Dr. Marcia Katz, the first female to earn a PhD from UT’s College of Engineering (1974), worked for Combustion Engineering in Columbus and at a national laboratory in Nice, France, before returning to UT in 1977, becoming the first female faculty member in the College of Engineering.
Katz earned the BS in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1963 but pursued the master’s and doctorate at UT in nuclear engineering. She became an expert in nuclear reactor dynamics and controls. In 1980 she worked with NASA on space shuttle designs. She was a 1985 American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ White House Fellow, and she served as policy advisor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to Tennessee Senator Jim Sasser.
Highly regarded as a teacher, she received the 1993 Allen & Hoshell Award for Excellence in teaching and also received the departmental Excellence in Teaching Award. She was a member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honorary fraternity. Katz served on the board of the Knoxville Jewish Alliance and served as president of Heska Amuna Sisterhood. She retired from UT and her engineering pursuits in 1999. Announcing that she “always wanted to gift wrap,” she went to Dillard’s at Christmastime and worked in the gift-wrapping department. She also served for the last few years of her life as a secret shopper, hired to visit stores and restaurants and report on the service.