 Ph.D. and 4 M.S. students and 13 postdoctoral fellows. She has supported and advised the research of many undergraduates and high school students in her lab. Noteworthy is the number of awards Dr. Kauzlarich's students have received. From high school student through postdoctoral fellows, the students she has mentored have been extremely well prepared to enter the STEM workforce through academia and industry.
