[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E426-E427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A TRIBUTE TO DR. SOSSINA HAILE, 27TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WOMAN OF 
                             THE YEAR--2002

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 20, 2002

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Women's History Month. 
Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices 
made by our nation's most notable women during the month of March and 
it is my honor to not only recognize women of the past but to also 
recognize women who are making a difference in my community. While a 
month of remembrance is certainly not sufficient, I am honored today to 
pay homage to such women as Eleanor Roosevelt, Sandra Day O'Connor, 
Harriet Tubman, Sally Ride and all the women of my Congressional 
District, whose contributions have made a profound difference in the 
face and fabric of our nation.
  It is a special privilege to recognize an outstanding woman of 
California's 27th Congressional District. Dr. Sossina M. Haile is a 
well-respected and valuable member of the educational community in my 
district and her work as a professor and advisor are important in 
helping to shape the face and scope of research in this country.
  Dr. Haile received her Bachelor of Science degree in Math, Science 
and Engineering from MIT and went on to receive her M.S. degree in the 
same discipline from the University of California, Berkeley. She 
returned to her alma mater, MIT, where she earned a Ph.D.
  She began her professional career in education at the Max-Planck-
Institut fur Festkorperforschung in Stuttgart, Germany as a Fulbright 
then Humboldt Fellow between October 1991 and August 1993. She served 
as the Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering's Battellee 
Assistant Professor at the University of Washington from September 1993 
to September 1996. In the fall of 1996 she became an Assistant 
Professor in the Materials Science Department at the California 
Institute of Technology and I am happy to announce that she was 
recently granted an Associate Professorship at Caltech in the fall of 
last year.
  Over her academic years, Dr. Haile has compiled an impressive and 
outstanding list of

[[Page E427]]

notable awards and accomplishments. She was named an award recipient as 
a National Young Investigator from 1994 to 1999 and was presented the 
Hardy Award in 1997 for exceptional promise of success in materials 
science. In 2000 she was honored with the Coble Award in recognition of 
outstanding research in ceramic science and in 2001 was presented with 
the J. Wagner Award for significant contributions towards the 
understanding of high-temperature, ion-conducting materials.
  One of her greatest contributions to our community is the research 
which she is undertaking and the doctoral, masters, and senior theses 
students which she is guiding along this journey. Dr. Haile's time and 
efforts are certainly appreciated not only by the science community but 
also by the sixteen students which she mentors and guides so well.
  I ask all Members of Congress to join me today in honoring an 
outstanding and extraordinary woman of California's 27th Congressional 
District, Dr. Sossina Haile. The entire community joins me in thanking 
Sossina for her continued efforts to make the 27th Congressional 
District a place of academic excellence and continued research success.

                          ____________________