Bonnell grew up in suburban Detroit.[2] She was the eldest of four children. She deferred applying to college until she had started her own family, but, seven years later, found herself a single mother in need of more education to support her own children.[2] At the time Bonnell lived next door to the University of Michigan, and eventually applied to study there.[2] Bonnell specialized in materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan.[2] Bonnell particularly enjoyed the chemistry aspects of her introductory science courses.[2] She earned her bachelor's degree in 1983 and her PhD under the supervision of Tseng-Ying Tien in 1986.[2] Her doctoral research involved identifying stable phases of silicon nitride systems, with a focus on improving the mechanical properties at high temperature.[3] She spent a year at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research – with her two children – where she worked with Manfred Ruehle on electron microscopy.[2][4] She was a postdoctoral scholar at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.[5] The research centre was home to the first scanning tunnelling microscope, and Bonnell appreciated the potential of scanning tunnelling microscopy as a means to accelerate our understanding of ceramics.[2]
Research and career
In 1988 Bonnell joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.[6] Her research has involved investigations into the structure-property relations of ceramic materials as well as studies into how the surface morphology impacts chemical reactions.[2] Her research group were the first to successfully image oxide surfaces with atomic resolution, which they achieved using scanning probe microscopy.[5] She has also investigated ferroelectric compounds, synthetic proteins and quantum dots.[7] The ability to visualize the atomic structure of surfaces and interfaces, and has applications in catalysis, biosensing and nanofabrication.[5][6][7]
In 2004 Bonnell founded the University of Pennsylvania Nano/Bio Interface Center (NBIC), which supports collaboration between researchers working at the intersection of biology, chemistry and technology.[2] As part of NBIC, Bonnell developed a new nanotechnology program for undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania.[2] NBIC is home to several scanning probe-equipment facilities, and can support research in the life sciences as well as emerging technologies.[8]
Bonnell was made Vice Provost for Research in 2013.[9] She was also elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2013 for the development of atomic-resolution surface probes, and for institutional leadership in nanoscience.
Local impedance imaging and spectroscopy of polycrystalline ZnO using contact atomic force microscopy (DOI:10.1063/1.1561168)[20]
Bonnell, Dawn (2001). Scanning Probe Microscopy and Spectroscopy: Theory, Techniques, and Applications. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN978-0471248248.
Bonnell, Dawn (2013). Scanning Probe Microscopy For Energy Research: Materials, Devices And Applications. World Scientific Publishing. ISBN978-9814434706.
^BONNELL, DAWN AUSTIN (1986). Determination of crystallization mechanisms and correlation of grain boundary morphology to mechanical properties in silicon-nitride (microstructure, transmission electron microscopy, mechanical properties) (Thesis). OCLC68297023.
^Shao, Rui; Kalinin, Sergei V.; Bonnell, Dawn A. (2003-03-18). "Local impedance imaging and spectroscopy of polycrystalline ZnO using contact atomic force microscopy". Applied Physics Letters. 82 (12): 1869–1871. Bibcode:2003ApPhL..82.1869S. doi:10.1063/1.1561168. ISSN0003-6951.
