Alumna Jen Locke Recognized for Overcoming Adversity to Achieve Career Success

Jenifer (Warner) Locke, an alumna of the University of Virginia Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has earned the TMS Frank Crossley Diversity Award, which recognizes her overcoming adversity to achieve career success in minerals, metals or materials. Locke, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the Ohio State University, earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science in 2010. She remains active in UVA's materials science and engineering community as a member of the department'sexternal advisory board. Locke chairs theTMS Diversity, Equity and InclusionCommittee, which she has served as a member for more than a decade. When she first joined the committee, she produced its annual highlight section in theJournal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Societyto share DEI best practices. One series of articles addressed gender and race, which Locke calls “seen” elements of diversity. “If you see a woman or person of color working the sciences, you know they're probably going to have a hard road,” Locke said. A second series of articles focused on unseen aspects of DEI, such as the needs of the LGBTQA community and people who struggle with mental and developmental disabilities. The journal articles raised awareness of diversity within the materials science community and gave people tangible things they can do to better their workplace. The awareness-raising effort also applies to colleges and universities. “I have learned that as you move up the rungs of academia, it becomes more conventional-looking,” Locke said. “There are certain groups of people who have more accessibility to get a Ph.D., to be a professor. The higher you climb the rungs the more it squeezes down that accessibility zone.” As chair of the TMS DEI committee, Locke is helping with plans for the summit on diversity in the minerals, metals and materials profession, now in its 10th year. She also aims to increase TMS members' volunteerism and participation in the DEI committee's work and make it more sustainable.