Pam Benicewicz is currently Associate Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina. In this role, which became effective in October of 2009, she is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to establish a wide variety of intra- and inter- institutional research collaborations, thus facilitating partnerships between the University of South Carolina and industry, national laboratories, and other universities. She serves as the point of contact with potential collaborators, and promotes student research and advancement through these interactions.
Before joining the university, Dr. Benicewicz worked at General Electric for ten years, most recently for GE Energy in Greenville, SC and at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, NY for over eight years prior to that. At GE, she was a senior physicist, project leader, principal investigator, and interim lab manager responsible for all aspects of project and program management, including funding, resource management, identification of new opportunities, and interfacing with the other GE businesses (primarily GE Aviation, GE Energy, and GE Healthcare). She was also an active experimental physicist, specializing in the area of optical physics. Her work included developing laser-based spectroscopic techniques and systems that provided in-situ, real-time evaluation of materials as well as developing optical diagnostic techniques to monitor laser-based processes, such as laser shock peening. She holds seven US patents from her work at GE with an additional three patents pending.
Prior to her positions at GE, Dr. Benicewicz was a Research Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, where she taught and established a research program based on the use of lasers and optical techniques to detect and identify hazardous materials in the environment. From 1993 until 1997, Dr. Benicewicz was a Team Leader and staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, NM. She led a team of research scientists and technicians engaged in the study of the chemical and physical properties of heavy metals (actinides).
Dr. Benicewicz also spent six years as a statistician for Johnson & Johnson and American Home Products. Her work included the experimental design and analysis of experiments in an R&D environment, including process optimization and quality control. She was responsible for the design and analysis of pre-clinical trials for the approval of new medical products, and the design and statistical analysis of clinical trials for NDA submission of anti-hypertension medications.
Benicewicz received her bachelor's degree cum laude and her master's degree in statistics from the University of Florida, where she was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of New Mexico in 1993. She is married to Dr. Brian C. Benicewicz, USC Educational Foundation Distinguished Professor and CoEE Chair in Polymer Nanocomposites. They have two children, Derek and Leigh Ann.
