Biography
Dr. Ivonne Santiago is Co-Director of ASPIRE and Associate Professor of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Dr. Santiago is passionate about equity in two areas: Access to safe drinking water and access to clean transportation. These are two key factors for social mobility that she promotes inside and outside the classroom. In those two areas she provides experiential learning opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students locally, regionally, and internationally with a focus on Hispanic and female students. She is also currently Co-PI of UTEP’s NSF H-AGEP program focusing on fostering Hispanic doctoral students for academic careers; the Department of Education’s (DoE) STEMGROW Program that encourages and supports Hispanic students and students with disabilities to pursue STEM careers; and DoE’s Program YES SHE CAN that encourages and supports female students to pursue STEM careers. Dr. Santiago has received local and state teaching awards including: the 2014 UTEP’s CETaL Giraffe Award (for sticking her neck out); the 2014 College of Engineering Instruction Award; the 2014 University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award; the 2012 NCEES Award for students’ design of a Fire Station; the 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers’ Texas Section “Service to the People” award that honors civil engineers who have distinguished themselves with special service to the people and bring credit to their profession through community activities that are visible to the public; and the 2019 El Paso Engineer of the Year award by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers.