Where most people would see the ordinary, Professor Katherine Faber sees art.
Take the photograph behind her desk. It has three panels, each showing a dripping oil drop at different stages. She describes the photograph using her hands to emphasize certain parts.
“This is science and art combined,” said Faber, professor of materials science and engineering. “I think there is an added benefit to seeing the art in science.”
This photograph is just one of the telling pieces in Faber’s office. Bits of her life — drawings, photographs and art — are scattered around the room.
The magazines are the most eye-catching, stretching across two long rows of her book shelf and lining the window ledge. These are journals of the American Ceramic Society, the organization that elected Faber, 51, president for the 2006-07 term.
The American Ceramic Society is an international organization for people who study ceramics. The majority of its 7,500 members are scientists, like Faber, who use ceramics in engineering to improve technology.
“You can couple a scientific interest and a scientific understanding to solve technological (problems),” said Faber, who has been a member of the society for about 30 years. “This can have an effect on people’s lives.”
A telescope Faber received in her youth sparked her interest in science.
“I grew up toward the end of the Sputnik era,” she said. “When space travel became possible, I think that it really provided a big draw for children of that time to be interested in (all sciences).”
She pursued those interests at Alfred University in New York and went on to get a master’s degree at Pennsylvania State University. A colorful drawing of San Francisco next to her desk reminds her of UC Berkeley, where she was a doctoral student.
Faber joined the Northwestern faculty in 1988. Then her talents as a teacher were a “great unknown,” she said. Seventeen years later, Faber receives high Course and Teacher Evaluation Council survey scores.
“Her classes are very popular,” said Prof. Ken Shull, who does research with Faber. She received a gift from her graduate students — a copy of a Monet painting — several years ago. That painting is also in her office.
Apart from teaching and research, Faber contributes to science in other ways. She has written more than 100 papers and edited a book. Two years ago, she wrapped up five years as department chair of material sciences at NU.
She just returned from the 10th annual Congressional Visits Day in Washington, D.C., where she encouraged congressmen to fund scientific research.
Faber steps in as society president at a critical juncture. In her term, the society will try to globalize and for the first time it will help organize the International Ceramics Congress in Toronto in 2007.
In her rare time off, she spends time at the theater and with her family. Faber also is involved in several art restoration projects with the Art Institute of Chicago.
