ADELPHI, Md. -- An engineer from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has been named Woman Engineer of the Year by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Electronics Packaging and Photonics Division.
Dr. Lauren Boteler, a thermal/packaging engineer from the laboratory's Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, was honored at the 2018 International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems Conference in San Francisco, California.
The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments and service to the field of electronics and photonics packaging, and is one of only four achievement awards given by the division each year with candidates considered internationally.
Boteler leads the thermal and packaging research programs as part of the Advanced Power Packaging Group at ARL.
Her work has focused on integrating electronics packaging and thermal management solutions for a wide range of Army applications.
She designs thermal and packaging solutions including 3D chip stacking, power electronics, radio frequency high-electron-mobility transistor, or HEMT, devices, top side cooling, phase change materials, additive manufacturing and micro-electro-mechanical systems, or MEMS.
More recently, she has initiated a research program in advanced power electronics packaging and thermal management, which focuses on enabling electrical, thermal and mechanical co-design of electronics modules through modeling tools and multi-functional components.
Boteler also leads ARL efforts in solving three main challenges of power electronics packaging: transient thermal mitigation, additive manufacturing and high-voltage packaging.
"I am honored to have won this award because it shows recognition for all our hard work here at ARL," Boteler said. "The award process involved a nomination and multiple recommendation letters. Knowing that many of my collaborators were willing to take the time to support my receiving this recognition is immensely rewarding."
Boteler is passionate about her work at ARL, and to her, an award of this caliber shows the impact that the laboratory's work, as well as her service, has to the mechanical engineering community.
"I work in electronics packaging and thermal management, which is oftentimes a technology that is overlooked by the community even though it is the primary failure mechanism for electronic systems," Boteler said. "I have spent a lot of effort bringing these challenges to the attention of the electrical designers to help redefine how electronics systems are designed and this award shows that my efforts are making an impact."
Most importantly for Boteler, this award recognizes the contributions and performance level of her group at ARL, which encourages them all to do great work.
According to Boteler, being a woman in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, field can be hard, but it is also rewarding both for the female engineers and the organizations that support them.
She encourages women and young girls who are just entering the field to continue to make an impact as there are so many possibilities right at their fingertips.
"My primary piece of advice is to 'stick with it'," Boteler said. "Pursuing a STEM education is not a typical path for young women. Research has shown that diverse workforces are correlated with innovative workforces, so women in technical fields add significantly to an organization's innovation potential. Young women are just as capable as men at math and science, so they need to 'stick with it' and find opportunities that advance their STEM skills and enable success such as internships, summer camps, role models, etc."
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The U.S. Army Research Laboratory is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to ensure decisive overmatch for unified land operations to empower the Army, the joint warfighter and our nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
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