Dr. Mary C. Boyce is the Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Provost Emerita of Columbia University, and Dean Emerita of The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University. Dr. Boyce received her Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1981. She then received a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984 and 1987, respectively. She then spent 25 years at MIT (1987-2013) as a faculty member in Mechanical Engineering. From 2008 to 2013, she was the Head of Mechanical Engineering Department and the Ford Professor of Engineering.
In 2013, Dr. Boyce joined Columbia University as the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science. She expanded the full-time faculty from 174 to over 230, serving more than 1700 undergraduate students, 3000 graduate students, and 100 postdoctoral fellows. Together with the faculty, she introduced and developed an inspiring vision for the School, Columbia Engineering for Humanity, to guide the strategic expansion of the School. She also spearheaded the expansion of interdisciplinary research and education programs across the School, attracting faculty talent in cross-cutting fields as wide-ranging as Data Science, Nano Science, Advanced Materials and Devices, Sustainability and Climate, and Engineering in Health and Medicine. From 2021 to 2023, she was the Provost of Columbia University. In this role, she propelled the academic excellence, creativity, and integrity of the many facets of Columbia University. She led the development and implementation of Columbia’s academic plans and policies; she championed the education and research aspirations of the Deans of all 17 Schools and Faculties; and she led the tenure review process and managed all faculty appointments.
Dr. Boyce is an internationally renowned researcher in multiscale mechanics of polymers, soft composites, and soft tissues. Her research has been in theory, computation, and experiments of the nonlinear, finite deformation, elastic and inelastic, time-dependent behavior of polymeric-based materials. She made several seminal contributions. In her early independent career, she developed a model for elastomers, known as Arruda-Boyce eight-chain model, which is the first predictive fully three-dimensional physics-based model in rubber elasticity that connects macromolecular chain statistical physics with large strain macroscopic mechanical deformation. This model is also widely used by industry in modeling the large deformation behaviors of rubbers. She also expanded her research into innovative hybrid material designs, inspired by biological materials such as nacre and fish scales, for significantly improved mechanical performance, such as energy absorption. Moreover, she pioneered the usage of buckling and snapping in periodic structures, known as pattern transformation mechanical metamaterials.
Dr. Boyce is a remarkable mentor to numerous graduate students and postdocs. She has mentored 29 Ph.D. students and 15 postdoctoral researchers. Many of her Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers have gone into faculty positions across the country and the world. As the first tenured female faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, she has been and is fearless in promoting female students and faculty in engineering. Among her students and postdocs in academia, 11 are female. These students are very successful in their independent academic careers and have become leaders in their fields. Notably, two of her Ph.D. students (both female) have already been elected to the NAE.
Dr. Boyce’s seminal contributions are recognized by numerous awards, including NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991), Midwest Mechanics Seminar Speaker (2004), Engineering Science Medal from Society of Engineering Science (2015), ASME Timoshenko Medal (the highest international award in the field of applied mechanics) (2020), and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering from the Benjamin Franklin Institute (2024). She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 2004 and National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2012.