Women in STEM Awards

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The Advance Women in STEM awards are supported by an anonymous gift to UNM to support research by, and professorships for, women faculty in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Income from investment of this gift is used to support UNM assistant and associate STEM professors with establishing new research areas and developing research collaborations.

 

For this award, STEM faculty are defined as those with research interests that align with research priorities identified by NSF, NIH (non-clinical), or DOE. This definition includes the social sciences. Three types of awards are available: 1) travel awards to foster collaborations, 2) seed awards to stimulate research projects that will lead to additional external funding and 3) workshop awards designed to generate innovative research ideas and collaborations. 

 

All tenure-track, tenured and research faculty members at UNM who hold the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor and are pursuing research in areas supported by NSF, NIH (non-clinical), or DOE are eligible to apply. 

 

2023 Awards

14 UNM faculty members chosen for the 2024 Women in STEM Awards

 

The 11 funded projects include a study of carbon storage in soils along the middle Rio Grande floodplain, an investigation into rural New Mexico healthcare workforce challenges and opportunities, and the development of new software for large scale 3-D printing with adobe

 

Fourteen faculty members at the University of New Mexico have been selected for the 2024 Women in STEM Awards. 

 

Selected award recipients will consider water treatment processes for atmospheric water harvesting, look for ways to improve local food system cohesion, and study the role of social interaction in stress and depression, among other things.

 

Now in their ninth year, the awards have allocated $585,660 to 80 women at UNM.

 

Several of the 11 projects selected this year are collaborative or interdisciplinary efforts.

 

The 2024 winners are:  

 

Leah Buechley, an associate professor in Computer Science and Maryam Hojati, an assistant professor in Civil Engineering; Kate Cartwright, an associate professor in Public Administration; Chanee Choi, an assistant professor in Film and Digital Arts; Deena Gould, an assistant professor in Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Policy; Natasha Howard, an assistant professor in Geography and Environmental Sciences; Elspeth Iralu, an assistant professor in Community and Regional Planning; Allyson McGaughey and Anjali Mulchandani, assistant professors in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering; Elif Tunc-Ozcan, an assistant professor in Neurosciences;  Marisa Repasch, an assistant professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences and Alex Webster, an assistant professor in Biology; Eva Stricker, a research assistant professor in Biology; and Kamilla Venner, an associate professor in Psychology.

 

The awards are hosted by Advance at UNM in collaboration with the UNM Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Advance is an NSF-initiated program at UNM to promote women faculty, particularly faculty of color in STEM, and to create a supportive campus climate for everyone.

2023 Awards

Nine UNM faculty members chosen for the 2023 Women in STEM awards

 

The funded projects will look at using drones in rural areas to expand healthcare access, how to better understand water scarcity along the Rio Grande and the rise of citizen journalists, among other things.

 

Nine women faculty members at the University of New Mexico have been selected for the 2023 Women in STEM awards. 

 

Award recipients will explore how to reduce the number of Native American students with dyslexia, why some amphibians are more susceptible to diseases than others, and how to position UNM to be a leader in seismic imaging and environmental monitoring, along with other topics.

 

Now in their eighth year, the awards have allocated $500,000 to 69 women at UNM.

 

The 2023 winners are:  

 

Lisa Barrow, an assistant professor in Biology; Jessica Feezell, an associate professor in Political Science; Adriana Molina Garzon, an assistant professor in Public Administration;  Kathy Kambic, an associate professor in Landscape Architecture; Sunaina Shenoy, an assistant professor in Special Education; Erin Wilkinson, an associate professor in Linguistics; Lindsay Worthington, an associate professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences; Rosa Vallejos Yopán, an associate professor in Linguistics and Heng Zuo, an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering.

 

The awards are hosted by Advance at UNM in collaboration with the UNM Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Advance is an NSF-initiated program at UNM to promote women faculty, particularly faculty of color in STEM, and to create a supportive campus climate for everyone.

2023 awardees

Dr. Lisa Barrow

 

Dr. Jessica Feezell

 

Dr. Adriana Molina Garzón
 
Dr. Kathy Kambic

 

Dr. Sunaina Shenoy

 

Dr. Erin Wilkinson

 

Dr. Lindsay Worthington

 

Dr. Rosa Vallejos Yopán

 

Dr. Heng Zuo

2022 awards

Twelve UNM faculty named as 2022 Women in STEM Award recipients

Eleven winning projects will look at capturing and recycling carbon dioxide, genomics of piñon pine trees in the intermountain west and planet formation among other things

 

Twelve women faculty members at the University of New Mexico have been selected for the 2022 Women in STEM awards. 

 

Award recipients will look at patterns of cancer disparities in New Mexico, consider an interdisciplinary lens for algorithmic justice, examine the importance of plant-rich diets and explore the possible role of plastic and fiber particles in chronic respiratory inflammation, among other topics.

The 2022 recipients are Dr. Diana Dragomir, assistant professor, Physics and Astronomy; Dr. Eliane El Hayek, research assistant professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences; Dr. Maricarmen Hernández, assistant professor, Sociology; Dr. Yan Lin, assistant professor, Geography and Environmental Studies; Dr. Hannah Marx, assistant professor, Biology; Dr. Jami Nelson-Nuñez, assistant professor, Political Science; Dr. Kathy Powers, associate professor, Political Science and Dr. Sonia Gipson Rankin, associate professor, School of Law; Dr. Vanessa Svihla, associate professor, Organization, Information and Learning Sciences and Chemical and Biological Engineering; Dr. Shuya Wei, assistant professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering; Dr. Janet Vassilev, associate professor, Mathematics and Statistics and Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley, associate professor, Geography and Environmental Studies.

 

The Women in STEM awards are hosted by Advance at UNM in collaboration with the UNM Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Advance is a five-year National Science Foundation program to recruit, retain and promote women and minority STEM faculty. The WIS awards, now in their seventh year, have totaled more than $425,000 to date.

2022 Awardee Profiles

Dr. Diana Dragomir

Dr. Eliane El Hayek

Dr. Maricarmen Hernández

Dr. Yan Lin

Dr. Hannah Marx

Dr. Jami Nelson-Nuñez

Dr. Kathy Powers

Dr. Sonia Gipson Rankin

Dr. Vanessa Svihla

Dr. Shuya Wei

Dr. Janet Vassilev

Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley

 

2021 Awardee Profiles

Dr. Miriam Gay-Antaki

Dr. TyAnna Lovato

Dr. Amalia Parra

Dr. Xiaoxue Li

Dr. Sarah Stith

Dr. Anjali Mulchandani

Dr. Suzanne Oakdale

Dr. Caroline Scruggs

Dr. Melinda Morgan

Dr. Jingjing Wang

Dr. Alex Webster

Dr. Lydia Tapia

2021 awards

12 UNM faculty selected for the 2021 UNM Women in STEM awards

Seven winning projects will look at better ways to manage water, how healthy brains age, and methods for transferring knowledge between robots

 

Twelve faculty members at the University of New Mexico have been selected for the 2021 Women in STEM awards. Winning projects this year will look at new ways to reduce the environmental impacts of human waste; social identities of people diagnosed with Celiac Disease; paths to better helping communities affected by climate change and the effects of acute sugar intake including possible links to asthma.

2020 Awardee Profiles

Dr. Rebecca Bixby

 

Dr. Tara Drake

 

Dr. Heather Edgar

 

Dr. Tamar Ginossar

 

Dr. Maryam Hojati

 

Dr. Mousumi Roy

 

Dr. Lani Tsinnajinnie

 

Dr. Jin Zhang

2020 awards

Eight UNM faculty selected for the 2020 UNM Women in STEM awards

Winning projects will develop sustainable concrete for 3-D printing, analyze social media discourse about the novel coronavirus and study groundwater resources on the Navajo Nation

 

Eight UNM faculty members at the University of New Mexico have been selected for the 2020 Women in STEM awards. Their work includes research on the impact of global warming on alpine stream biology, the creation of a better way to identify missing and murdered Native Americans and analysis of high pressure-temperature studies on Martian rocks.

The recipients this year are Dr. Rebecca Bixby, a research assistant professor in biology; Dr. Tara Drake, an assistant professor in physics and astronomy; Dr. Heather Edgar, an associate professor in anthropology; Dr. Tamar Ginossar, an associate professor in communication and journalism; Dr. Maryam Hojati, an assistant professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering; Dr. Mousumi Roy, an  associate professor in physics and astronomy, Dr. Lani Tsinnajinnie, an assistant professor in community and regional planning, and Dr. Jin Zhang, an assistant professor in earth and planetary sciences.

 

The Women in STEM awards are hosted by Advance at UNM in collaboration with the UNM Office of Academic Affairs. Advance is a five-year National Science Foundation program to recruit, retain and promote women and minority STEM faculty. The WIS awards, now in their fifth year, have totaled more than $266,000 to date.

 

Julia Fulghum, director of Advance at UNM, said the selected proposals are an exciting representation of the work of women in STEM around campus.

 

2018 Awardee Profiles

2017 Awardee Profiles

Dr. Eva Chi 

 

Dr.  Michelle Facette

 

Dr. Kendra Koivu

 

Drs. Christine Mermier &  Kristina Trujillo

 

Drs. Naomi Shin, Barbara Shaffer and Jill Morford 

 

Dr. Jami Nelson Nuñez

 

Dr. Ylva Philström

 

2019 Women in STEM award winners

Learn more about some of the 2019 Women in STEM award winners in our video!

2016 - 2021 award winner announcements

2016 Awardee Profiles

Dr. Jessica Feezel

 

Dr. Siobhan Mattison

 

Dr. Christina Salas

 

Dr. Jingjing Wang

 

Dr. Katie Witkiewitz

 

Drs. Lindsay Worthington and Mousumi Roy

2 Comments

  1. Deena L Gould
    December 18, 2023 @ 8:49 pm

    Will there be a Women in STEM award program for 2024?

    Reply

    • advance
      January 18, 2024 @ 1:08 pm

      Yes! Stay tuned to our website for details during the spring semester.

      Reply

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