Acclaimed alumna helps women innovators excel

Alumna Mary Juhas’ first experience of working closely with a woman engineering mentor was during her Châteaubriand postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Paris. It made a lasting impression.

Previous professional mentors during her undergraduate courses, graduate studies and first job were all male. Since then, Juhas has dedicated much of her career to developing and advancing women STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) leaders and trailblazers who not only excel in research, but can also mentor the next generation of women.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Juhas knew several engineers, including her grandfather, and engineering company executives, but none were women. A self-described science enthusiast, she majored in chemistry at Seton Hill University and considered going to medical school before determining it wasn’t the right fit. Following a neighbor’s suggestion, she decided to pursue a master’s in materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

“This was in the late 1970s,” Juhas explained. “All of a sudden, people were waking up to the fact that women should be entering engineering. I remember because there were a handful of women in my cohort.”

After earning her master’s degree, Juhas began working as a materials engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. There she had plenty of female engineer and scientist peers, but virtually no women senior role models.

“There were no senior women in engineering,” she said. “The senior women were chemists, geologists, radio chemists, physicists, but not engineers.”

After working for a few years, Juhas was getting ready to start her PhD studies when her husband, Materials Science and Engineering Professor Emeritus John Lippold, decided to take a new job at Edison Welding Institute in Columbus. Juhas came to Ohio State with her dissertation research on containment of high-level nuclear waste from spent fuel rods already funded by the Department of Energy, and she earned a PhD in materials science and engineering in four years.

Unsure of what to do next, she applied for and was awarded the prestigious Châteaubriand postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research in France. “That was a pivotal time in my life because my postdoc advisor was a woman, the first woman role model I ever had that I worked with closely. Thirty years later we still stay in touch. I just learned so much from her.”

Following the fellowship, Juhas held engineering research and leadership positions at Edison Welding Institute and the Ohio State Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s Center for Accelerated Maturation of Materials. In 2002, she joined the College of Engineering’s leadership team, first as senior assistant dean, then associate dean of diversity and outreach, where she led the recruitment and retention of women and minority faculty.

From 2006-2008, Juhas was the inaugural program director for diversity and outreach in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Engineering.

“That again changed my life, because all of a sudden, I was thinking more broadly,” she explained. “I was going to Capitol Hill. I was working with staffers and talking to members of Congress, and just learning and listening.”

Juhas returned to Ohio State following her two-year leave just as the university received a multi-year NSF ADVANCE grant to implement Project CEOS (Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State). Project CEOS researchers worked to increase the representation and persistence of diverse women faculty by addressing cultural barriers to equity for women and members of historically underrepresented groups. Having served on an ADVANCE committee while at NSF, Juhas was asked to be the part-time program director for Ohio State’s ADVANCE office.

In October 2012, Juhas was named associate vice president in the Office of Research and leader of a new office, later renamed Ohio State ADVANCE, created to promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty in the STEMM disciplines. She spent the next nine years creating a culture that supports women in STEMM and provides the opportunities and resources necessary to become leaders in their fields.

She also led REACH for Commercialization, launched in 2010, to develop the entrepreneurial capacity of Ohio State women faculty and guide innovators through the technology transfer and commercialization process. During Juhas’ tenure, more than 100 women benefitted from the program—including many Buckeye engineers—resulting in 103 patents and the launch of 9 startups.

After Juhas retired in December 2021, the Ohio State ADVANCE office officially closed. However, the university has made great strides toward improving gender equity for faculty in STEMM, Juhas explained, and many best practices are now institutionalized across Ohio State.

“The future is bright. There are a lot of women and minorities in influential decision-making positions at Ohio State, and many of them are trained as engineers,” she said. “That lowers barriers that should have never been there to begin with.”

But the REACH for Commercialization program continues. “Not only is it living, it's thriving. And, by the way, REACH is not just for girls anymore. Professor Carlos Castro is involved and is expanding it to his students. REACH has also spawned SEED, Summer Experience in Entrepreneurial Development, which is now year-round and for women and minority students.”

A distinguished alumna of the College of Engineering, Juhas did not limit her impact and involvement to Ohio State. She also served as 2015-2016 national president of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network, and past chair of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s Women in Materials Science and Engineering Committee.

Currently, Juhas is co-chair of the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance’s (ERVA) Government Engagement Working Group where she helps ensure there is a two-way stream of information between ERVA and the executive and legislative branches. She also plans to continue working in her passion areas of building the science and technology workforce, science and technology policy and geopolitics.

“As we move into each chapter of our life, I think we have to be able to pause and reflect on the things that are important and what we leave behind,” she said.   

At Ohio State, Juhas leaves behind a robust network poised to fuel innovation and build the entrepreneurial mindset in the next generation of women researchers from all backgrounds.

by Candi Clevenger, College of Engineering Communications, clevenger.87@osu.edu