Diana Berman has been awarded the UNT Early Career Award for Research and Creativity by the UNT VPRI office for her outstanding achievements in research.

Berman’s research focuses on nanostructured materials and tribology. Specifically, she’s working to address friction and wear-related failures in mechanical systems, including jet engines. Her work is supported by more than $2.4 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Laboratory and industry partners, including Honeywell and Brewer Science.

“Dr. Berman is a rising star and one of our most prolific and creative young faculty members at UNT,” said Vijay Vasudevan, chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Berman was listed among the top two percent of scientists in the world, according to a recent study by Stanford University. She also has received the NSF Early CAREER Award (2021), UNT Presidential Early Career Professorship Award (2020), Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Early Career Academic Professional Award (2018) and Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from ORAU (2017). The results of her research have been published in a number of journals, including Science, Nature Communications, Materials Today, ACS Nano, and ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

As an educator, Berman has mentored 11 master’s and doctoral students in the materials science and engineering department. She also actively participates in educational and outreach activities aimed at attracting and mentoring underrepresented groups in STEM fields, including working with and participating in Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science (GEMS) workshops, Women in Science and Technology meetings, and organizing K-12 visits to the university. She also founded the North Texas Chapter of STLE in 2017 aimed at providing students a place outside of the classroom to get involved in materials research.

“Dr. Berman is an excellent scholar and educator, sparking the creativity in undergraduate and graduate students,” said Andrey Voevodin, associate dean for research. “Her students are recipients of multiple awards and recognitions in national and international conferences, including highly competitive DOD SMART scholarships for graduate studies at UNT.”

The UNT Early Career Award for Research and Creativity is given to the faculty member within her/his first 10 years in a full‐time faculty appointment whose research accomplishments or creative endeavors have been the most outstanding.