Dr. Julia Phillips

I started by career as a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, performing research on electronic thin films.  I also became involved in professional societies, leading the organization of technical meetings and ultimately becoming president of the Materials Research Society. After 14 years there, I moved to Sandia National Laboratories, were I started as manager of one of the materials science & engineering departments.  Over time, I assumed positions of greater responsibility, ultimately retiring in 2015 as Vice President of Research at Sandia National Laboratories. In that position I was responsible for developing the research strategy for the laboratory and for investing the lab's discretionary research budget to achieve the strategy.  Since retirement, I have been involved in activities that enable me to "hang out" with smart interesting people, learn new things, and have an opportunity to make a difference.  Highlights of this chapter of my life include serving for two terms on the National Science Board (a presidentially appointed body responsible for establishing the policies of the U.S. National Science Foundation and serving as advisor to Congress and the president), as Home Secretary of the National Academy of Engineering, leading and serving on various studies of the National Academies, advising different scientific and engineering organizations, and mentoring students and others at all stages of their life.

I have always liked to understand how things work. That, coupled with a strong desire to make the world a better place led me to a career at the fuzzy boundary between science and engineering, as well as engagement in science and engineering policy.

B.S. in Physics from the College of William and Mary Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University

In my days of hand-on research, I was an experimentalist, spending much of my time in a laboratory making thin films of new materials or measuring their properties. I also spent a lot of time with collaborators who had different skills, ideas, and perspectives than I did. While I worked in an industrial setting, I had summer students, graduate students, and postdocs, so I was able to work with the next generation of scientists and engineers. Over time, I became involved in professional societies and leadership and management because I enjoy putting different pieces of a puzzle together to make something with bigger impact.  My involvement in mentoring has arisen naturally because it is the PEOPLE who really make things happen and are the most interesting, rewarding aspect of every stage of my career. 

There are so many things I love about engineering. The most important thing has to be the people. It is such a privilege to work with a collection of very smart, interesting people, all of whom want to make a difference in the world. I have also loved the rigor and logic of science and engineering - it provides an important grounding for hard discussions and arguments and leads to the basis for resolving differences and reaching agreement.  The discipline of the rigor and logic is applicable to so many facets of life. I have also been drawn to the opportunity to make a positive difference for society and solve important problems. And finally, there is great personal satisfaction that comes from successfully tackling a really hard problem.

I am especially proud of the research strategy that was developed while I was Vice President of Research at Sandia National Laboratories. This strategy looked to NAE's Grand Challenges in Engineering for inspiration, identifying a number of research challenges that are important to Sandia's future and are much bigger in scope than had been considered before. Working on those challenges has led to new levels of collaboration at the labs from fundamental science to mission delivery. It has been very exciting to watch.  Also at Sandia, I started a process for quickly funding innovative ideas that requires only a little funding and not much time to prove a concept or answer an interesting, important question.  The program continues even today, about 15 years later, and is very popular.  It has a number of notable successes, including work that was featured on the cover of Nature.  More recently, I have chaired the National Science Board committee that oversees the publication of Science and Engineering Indicators, a Congressionally mandated report published biennially on the state of science and engineering in the U.S. and globally.  It is a very important snapshot of how the U.S. is doing in S&E over time and relative to the rest of the world.  S&E is so important to the health, welfare, and security of our Nation.  This report, which is policy neutral, as well as the policy companion which accompanies it, are briefed to Congress and the Executive branch of government and provide evidence of how S&E is faring in this country.  It is a sobering read, but an extraordinarily important one.

I have been very lucky in my career and have not faced hurdles as high as many. The biggest ones have been in the area of remaining true to myself and my own vision of who I am and want to be as a person. One aspect of that challenge has involved decisions about the balance between my work life and family life, with the consequence that for many years those were the only two things I did - almost no other extracurricular activities. That worked extremely well for me but would not be the right choice for everyone. Another aspect was my unwillingness to play the game to move up in the organization as fast as possible. This choice gave me more time with my family and allowed me to engage more fully in professional activities outside of my work assignment, but probably limited the speed with which I moved up the management ladder. I have no regrets!

I married in my 30's and had two daughters soon thereafter. My husband is a neurobiologist (now retired). While we met because of our science/engineering, we got to know each other through music - I play flute and he plays piano. Not surprisingly, given this background, one of our daughters is now a professional violinist, and the other has a Ph.D. in chemistry, now working in industry.  

Since retirement from full-time employment more than 10 years ago, I have continued to be very busy professionally. I expect to keep up this pace of professional engagement, which includes my role in NAE, service on the National Science Board, consulting, and mentoring early career scientists and engineers, as well as those approaching retirement. We moved to the Oregon coast in 2016, and I have selectively become involved in state and community activities, balancing them with my national responsibilities.  

Various family members have undoubtedly had the greatest influence on my life choices. My mother quite likely would have been a scientist or engineer had she been born at a later time. She was always ordering science kits for my brother and me, encouraging us to enter the science fair, etc. Meeting my husband was a huge influence - without that, I would not have had children. Our kids and our life together have been the greatest joy of my life. His encouragement and support has been critical as I pursued my demanding career. In the professional arena, the department head who hired me into my first job after grad school was an amazing person. I left the interview thinking that I had to work for that man - and I went after getting a job offer with everything I had. He turned out to be a real champion for me - working invisibly behind the scenes to make sure that I had the mentoring, guidance, and help I needed to be successful. And I always new that there was someone who cared about my success, both professionally and as a person, and who was watching with satisfaction as I progressed. Everyone deserves to have someone like that in their lives, and I feel most fortunate that he filled that role for me.  The "difficult" people in my life have also been important.  From some I have learned lessons that I didn't want to hear.  From others, I saw examples of actions, attitudes, and behavior, that I definitely did not want to copy.  And some forced me to grow up or face realities that greatly expanded my self-knowledge and maturity.

Keep taking math and science classes, but also be sure you have a well rounded curriculum. Be curious about things - how do they work, why are things the way they are, what is going on in the world, how do science and technology intersect with world events? Think about what kinds of things excite you - is it the lure of the unknown, a desire to change the world, something else? This may give you some idea of what you might want to do, engineering or not. Don't be afraid to try new things!

Think about what kinds of things excite you - is it the lure of the unknown, a desire to change the world, something else? This may give you some idea of what you might want to do, engineering or not. Don't be afraid to try new things!

My major hobby is playing the flute. Music is how my husband and I got to know each other (he plays piano), although we met doing science and engineering. Now that I am retired, we play almost every day. Even when I was working full time, we managed to play almost every weekend. For 20 years we lived on a small farm a little outside of Albuquerque. We had animals, a garden, and a small orchard, so our kids grew up knowing where most of their food came from. We've now moved to the coast of Oregon where we like to walk a lot, collect mushrooms and berries in season, or rocks and driftwood whenever we find them.