Anne C. Dillon

Anne C. Dillon, 46, a principal scientist at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., died on Sept. 8 from complications of an earlier stroke.

Born in Denver, Dillon received a B.S. in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University in 1993. She then accepted a postdoc at NREL, where she remained for her 18-year career.

Dillon’s research focused on the synthesis and characterization of nanostructured materials including single- and multiwalled carbon nanotubes as well as metal oxide nanoparticles. More recently, she expanded this work to include silicon nanostructures, which were targeted for renewable energy applications.

Over the years, she collaborated extensively with other scientists from around the world and was eager to mentor younger women in science. A scholarship fund, the Anne Catherine Dillon Memorial Fund, has been established at MIT to be awarded to an undergraduate woman in the chemistry department. Dillon was a member of ACS from 2004 to 2005.

She was an avid runner and cyclist who twice completed the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race, a marathon mountain bike race. An animal lover, she was especially fond of her cats.

Dillon is survived by her husband, Richard Mirin, and her mother, Marjorie.