Gertrude Neumark

Gertrude Neumark PhD '? is a pioneering engineer and one of the world’s foremost experts on blue and ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers. The Henry Marion Howe Professor Emerita of Materials Science and Engineering at SEAS, she is the first woman to be given a chair by the school.

Neumark has amassed several patents, and her research has led to improved consumer products, including sharper laser printers, increased DVD storage capacity, and advanced traffic lights, mobile-phone screens and flat-screen TVs. Neumark served as a fellow of the American Physical Society, a panelist for the National Research Council, and a top researcher for Sylvania Research Laboratories and Philips Laboratories. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia.

At the 2008 Commencement, she will receive an honourary Doctor of Science degree.