On behalf of the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, it is with great sadness that we write to share the news of the sudden passing of Luz Martínez-Miranda, a professor in our department. We are heartbroken by her loss.

Luz was an internationally recognized physicist in liquid crystals and liquid crystal-nanoparticle composites, their applications in magnetic resonance imaging and in photovoltaics, and their characterization using X-ray scattering techniques. She was a prolific author, with over 90 journal publications, and wrote a book titled “Liquid Crystals in Photovoltaics: An Introduction.” 

Her recognition also led to her being elected a fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science in 2004 and the American Physical Society (APS) in 2007. In 2014, she received the APS Edward A. Bouchet Prize, and later in 2016 she was selected for the Fulbright Foreign Student Program to work at the University of Chile. For these and many other achievements, her work set trends that have shaped the course of our field.

Luz was drawn to the world of science from an early age, influenced by a talented high school physics teacher, and by both of her parents being chemists. She attended the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, where she obtained both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics. She then obtained a doctoral degree in the same discipline from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she worked under the guidance of Robert Birgeneau, graduating with a thesis titled “Crossover Behavior and Fluctuations in the Vicinity of a Liquid Crystal Multicritical Point” in 1985. At this time, she was one of a few female students in her class at the MIT Department of Physics. 

Following graduation, she began a postdoctoral appointment at the University of California, Berkeley, working with Yuen-Ron Shen on the use of wetting substrates in aligning liquid crystals. She then joined the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1987, with a secondary appointment in Materials Science and Engineering. At the University of Pennsylvania, she mentored then-graduate student Elisabeth Smela, who is now a professor of mechanical engineering in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMD.

She joined UMD as faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor in the then-Department of Materials and Nuclear Engineering, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1998, and to full professor in 2023. 

Throughout her career, she dedicated her time to service to our university and professional societies. She was the third and first female president of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists, and also served on committees for Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science and APS. At our department, she played a crucial role in the UMD Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, directing the minority outreach program, and served as a student advisor for more than 25 years. She was also a member of both the University Senate and the Engineering Senate and was a fixture at the Clark School commencement, serving as a Faculty Marshal to help direct students as they walked to and from the stage to receive their diplomas.

She was dedicated to the department, sharing her time and enthusiasm with students and colleagues in classes, at seminars, meetings and departmental events. Never one to be shy, she was vocal in expressing her thoughts and opinions in each of these.

Luz was a woman of diverse talents and interests. As a middle school student, she excelled in track and field, and remained an avid baseball fan all of her life. She also studied musical performance, earning a degree in music alongside her physics degrees, and in particular playing both piano and the harpsichord, a baroque instrument.

Like great music, we believe Luz’s contributions to the department and her profession will stand the test of time. We will remember the impact she made on our lives.

She is survived by her brother Daniel José Martínez of Austria and his five children, as well as relatives living in New York, Florida, and in Puerto Rico. A Memorial Gathering will take place at a time when her family can attend. A notice will be sent out once it is scheduled.