Dr. Janet Elaine Hauber, aged 83, of Driftwood, TX, formerly from Castro Valley, CA, went to be with God on January 27, 2021. She died peacefully in her home.
Dr Hauber is a founding member of the Texas Republic Ranches Legacy Foundation and serves on the board of directors. She retired in 2004 after a 34-year career with the University of California at which time, she moved to central Texas. She worked her entire career in the development of nuclear weapons to serve as a deterrent to war. Her expertise was in metallurgy, high temperature mechanical properties of metals, safe handling of radioactive materials, workplace safety, and project and personnel management.
Through performance she advanced to significantly higher levels of responsibility in her career. She began as a staff scientist to the project leader, then advanced to project manager, section leader, plutonium metallurgy and engineering manager, program manager, division leader, and finally special assistant to the engineering department head for research and development. In 1998, she deferred her planned retirement for two years to take an assignment at the US Department of Energy in Washington D.C. as program manager of the nuclear cities initiative, “Swords for Plowshares”, which was an effort between Russian nuclear weapons scientists and their US counterparts this effort, Dr. Hauber was awarded the Distinguished Career Service Award by the National Nuclear Security Administration. After retirement in 2000, Dr. Hauber was asked by her former employer to lead an effort to evaluate, decontaminate, and decommission a highly radioactive materials facility. The project was completed on time and within the budget and she retired again in 2004.
She received her Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Marquette University in 1965, and her Master’s degree and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 1967 and 1970 respectively. Dr. Hauber received fellowships from the Ford Foundation as well as from the American Society for Testing Materials while in graduate school.
Dr. Hauber was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and lived in Virginia, California, and Moscow, Russia, before settling in Texas.
A long-time philanthropist, Dr. Hauber awarded 46, $1000 scholarships to aspiring women engineers, established a Presidential Endowed Scholarship for a female engineer undergraduate at UT, donated $50,000 for computer equipment the student athlete center at the University of Texas, sponsored numerous children’s’ educations, through Children Inc. In addition, she supported multiple youth athletic efforts aimed at obtaining athletic scholarships for minority girls.
Janet was also an avid Cowboy Action shooter and an officer of The Tejas Cabballeros Club.
She is survived by her daughter Kimberly Hauber, her grandchildren, Douglas Hauber, Caleb Wilde, and Jesse Hauber-Harris, her niece Jori Johnson, and her goddaughter Lynda Hauber.
A graveside memorial will be held on July 21, 2021 at the Driftwood Cemetery, next to the Driftwood United Methodist Church, at the intersection of Farm to Market Rd 150 and Elder hill Rd., at 9 AM. Coffee and light refreshments will follow the service in the community room.