Diandra Leslie-Pelecky: Brief Biography
Photo by Sarah Pfeiffer Photography, Inc.
Diandra Leslie-Pelecky earned a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.S. in Physics from the University of North Texas and a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from Michigan State University. She spent fourteen years in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln before joining The University of Texas at Dallas in 2008, where she is Professor of Physics.
Her research group studies magnetic nanomaterials—structures a few thousandths the diameter of a human hair that offer exciting possibilities unrealizable in traditional materials. In addition to helping elucidate how and why magnetism changes when structures become very small, the materials she develops have potential applications in improving MRIs and cancer treatment.
Dr. Leslie-Pelecky has been active in science education at all levels. She has worked extensively with K-12 teachers and schools, with a focus on teaching methods that help students understand that science is a process by which to understand the world, not a collection of facts to be memorized.
Dr. Leslie-Pelecky and her husband, physicist Robert Hilborn, share their Dallas home with two shelter cats and a hound dog mutt.