Kimberly Turner has just been appointed Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The appointment is effective November 1, 2008.

She earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in only three years, graduating in 1994, and received her Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University in 1999. She joined the department of Mechanical & Environmental Engineering (since redesignated the Department of Mechanical Engineering) at UCSB in August 1999, where she is continuing her research in the areas of MEMS and nanosystems. Her research group comprises 3 Ph.D. students and 5 undergraduate researchers.

Turner is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award, the American Vacuum Society Varian award, and an NSF graduate research fellowship. Her work has been published in Nature, Nanotechnology, Review of Scientific Instruments, and multiple other publications. She is a member of ASME, IEEE, ASEE, Tau Beta Pi, Pi Tau Sigma, and the American Vacuum Society.

In her off hours, she cycles competitively and shows her Irish setters.