UMA CHOWDHRY (1947-2024)

BY LEE BERRY AND ANIL SACHDEV

UMA CHOWDHRY, senior vice president and chief science and technology officer (emeritus) at E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, passed away peacefully on Jan. 7, 2024, surrounded by family and friends after a long illness. Her seminal research led to the application of advanced ceramic technologies in novel catalyst structures, large-scale chemical synthesis, and multi-layer electronic circuit manufacture.

Uma was born on Sept. 14, 1947, in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Nirmala and Rasiklal Dalal. The youngest of three siblings, she would go on to become the first female chief technology officer of DuPont, one of the world’s largest and most innovative corporations. Her passion was science and her ambition was to make a difference.

While Indian society was deeply patriarchal at the time, Uma’s path was shaped by her father who encouraged his daughters to pursue the best possible education and to create opportunities for themselves. That support helped shape her personality and served as a springboard for her future achievements. Hard work and respect for the excellence of her peers remained a cornerstone of her tenacity.

Uma’s interest in math and science, nurtured by a college physics professor, led her to pursue graduate studies in the United States after earning an undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Bombay (now University of Mumbai). She was driven to join the cadre of scientists shaping global technology for the world, propelled by a silent drive that kept her motivated. Her scholarship to attend Caltech – recognized by the Indian government as one of the world’s top institutions – became the nucleus of her dedication for years to come.

Although Uma arrived at Caltech intending to become a nuclear physicist, she was drawn to the merging field of materials science – a discipline she had not encountered in India. Her interest deepened under the mentorship of Pol Duwez (NAE 1979), whose encouragement proved pivotal.

After earning her master’s degree from Caltech in 1970, Uma moved to the University of Michigan to join her future husband, Vinay Chowdhry, who had begun graduate studies there. The two had met as undergraduates at the University of Mumbai and married in New Jersey that same year. After a year in Michigan, the couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to pursue their respective academic paths – Vinay toward a Ph.D. in chemistry and biology at Harvard University, and Uma a doctorate in materials science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under Robert Coble (NAE 1978), a renowned figure in the field. At MIT, Uma focused on battery research, a subject that would later become central to 21st-century technological innovation. Despite a tight job market during the country’s recovery from the first oil crisis, their combined expertise led to both being hired as research scientists at DuPont’s R&D facilities in Delaware in 1977.

Uma’s career advancement was marked by management’s recognition of her dedication, bold vision, and results-driven approach. She energized her teams – and later her managers – with energy and excitement for ambitious goals that blended innovation with business outcomes. Company leaders quickly identified her as a future executive, assigning her to increasingly challenging roles. She seized every opportunity to learn – not just from her peers and senior management, but also from shop floor employees – to deepen her understanding of the business. Her guiding principle remained consistent: translating science into value-added solutions for the company.

She began her research career working on proton-conducting materials for fuel cells and heterogeneous catalysis. Her talent for networking across disciplines led her to form a multidisciplinary catalysis group. The team’s success in developing catalysts for producing tetrahydrofuran, a widely used industrial solvent, earned her the chance to lead a new team comprising researchers from multiple business units and cultures to explore high-temperature superconductors. These complex, cutting-edge projects became the most rewarding chapter of her career.

In 1988, she became the first woman appointed lab director of DuPont Electronics. She later served as director of Best Practices for Manufacturing in the microcircuit materials (MCM) business unit, where she was responsible for developing a thick-film paste for integrated circuit packaging. Her role included profit-and-loss oversight as well as quality metrics. Recognizing the value of understanding manufacturing processes and customer concerns about quality, she strengthened her skills by studying quality management methods in production environments. During this time, she also received an important management lesson from her supervisors: giving researchers the space and time they need to foster innovation.

Her success in this role led to a larger assignment in the Specialty Chemicals group from 1992 to 1997. She began as lab director of a 1,000-person site and rose to become business director responsible for producing Terathane™, an intermediate material critical to DuPont’s flagship Lycra™ spandex business. One of her major challenges was commercializing the product in two new plants – one in Spain and the other in Texas. In 1997, she returned to Specialty Chemicals as director of business planning and R&D.

Uma’s various professional experiences led to her appointment as director of DuPont Engineering Technologies (DuET) – a defining moment that cemented her transition from scientist to engineer. In 2003, she became the first recipient of DuPont’s Leadership Excellence Award.

Her career culminated with her appointment as vice president of Central Research and Development in 2002, and later as senior vice president and chief science and technology officer (CSTO) in 2006 – both firsts for a woman at the company. In this role, Uma championed a culture of market-driven, science- and technology-based innovation. She guided DuPont’s transition from open-ended research to goal-oriented programs designed to generate business value, all while preserving the company’s tradition of excellence in innovations. She prioritized integrating R&D with business units, product development, marketing, and manufacturing – ideally co-located to foster collaboration and efficiency. The union of scientific research and business imperatives would become her enduring legacy.

Uma retired in 2010 as CSTO emeritus after a distinguished 33-year career. She was very proud to have served on DuPont’s executive team and helped shape the company’s R&D strategy. She remained a strong advocate for sustained national investment in research and development, warning that erosion in U.S. manufacturing capacity could undermine the country’s technological leadership.

She hoped most to be remembered for her work on technologies to support a sustainable planet, including efforts to convert agricultural waste like corn cobs and stalks into biofuel, fabrics, and carpets. She also took pride in globalizing DuPont’s research, establishing R&D centers in China, India, and Brazil to better align technologies with local market needs and foster business growth. Uma was equally passionate about mentoring others, particularly young women, to pursue careers in science and mathematics. Drawing from her own journey, she urged them to dream courageously, believe in their visions, reach beyond their perceived limits, and have the courage to make bold moves. She emphasized the importance of respect, humility, diversity in all its forms, and cross-disciplinary networking as essential tools to build strong professional relationships. She often said that a generation of successful women in science and math would help secure lasting opportunities and career advancement for future women in these fields.

She served on the board of LORD Corporation and on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology. Her national service included membership on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences committee exploring new university-industry partnerships models, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Public Policy committee studying the future of energy, and boards of ChristianaCare Health Services and the Delaware Art Museum. She also contributed to advisory boards at the University of Delaware, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Stanford University.

Her professional recognition was extensive. She was named fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 1989 and elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1996. She was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. Her other honors include the Chesapeake Bay Girl Scouts’ Woman of Distinction Award, Girls Inc. of Delaware Strong, Smart, Bold Award, Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame, the 2011 IRI (Industrial Research Institute) Medal for outstanding technical innovation benefiting society, and the 2011 Earl B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management from the American Chemical Society. She was also named a California Institute of Technology distinguished alumna.

Uma is survived by her husband and by nephews and nieces she mentored throughout her life. I admired Uma throughout my career, beginning when we would occasionally cross paths in the halls of Building 13 at MIT. Even then, I was inspired by the young woman from India with passion in her eyes.