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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

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
The Society of Hispanic Engineers
 SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ DIVERSITY AWARD
Maria C. Lopez Coles

 Deputy Executive Director
Ames Exchange
NASA Ames Research Center 

PIONEER AWARD
 Anna Mellado Park

 CEO
Mellado–Castañeda Family Office

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT II 
Jorge Lopez, Ph.D.

 Manager Subsurface Technology & Senior Principal Geophysicist
Shell Brasil

ENTREPRENEUR
Will Gaviria Rojas, Ph.D.

 Deputy Executive Director
Ames Exchange
NASA Ames Research Center 

 MOST PROMISING SCIENTIST, PH.D.
 Mauricio Tano-Retamales, Ph.D.

 Modeling and Simulation Scientist
Idaho National Laboratory

 MOST PROMISING ENGINEER, PH.D. 
 Claudia Moreno Chicunque, Ph.D. 

 Staff Engineer
Guidance Navigation & Control
Northrop Grumman Corporation 


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 

When & Where

HENAAC Awards Show Table for $5,000/each

  •  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