The 14th national conference of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education was held in Costa Mesa, California Feb. 28 – March 2 in Costa Mesa, California. The 2019 Cigarroa Lecture was given by Dr. Olivia Graeve, a professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.
Prof. Graeve is currently director of the CaliBaja Center for Resilient Materials and Systems and faculty director of the IDEA Engineering Student Center. Previously, she was an associate professor at Alfred University (2008-2012) and an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (2002-2008). She has been involved in many activities related to the recruitment and retention of women and Hispanic students in science and engineering and has received several prestigious awards.
They include the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the 2006 Hispanic Educator of the Year award by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the 2010 Karl Schwartzwalder Professional Achievement in Ceramic Engineering Award by the American Ceramic Society, the 2012 B.J. Harrington Lectureship by McGill University, the 2011 Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers “Jaime Oaxaca” Award, Outstanding Engineering Educator by the San Diego Chapter of the California Society of Professional Engineers (2015), Alumna of the Year by Southwestern College (2015), Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Educator Award (2017), and SHPE Innovator Award (2017).
More recently, she was inducted into the Tijuana Walk of Fame (2014) and to the Mexican Academy of Engineering (2016) and has been named Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (2017). In addition, Forbes Magazine named her one of the 100 Most Powerful Women of Mexico (2017).
The conference theme for this year’s event was “Civil Rights & the LatinX Community: Our Social, Economic, and Educational Future,” reflecting the role of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) as an agent of change for improving education, enabling Hispanic students to fully participate in a diverse society.
AAHHE works with all sectors of education, business, industry, as well as community and professional organizations to enhance the educational aspirations and to meet the needs of a significantly increasing Hispanic population.
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