Patricia Rankin

Patricia Rankin is the Chair of the Arizona State Physics department. She did both her undergraduate and her graduate work at Imperial College, London. As an undergraduate student, she was awarded the “Governor’s Prize” for graduating first in her year in Physics. In 1988 she became an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder  (CUB )and the only women on the Physics faculty at the time. She was a recipient of both a Sloan Fellowship and a Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator Award. She was awarded tenure in 1995. She then chose to work for two years in Washington D.C. as a program officer for particle physics at the National Science Foundation. Returning to Boulder she was promoted to Full Professor. She served in a variety of administrative roles at CUB including as director of a residential academic program in the natural sciences/environmental sciences, as Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences, as Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development and Diversity, and as Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Research. She joined the Arizona State University Faculty in 2021.

She has a PhD in High Energy Particle Physics and an abiding interest in big picture questions like "Why is there so little antimatter in the universe?". Since modern particle physics experiments often involve thousands of people, understanding how organizations work and how to get things done is part of being successful so over time she has developed a very valuable skill set for dealing with real world problems.  Her research interests shifted over the years from experimental particle physics (including precision measurements as tests of the Standard Model and studies of heavy quark physics with a focus on understanding the symmetries of nature) to ways to address the lack of representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and especially in leadership positions. She was PI of the CU Boulder NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant and has studied how participation in networks affects success in academia. She has recently co-authored a review of evidence-based research, underlying theories, and interventions related to women’s representation in the STEM workforce (here).  She is also interested in effective decision making and how best to spread scientific literacy. These interests led her to her current role on the ASU campus.