Cammy R. Abernathy received her S.B. degree in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980, and her M.S. and PhD degrees in materials science and engineering from Stanford University in 1982 and 1985 respectively. Dr. Abernathy is professor emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida (UF). She retired from UF as the UF William Wadsworth Director of the Engineering Leadership institute in 2025. She served as Dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering from 2009 - 2022. Prior to joining the University of Florida, she was a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1985-1993.

Dr. Abernathy’s research interests are in synthesis of thin-film electronic materials and devices using metal organic chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy. She is the author of over 500 journal publications, over 430 conference papers, one co-authored book, 7 edited books, 8 book chapters, and 6 patents.

Dr. Abernathy is a fellow of the MRS, AAAS, AVS, APS and of the Electrochemical Society. She was Chair of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), Engineering Deans Council (2020-2022) and Council Delegate for the Industrial Science and Technology Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2019-2021). She has served as a member of the MRS Council, the ASEE Board of Directos and the AVS Board of Directors. She is a recipient of the TMS Ellen Swallow Richards Diversity Award. She is a member of the ASEMFl.