Donna Riley

Biography

Donna Riley is Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing and Professor in the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Before joining UNM, Riley was the Kamyar Haghighi Head and Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. During her time at Purdue, she served as inaugural Director of Workforce Development for ASPIRE. Riley began her career as a founding faculty member of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, the first engineering program at a U.S. women’s college, where she spent 13 years. From 2013-2015 she was Program Director for Engineering Education at the National Science Foundation. Riley currently serves as Vice President of Scholarship for the American Society for Engineering Education and as a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Directorate. Riley is the author of two books, Engineering and Social Justice and Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st Century Energy Problems. She earned a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy. She is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and a member of its Hall of Fame.