Alice Elizabeth White is an American physicist. She is a professor and chair at the Boston University College of Engineering. ^[1] Previously, she was Chief Scientist at Bell Labs. ^[2] She is a fellow of the APS, the IEEE and the OSA.

White was born to physicist parents and grew up in New Jersey. Her father worked at Bell Labs. ^[3] Her parents helped to foster her interest in science and mathematics. ^[4]

She did her undergraduate studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she enjoyed a supportive science learning environment. She interned at Bell Labs during the summer through the Summer Research Program, eventually leading to a fellowship through the Graduate Research Program for Women to study at Harvard University. ^{[3] [4]} Her PhD thesis, completed in 1982, was entitled Resistance rise in ultrathin metallic wires at low temperatures. ^[5] She was mentored by Doug Osheroff of Bell Labs during her time at Harvard. ^[4]

White returned to Bell Labs after her PhD, and occupied various roles in the organisation from 1982 to 2013. She spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow before joining the permanent technical staff. ^[3] Her last position was Chief Scientist. Her research areas during this period include mesotaxy techniques to grow metals on silicon, photonic circuitry, fiber optics and low temperature physics. ^[4]

White became chair of Boston University's mechanical engineering department in 2013 after 30 years at Bell Labs. ^[2] She is a professor of mechanical engineering, materials science, biomedical engineering, and physics. She is also affiliated with Boston University's Photonics and Nanotechnology centers. ^[1] She is interested in nanomechanics. ^[6] One potential application of her research is in creating biomedical structures to repair tissues after a heart attack. ^[7] She uses 3D printing technology to create micromechanical structures. ^[8] In 2014, she established the Multiscale Laser Lithography Lab at Boston University. ^[1] This facility houses a Direct Laser Writing tool to create 3D polymer structures at high resolution as well as systems to design and characterise samples. ^[9]

White and her team worked on 3D printing nasal swab components in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^{[10] [11]}

She became a Councilor-at-Large for the APS in 1993 and was a founding member of the Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics. ^[12] In 2001, she was chair of the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. ^[13] She is a mentor for the Bell Labs Graduate Research Program for Women, and gives physics talks at elementary schools. ^[3]

• 2013 OSA Fellow for "developing advanced nanofabrication techniques and applying them to integrated electronics and photonics to enable next-generation lightwave devices". ^[14]
• 2011 IEEE Fellow for "leadership in development and commercialization of integrated silicon optical components for communication networks". ^{[1] [15]}
• 2001 Bell Labs Fellow for "developing and applying novel integrated photonic device technologies in advanced optical networks". ^[1]
• 1995 APS Fellow for "contributions to the study of transport phenomena in metallic thin films and for her work on buried silicide films formed by ion implantation". ^[16]
• 1994 Alumni Achievement Award from Middlebury College. ^[17]
• 1991 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award from the APS. ^[18]

White married another Bell Labs scientist and has two children. She enjoys skiing and cycling. ^[3]

• Alice White publications indexed by Google Scholar