HENAAC Award winner joins National Science Board

POSTED ON Jan 23, 2023

Last week, the White House announced the appointment of Marvi Ann Matos Rodriguez, Ph.D., to serve on the National Science Board (NSB). The board is an independent body of advisors to the President and Congress on policy matters related to science and engineering and education in science and engineering.

In addition to preliminary reports, the NSB publishes policy papers on issues of importance to U.S. science and engineering. The NSB is made up of 25 members appointed by the President. Members serve six-year terms.

As a scientist, Dr. Matos Rodriguez has led the development of novel superalloys, thermal protection systems, and advanced manufacturing technologies. She currently works as an engineering director at the Boeing Company.

Before joining aerospace, Rodriguez worked as an independent consultant in engineering innovations. She supported rocket launches and engine qualification work at Blue Origin, where she led the materials and processes group and served as director for the Crew Capsule team in the New Shepard Program. She was also the director for mechanical engineering, leading structures, mechanical systems, fluids systems, technical design and materials, and processes.

At Boeing, she has served as thin films research team lead, as a manufacturing engineering manager, as research and technology manager, and as director of chemical technologies, metals, and ceramics.

Matos Rodriguez earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, and a master’s degree in colloids, polymers, and surfaces at Carnegie Mellon University.

As a postdoc at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), she worked under a fellowship from the National Research Council. She later served as a lecturer in chemical engineering and later as a senior research scientist in bioengineering at the University of Washington. In 2023, she plans to complete an executive MBA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She was selected as a 2021 HENAAC Award Honoree and was featured at the Awards Showcase on the final day of the Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) Conference.