Dr. Tucker earned her Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After graduation, she spent five years as a Principal Scientist at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY researching welding and the thermal stability of structural alloys. In 2013, she joined the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University and was recently promoted to Full Professor. Dr. Tucker served as the Materials Science Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Director for five years and recently became the Director for the Design for Social Impact Program. Her research focuses on degradation of materials in extreme environments using both modeling and experimental approaches to gain fundamental understanding of materials performance.