HENAAC Award Winners
Great Minds in STEM is proud to announce its Class of 2025 award winners!
Established in 1989 to honor world-class engineers, scientists and technology professionals to highlight their world-class contributions in the STEM fields, the HENAAC Awards have become synonymous with excellence. It is a true peer-review distinction conferred by an independent Selection Committee–Chaired this year by Dr. Albert P. Pisano, Dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego–and it signifies honorees as among the best and brightest in their field. The Luminary Awards were added in 2003 to expand the pool of honorees in order to highlight role models identified by the Selection Committee collaborating and initiating key programs and research within their respective organizations.
All honorees will be honored at the 37th Annual GMiS Conference, “STEM 4 ALL,” October 2-4, 2025 in San Diego, CA.
Winners
Scientist of the Year
Héctor Mendoza, Ph.D.
Research & Development Science & Engineering
Sandia National Laboratories
Executive Excellence
Andre Argenton, Ph.D.
Chief Sustainability Officer and
Vice President of EH&S
Dow
Chairman's Award
Mildred García, Ed.D.
Chancellor
The California State University System
Outstanding Technical Achievement
Juan C. Tuberquia, Ph.D.
Senior R&D Leader
Dow
Professional Achievement I
Maria Rodriguez-Moya, Ph.D.
Fuels Planning Lead
Shell USA, Inc.
Professional Achievement II
Isaac Camacho
Global Associate Sustainability Director
Dow
Most Promising Engineer or Scientist–Undergraduate Degree
Andres Garcia Parra
Senior R&D Manager, Hand Hygiene & Tissue
Kimberly-Clark
Most Promising Scientist or Engineer–Ph.D.
Brian Aguado, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of California, San Diego
Lifetime Achievement
Griselda E. Hermosillo, MS
Engineering Director
Texas Instruments
Vanguard Award
Guadalupe (Lupita) M. Armendariz, MBA
Deputy Director, Equal Opportunity Program Office
NASA Johnson Space Center (Retired)
Santiago Rodriguez Impact Award
Roberta J. Rivera, MBA
Community Relations Specialist
Sandia National Laboratories
Education Award
Ruben D. Rodriguez, Ed.M.
Director
Academic and Career Service
Next Generation Scholars
(formerly of the University of California, San Diego)
Community Service
Nicole Colón Carrión, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Inter American University San Germán Campus
Student Leadership Award–Graduate
Marco Ebeling
University of Southern California Neuroimaging and Informatics
Master's
The Ray and Carmela Mellado Memorial Scholar
Student Leadership Award–Undergraduate
Silvia Quezada
Marian University
Senior
The Maria Ofelia Amaro Scholarship for Women Engineering
2025 Luminary Award Honorees
Lilian Casias, Ph.D.
Research & Development (R&D)
Science & Engineering, Optical Engineering,
PD Remote Sensing
Sandia National Laboratories
Carlos A. Escobar, Ph.D.
Sr. Machine Learning Principal Engineer
Howmet Aerospace
Jennifer Kamara, MBA
TS and D Scientist
Dow
Praveen Meduri, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
California State University, Sacramento
Elizabeth M. Santos, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Dow
Read our nominations FAQ here.