2022 HENAAC Award Winners
Fernando Signorini
Engineer of the Year
Vice President of Operations
Dow U.S. Gulf Coast Site Director
Dow Texas Operations
Dow
Kimberly R. Kukurba, Ph.D.
Scientist of the Year
Fellow & Lead, Applied AI/ML& Analytics Products
Raytheon Missiles & Defense
Raytheon Technologies
Diana Natalicio, Ph.D.
Chairman’s Award
(Posthumous)
President Emeritus
University of Texas at El Paso
1988 – 2019
RADM David Goggins
Executive Excellence
Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research
Development and Acquisition (ASN (RD&A)) for the Australian-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) Partnership
U.S. Navy
Frank W. DelRio, Ph.D,
Outstanding Technical Achievement – National Laboratory
Principal Member of the Technical Staff
Research & Development Science & Engineering Materials Science Department
Sandia National Laboratories
Diego Cristancho, Ph.D.
Outstanding Technical Achievement – Industry
Research Scientist
Industrial Solutions Division
Dow
Macarena P. Parra, Ph.D.
Outstanding Technical Achievement – Government
Branch Chief, Instrument and Engineering Technology Research & Development Technical Area Engineering Systems Division
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA
Douglas W. Orellana, Ph.D.
Professional Achievement – Industry
Vice President of Intelligent Systems Engineering
Innovation and Capabilities Office
ManTech International Corporation
Diana Santiago de Jesus, Ph.D.
Professional Achievement – Government
Research Materials Engineer
Materials and Structure Division
NASA Glenn Research Center
NASA
Luz E. Virgen
Lifetime Achievement
Engineering Manager, RMS
FLIGHT – Engineering Center
Virgin Galactic
*Nominated by and formally of The Boeing Company
Edgar Yzquierdo
Lifetime Achievement
Tech Codes & Standards Deployment Engineer
Chevron Corporation
Ricardo Garcia de Alba
Professional Achievement II
Vice President – Global Row Crop Herbicides and Nitrogen Management
Crop Protection Business Unit
Corteva Agriscience
Imelda E. Siegelson
Professional Achievement II
Lead Industrial Engineer
General Motors
José Javier Colón-Rodriguez
Most Promising Scientist – Undergraduate Degree
Research Assistant
Advance Systems Integration Team
National Energy Technology Laboratory,
U.S. Department of Energy
Erwin S. Morales
Most Promising Engineer – Undergraduate Degree
Principal Engineer Mission Assurance Lead
Strategic Space System Division of Safety & Mission Assurance Leadership
Northrop Grumman
Nathalie Quintero
Most Promising Engineer- Master’s Degree
Core Stage 1 Operations Lead Systems Engineer
Space Launch System
The Boeing Company
Anthony Lopez
Most Promising Scientist – Master’s Degree
Senior Energy Researcher
Geospatial Data Science Division
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Nayomi Z. Plaza, Ph.D.
Most Promising Scientist – Ph.D.
Materials Research Engineer
Forest Biopolymer Science and Engineering Research Work Unit
Forest Products Laboratory
USDA Forest Service
Olga Reyes Valdes, Ph.D.
Most Promising Engineer – Ph.D.
Project Topsides HSSE Lead
Shell USA
Justin F. Vàzquez-Poritz, Ph.D.
Education
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
New York City College of Technology
The City University of New York
Adeeba A. Raheem, Ph.D.
Education
Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Texas at El Paso
Javier Garcia
Community Service
Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) Project Director
21st Century Community Learning Centers
Communities In Schools of Cameron County
Abigail McFiggins
Community Service
Hardware Engineering Manager
Lockheed Martin