Dr. Mary Lynn Realff, Associate Professor in Material Sciences and Engineering and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology, will discuss the StrengthsFinder tool. At the Stein WST office, each WST Learning Community resident can pick up a book with a code to access the Strengths Finder tool; complete the online questions to generate a list of your strengths. Dinner will be served.

Dr. Realff is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). She received her BS Textile Engineering from Georgia Tech and her PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Polymer Science & Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At Georgia Tech, she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the mechanics of textile structures and polymer science areas. Dr. Realff has made a significant contribution to the understanding of the mechanical behavior of woven fabrics. She is continuing her work in modeling the mechanical behavior of textile structures utilizing both theoretical and experimental approaches. She currently conducts research on the analysis and design of fibers containing carbon nanotubes.

Dr. Realff is the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech and a Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Women, Science and Technology. She also facilitates a student/industry mentoring program which matches industry mentors with Georgia Tech undergraduate students for 9 month mentoring relationships. The program has been shown to increase the retention of students.