Alfred University alumna and Board of Trustees member Chris Heckle ’92, M.S. ’95, PhD ’98, an award-winning research, development, and innovation leader, will deliver the Samuel L. Scholes Memorial Lecture at 11:20 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in Holmes Auditorium, Harder Hall, on the Alfred University campus.
Heckle is senior director, Research and Development, within Westinghouse Electric Company’s AI & Innovation organization, where she leads and shapes enterprise R&D priorities across advanced materials, additive manufacturing, robotics, sensors and inspection, heat-pipe technologies, prototyping, and next-generation nuclear applications. In her lecture, titled “Engineering Your Career,” Heckle will discuss how she built her career by developing authentic professional relationships, learning from mistakes, and navigating transitions.
“Engineering careers rarely follow a straight line. They are shaped by relationships, unexpected opportunities, difficult decisions, and lessons that often emerge from failure,” Heckle said in the abstract for her lecture. “In this talk, I will share candid reflections from my own professional journey—both successes and setbacks—to help engineering students think more intentionally about the careers and leaders they want to become.
“We will explore how purposeful networking can create opportunities, broaden perspective, and provide support throughout a career; examine common leadership failure modes and the traps that can undermine otherwise capable leaders; and compare career paths in academia, industry, and national laboratories.”
Heckle earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University in 1992, a well as master’s and doctoral degrees in glass engineering science (in 1995 and 1998, respectively), also from Alfred. She earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering in 1994 from Case Western Reserve University.
Before joining Westinghouse in August 2025, Chris was the inaugural director of the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center at Argonne National Laboratory. She was appointed to accelerate the commercialization of advanced materials and chemical-manufacturing technologies by building partnerships among industry, the U.S. Department of Energy, universities, and other stakeholders.
At Corning Incorporated, where she spent more than 25 years (1997-2022), Heckle progressed through scientific, program-management, and global research-leadership roles, culminating in the role of research director for Inorganic Materials Research and the Asia Research Laboratories. During her tenure, Heckle’s teams launched multiple innovative products that generated significant revenue and increased the rate of new-product introduction. She championed the integration of applied machine learning and artificial intelligence into experimental work.
Heckle’s professional contributions have included service with the National Academy of Sciences’ Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, the Ceramics and Glass Industry Foundation, and the Alfred University Board of Trustees. She has also contributed to the National Academies report Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey.
The Scholes Lecture Series was established in 1982 by alumni of Alfred University to honor the late Samuel R. Scholes, who in 1932 established the first glass science program in the United States at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He served as dean, associate dean, head of the Department of Glass Technology, and professor of glass science.
