On some level, Dr. Frances Williams, the daughter of a teacher, always knew she wanted to teach.

“It was as a student at A&T that I realized I wanted to teach on a college-level. Looking around and seeing the shortage of minority women professors in engineering really sparked my desire to want to teach on a college-level,” she said.

Williams graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in 1994 and 1996 with a bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering. She went on to earn her doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in electrical and computer engineering. Soon after that, she started teaching at Norfolk State University in Virginia.

“I knew I wanted to teach at a college level and to return to an HBCU,” she said. “I wanted to be a role model for minority and female students so that they could have a chance to have the experiences I’ve had a chance to have.”

After nine years at NSU, Williams has been named a recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award presented by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and Dominion Resources. It is the Virginia’s highest honor for a faculty member at a public or private college or university.

“I was very shocked and happy,” Williams said about receiving the award.

She was one of 12 college or university faculty members to be recognized in the state and the only one from NSU. Williams and her fellow recipients were chosen from a pool of 109 applicants from across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

In her time at NSU, Williams has been awarded research grants that total more than $12 million, has been named an emerging scholar by Diverse Issues in Higher Education and has received a Distinguished Faculty Award.

In addition to her duties as a professor and a researcher, Williams is also the director of the Micro- and Nano-techology Center (MiNaC), a 6,000 sq. ft., state of the art cleanroom research facility. She is also the interim director for the NSU Center for Materials Research that houses the doctorate and master’s programs in material science and engineering.

“It’s a new responsibility and it’s a little different from being a researcher and faculty member,” she said.

While this recent honor certainly highlights Williams’ work and accomplishments, it also highlights her research that all began while she was a student at N.C. A&T.

“A lot of what I’m doing now, the seeds were planted, nurtured and cultivated while I was at A&T. I think A&T is what sparked who I am today,” she said.

Williams’ research deals with micro electronic sensors. She received a patent for a sensor in 2010 which is important for the semi-conductor electronics industry. She says the practical, real world applications that have a wide spread benefit are what have drawn her to continue the research she started as an undergraduate.

“Now, I’m doing research that deals with the biomedical industry,” she said. “I’m working on research on glucose sensors that will hopefully advance some of the sensor mechanisms.”

This research is near and dear to Williams’ heart as her father is living with diabetes.

“It’s rewarding to work on research that touches you personally,” she said.