Professor Dresselhaus did indeed end up teaching; albeit, surely not in the capacity she had originally imagined. She is now a tenured professor at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, MIT. As faculty at MIT she has headed research on many state-of-the-art projects such as superconductivity, magneto-optics, and now carbon nano-tubes. When asked what her most favorite project that she had ever worked on, she smiled and said, “The ones I’m working on now.” She said she was proud of the work she had done in the past, but she always loves most what she is working on right now; otherwise, she would be working on something else.

One of the most impressive things about Millie was the greetings and recognition she received from her peers. Sitting in an out-of-the-way corner in the union of the University of New Mexico, several colleagues who had spotted her from quite a distance, came over to just to say hello and how glad they were that she was here. To one such colleague she said, “I’m giving a talk on ethics. I bet you didn’t know that I could give a talk on ethics.” He responded, “It doesn’t surprise me, I’ve seen you give talks on about everything else.”

Dr. Dresselhaus’s diverse experience and vast resume has indeed given her the qualifications to speak on a multitude of subjects. She has held a job from the time she was eight years old when her school was paying her to teach a mentally handicapped child to read. She has held public and appointed positions such as chief scientific advisor to President Bill Clinton and is currently the first woman to chair the governing board of the American Institute of Physics. Although she was somewhat surprised to be asked to give a talk on ethic, it would seem that her life experiences more than qualify her to do so.

Speaking on ethics, Millie said that living with the notoriety that she has achieved, it feels as though she can not make a mistake; although, this is not really any added pressure to her. She is living the respectful and ethical life she would have anyway. The most important thing for her was to set a good example for her children. A key point she wanted to get across, both in this interview and in her main speech, was this: The seed for an ethical life must be planted at home.

The first event celebrating and kicking-off the World Year of Physics was a conference attended by all three organizations and held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Though many different presentations were given, one of the main themes for the conference was Ethics in Physics. Over the course of the weekend, talks were given and discussions were facilitated covering topics such as Ethics in Military, Ethics in Academia, and Ethics in Industry. The presenters were careful not to promote personal ethical views, but rather how to determine one's own ethical views and how to determine if the views of the person and organization fit well together.

The talks and discussions were very informative and raised some issues that may not have been immediately apparent. These in depth examinations of both personal and organizational ethical stances will make the choices that the conference attendees have to make in the future much easier and more well informed.