Olivia Graeve is currently a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego.

She also is director of the CaliBaja Center for Resilient Materials and Systems, and faculty director of the IDEA Engineering Student Center in the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Previously, she was an associate professor at Alfred University and an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Graeve has gained international recognition in the area of nanomaterials manufacturing. Her area of research focuses on the design and processing of new materials for extreme environments, including extremes of temperature, pressure and radiation. Her expertise connects fundamental principles of materials processing with specific engineering needs, with special emphasis on electromagnetic multifunctional materials for sensors and energy applications.

She has four patents, has been published in more than 80 journals and co-authored four books and book chapters. She is currently the editor of Scientific Reports and Material Letters.

Graeve has been involved in many activities related to the recruitment and retention of women and Hispanic students in science and engineering and has received many prestigious awards.  More recently, she was inducted into the Tijuana Walk of Fame and to the Mexican Academy of Engineering and was named Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. In 2017, she was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women of Mexico by Forbes Magazine.

Graeve received her bachelor’s degree in structural engineering from UC San Diego and her doctoral degree in material science and engineering from UC Davis.