Trustee Spotlight
Dr. Dale Schaefer is a Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering. He previously served as the Dean of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati and John Wheatley Scholar at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Professionally, he is regarded as a preeminent academic with broad expertise in materials science, physics, chemistry and chemical engineering.
Dr. Schaefer earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Wheaton College in 1963. In 1968, he received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from MIT and continued with post-doctoral studies in physics at MIT from 1968 to 1970.
After a two-year stint with IBM at the Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Dr. Schaefer joined the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He spent 25 years in progressively responsible management and leadership roles, in materials related program development and project management. During his time there, he served as a Senior Technical Advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy in the office of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and was responsible for DOE partnership development with industry and universities. In his last position at Sandia, he was Manager of the Industry and Government Liaison Department. In 2004 and 2007, he was a visiting scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Schaefer is widely published and is a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Physical Society (Fellow), the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemists (Fellow). He is also a recipient of numerous honors, including the Rensselaer Science Award, Department of Energy Award for Outstanding Sustained Research and listing in American Men and Women of Science and Who's Who in America.
Dr. Schaefer is experienced in strategic planning and implementation in an educational environment. He was the faculty representative to the Board of Trustees of the University of Cincinnati in 2010-2012. He has been a Member of the Solid State Sciences Committee at the National Research Institute, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute, and Member of the Governing Board of the Edison Materials Technology Center in Dayton, Ohio.
He and his wife Arlene have two grown children, and are members of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. They recently served on the board of a halfway house ministry to female prison inmates in Cincinnati.