Clair Sullivan joined the Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering Department in 2012 as the first female faculty member.  Her presence and efforts have allowed the department to hire three additional female faculty members.  Clair’s research which is at the interface of radiation detection, big data analytics, and new algorithms led to her selection winner of the 2014 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award. The honor identifies and engages rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and exposes them to Department of Defense needs as well as DARPA’s approaches to developing emerging technologies.  In 2015, Claire received the American Nuclear Society Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women’s Achievement Award. This award cited her “for contributions in the areas of radiation detection, homeland security, nuclear nonproliferation, new course development, and for being an excellent teacher in the classroom.”

Women featured in our weekly series are part of the 150 for 150 website Celebrating the Accomplishments of Women at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The website was created by the Gender Equity Council and the University Library to highlight women who have made significant achievements during their time at the University either as students, staff, faculty, or alumni.