Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Marija Gajdardziska-Josifovska’s education and career in physics spans three continents. She received a B.Sc. in engineering physics from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in her native Macedonia, where she also held a teaching and research position until 1987. Her undergraduate research experience in atomic and molecular laser physics in Grenoble, France, launched her international research career. As the sole recipient of the annual Australian-European Graduate Award, she obtained an M.Sc. degree from The University of Sydney in the area of solar energy. At Arizona State University she obtained a Ph.D. in condensed matter and surface physics, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for High Resolution Electron Microscopy. Upon joining the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1993, as the first female faculty of the Department of Physics, Professor Gajdardziska became founder and director of the Laboratory for High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, the only such lab in southeast Wisconsin. She was a summer fellow at Oak Ridge National Lab in 1995, an academic visitor of the Department of Materials at Oxford University in 2008, and a research associate of the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in 2021/22. At UWM she hold the rank of full professor of physics since 2000.

The interdisciplinary research that Dr. Marija GJ conducts with her students, postdocs and collaborators has resulted in ~140 peer-reviewed publications, ~50 invited talks and ~110 conference presentations, ~$5.2M in competitive extramural funding,  ~20 graduate and postdoctoral advisees, and most recently foundational patents of a deep-tech startup COnovate Inc, that she co-founded in 2016. In addition to her many teaching, research and outreach interests and activities, Prof. Gajdardziska-Josifovska has extensive prior service in faculty governance, in the community, and in university administration. Early in her career she was elected by her colleagues to serve as Physics Department Chair; followed by service as Director of the Laboratory for Surface Studies, an interdisciplinary research center that includes faculty from Physics, Chemistry and Engineering. At Associate Dean level in the College of Letters & Science (L&S) she provided oversight for all functions of five Natural Sciences departments, the Honor’s College and the Pre-Professional (pre-med) programs; in the Graduate School and the new Office of Research she supported research and graduate education for seven schools and colleges. Her highest administrative position was that of Dean of the Graduate School, from 2014-2021. Dean Marija provided leadership and management for all graduate students and all doctoral, masters and graduate certificate programs at UWM. She prepared for that deanship role by completing the Management Development Program of the Harvard Institute for Higher Education.

Marija Gajdardziska-Josifovska has received several awards and honors, including Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America (2014), Woman of Influence award of The Business Journal (2014), the Research Corporation Research Opportunity Award (2004), the White House/National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow Award (1995), the UWM Foundation Research Award (1998); preceded by awards during her student years including the Herman E. DeMund Scholarship (1990; one a year for ASU), Australian-European Graduate Award (1985; one a year for Europe), and the award for Best Undergraduate Student in Physics graduating between 1976-86. She serves on the Editorial Board of Microscopy and Microanalysis, the journal of the Microscopy Society of America.