HENAAC Awards

Established in 1989 to honor Hispanic engineers, scientists and technology professionals and highlight their world-class contributions to the STEM fields, the HENAAC Awards have become synonymous with excellence. As a true peer-review distinction, a HENAAC Award distinguishes the honoree as among the best and brightest in their field, and the Class of 2024 more than meets the highest standards these prestigious awards.
As in each previous year, the 36th class of honorees emerged from the rigorous, peer-review independent Selection Committee, chaired this year by the deans and senior leaders of the schools of engineering and/or science at our academic host institutions: The University of Texas at Dallas; the University of Texas at Arlington; and Dallas College. The Selection Committee reviewed nominees from dozens of companies, national laboratories, government agencies, academic institutions and our nation’s uniformed services on their way toward finalizing the 2024 slate of professional honorees.

ENGINEER OF THE YEAR
Clara Rivero Baleine, Ph.D.
Lockheed Martin Fellow
Lockheed Martin Corporation

SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR
Rui Vogt Alves da Cruz, Ph.D.
Vice President, Core R&D
Dow

EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE
Francisco Flores
Vice President, Production Engineering & Operations
Northrop Grumman Corporation

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Tabare Abadie, Ph.D.
Senior Research Manager & Distinguished Laureate, Seed Product Development Recruiting Lead
Corteva Agriscience

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Katherine I. Meza, Ph.D.
Associate Technical Fellow
Configuration Management and Product Integration Engineer
The Boeing Company

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ DIVERSITY AWARD
Maria C. Lopez Coles
Deputy Executive Director
Ames Exchange
NASA Ames Research Center

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT II
Anna Mellado Park
CEO
Mellado–Castañeda Family Office

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT II
Jorge Lopez, Ph.D.
Manager Subsurface Technology & Senior Principal Geophysicist
Shell Brasil

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT I
Maria Cardwell
Senior Director, Vehicle Engineering
Formerly of
Northrop Grumman Corporation

ENTREPRENEUR
Will Gaviria Rojas, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
Coactive AI

MOST PROMISING ENGINEER, PH.D.
Claudia Moreno Chicunque, Ph.D.
Staff Engineer
Guidance Navigation & Control
Northrop Grumman Corporation

MOST PROMISING SCIENTIST, PH.D.
Mauricio Tano-Retamales, Ph.D.
Modeling and Simulation Scientist
Idaho National Laboratory

MOST PROMISING ENGINEER, MASTER’S DEGREE
Monica Ochoa Porter
Human Engineering Lead, Flight Crew Integration, CST-100 Starliner
The Boeing Company

MOST PROMISING ENGINEER, UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE
Karina Quintana
System Engineer Digital Communications and RF Payload
The Boeing Company

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Majorie Blanco
Engineering Product Lifecycle Manager
The Boeing Company
GMiS Acknowledges and thanks our 2024 Selection Committee Chairs
Stephanie G. Adams, Ph.D.
Dean and Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science
The University of Texas at Dallas
Peter E. Crouch, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Engineering
The University of Texas at Arlington
Morteza G. Khaledi, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Science
The University of Texas at Arlington
Raghunath Kanakala, Ph.D.
Vice Provost
School of Engineering, Technology, Mathematics, and Sciences
Be a Part of the Hispanic STEM Community’s Most Prestigious Night
Join our sponsors and conference attendees for the 2024 HENAAC Awards dinner with this exclusive offer:
When & Where
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Fort Worth Convention Center Ballroom
Reception
6:30pm – 7:00pm
Dinner & Awards
7:00pm – 9:00pm
After Party
9:00pm
HENAAC Awards Show Table for $5,000/each
Table Sponsorship Includes:
- 10 tickets to Reception, Dinner, and After Party
- Entire table in preferred section
- Logo or name recognition on media screens
- Logo or name recognition on GMiS website / App
Contact GMiS to Secure Your Table Today!
Rafaela Schwan at [email protected]
Enrique Gonzalez at [email protected]