Mary Frank Fox is the Dean’s Distinguished Professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan in 1978. Her research focuses on gender, science, and academia, investigating how social and organizational contexts shape the participation, performance, and careers of women and men in scientific and academic organizations. Key areas include collaborative practices, publication productivity, salary rewards, work-family conflict, and dimensions of academic careers. Fox served as Ivan Allen College ADVANCE Professor from 2001 to 2020 and was an original Co-Principal Investigator on Georgia Tech’s NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant. She co-directs the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology and has published in over 60 scholarly journals and collections.

Fox’s pioneering contributions have established gender and science as a major field of study, influencing national agendas and shifting perspectives from a flawed 'pipeline' model to organizational pathways for equity. She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017 and Chair of its Social, Economic, and Political Sciences Section in 2020. Additional honors include the Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research award from Georgia Tech’s Vice President for Research (2024), Distinguished Faculty Researcher Award from Ivan Allen College (2017), Faculty Member of the Year from Georgia Tech Student Government Association (2017), Gender Equity Champion Award (2016), and WEPAN Betty Vetter Research Award (2002). Select publications are “Analyzing the impact of gender on entrepreneurship and innovation: evidence from university graduates” (The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2024, with Qiantao Zhang, Shiri M. Breznitz, Talia Capozzoli Kessler); “Publications About Women, Science, and Engineering: Use of Sex and Gender in Titles Over a Forty-six-year Period” (Science, Technology, and Human Values, 2022, with Diana Roldan, Gerhard Sonnert, Amanda Nabors, Sarah Bartel); “Gender, Family and Caregiving Leave, and Advancement in Academic Science: Effects across the Life Course” (Sustainability, 2021, with Monica Gaughan); and “Being Highly Prolific in Academic Science: Characteristics of Individuals and Their Departments” (Higher Education, 2021, with Irina Nikivincze). She serves on the Social Science Advisory Board of the National Center for Women and Information Technology, the Council of the American Sociological Association’s Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section, and the Editorial Board of Social Studies of Science.

Professional Email: mary.fox@pubpolicy.gatech.edu