Jenifer Locke (she/her) is an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Fontana Corrosion Center at The Ohio State University (OSU). Her research group at OSU focuses on understanding environment assisted cracking (EAC) and corrosion of metals and alloys. She earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2010 from the University of Virginia and her B.A. in Physics from Wittenberg University in 2004. Locke’s career in materials started after earning her bachelor’s degree when she worked for a year as an engineering aide at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). After earning her Ph.D., Locke worked from 2011 to 2014 for Alcoa in the Alcoa Technical Center (ATC), the R&D facility for Alcoa Inc. (the sectors now known as Arconic and Howmet). At Alcoa, she worked in alloy development, EAC, and corrosion largely of aerospace and automotive aluminum alloys.
While her first TMS Annual Meeting was in 2005, TMS became her home society when she returned to academia and started her position at OSU in 2015. She has been an active member in the TMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and Corrosion and Environmental Effects Committee. In DEI specifically, she has served as the JOM Liaison from 2019 to 2022, leading JOM: The Magazine special sections related to best practices to enable participation and success for both seen and unseen areas of marginalization and underrepresentation. She has also served as vice-chair (2021–2022) and chair (2022–2024) of the DEI committee. Since 2022, Locke has also been an active member of the Membership Diversity & Development Committee as the DEI representative and now a member-at-large. 

Locke’s passion for ensuring the places around her allow everyone, regardless of their identity, to engage fully and demonstrate their best abilities started early with engaging in trainings while in undergraduate and graduate school and after moving to help start and co-lead ATC’s EAGLE (Employees at Alcoa for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Equality—an Alcoa-wide employee resource group) chapter. She then spent time on the corporate-wide EAGLE leadership team serving as the Alcoa Recruiting Lead going out to conferences and career fairs serving underrepresented and marginalized identities to showcase Alcoa’s actions and goals related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ).

Locke has won several awards related to education, research, and her DEIJ work. She was named the TMS Frank Crossley Award winner in 2023, earned the 2023 AMPP Educator Award in honor of Herbert Uhlig, a 2020 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2020 Lumley Research Award from OSU, the 2018 Mars G. Fontana Award for outstanding teacher of the year, 2016 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and was named a Greater Pittsburgh Area Dignity and Respect Champion in 2013.