Brief Bio

Dr. Fiona Leek is an Assistant Professor-in-Residence and Director of Undergraduate Laboratories in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Connecticut (UConn). As Associate Director of the Industrial Affiliates Program, she facilitated collaborations between UConn scientists and engineers and Connecticut companies to address materials-related challenges. She served as a co-advisor for several Senior Design teams and mentored students in the Society of Polymer Engineers (SPE) Polymer Graduate Student Chapter and the UConn Connects program. Currently, she serves as Director of Undergraduate Laboratories, overseeing crucial aspects of undergraduate education. She is a faculty advisor for a UConn team participating in the NASA BIG Idea Challenge, designing and building a lunar rover. 

Professor Leek earned her doctoral degree from the Polymer Science Program at UConn. After working in the field as a technical expert and a Senior research scientist she returned to UConn and served as the Associate Director of the Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) for 10 years. She worked with scientists and engineers from a wide variety of Connecticut companies to solve various materials-related challenges using the wide range of analytical tools and faculty expertise within IMS. In 2019 she joined the MSE department as director for the undergraduate laboratories.