Tresa is the Alcoa Professor of Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She graduated with a B.S. from Purdue University in 1984, and a PhD from MIT in 1989.  Prof. Pollock was employed at General Electric Aircraft Engines from 1989 to 1991, where she conducted research and development on high temperature alloys for aircraft turbine engines.  She was a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University from 1991 to 1999 and the University of Michigan from 2000 - 2010.  Her current research focuses on the processing and properties of structural materials and coatings and on the use of ultrafast lasers for micro-fabrication and materials diagnostics.  Prof. Pollock  was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2005, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2016, is a Fellow of TMS and ASM International, Editor in Chief of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions and was the 2005-2006 President of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.