The West Texas Association for Women in STEAM (WT-AWIS) presented its annual awards to two Texas Tech University faculty members on Wednesday (May 10) for their work to support and encourage women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, agriculture and mathematics (STEAM).

WT-AWIS presents the awards during the spring semester each year to recognize men and women in the Texas Tech University System who are active supporters of women in STEAM and who have demonstrated their commitment to the education, training and mentoring of women as well as to overall gender equity in the sciences.

Robert Bradley, a professor and associate chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Natural Science Research Laboratory at the Museum of Texas Tech University, received the Champion of Women (COW) Award. The women who nominated Bradley called him “the best example of an inspirational professor and mentor for women.”

“This award is especially meaningful because the nomination came from eight of my current graduate and undergraduate students,” Bradley said. “You couldn’t ask for a more talented and hard-working group of students, and to be recognized by them at this level is quite humbling.”

Mindy Brashears, a professor of food microbiology and food safety in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences and director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence, received the Outstanding Woman Leader (OWL) Award. Her nominators called her, “a bright example to women everywhere who wish to pursue their dreams of being scientists.”

“The most rewarding accomplishment is the opportunity to invest my life in the lives of young scientists,” Brashears said. “I am honored and humbled to receive this award and thankful to my students for the nomination. No accomplishment or award can ever come close to the satisfaction of watching students grow and achieve great things in their own lives.”

Previous COW award winners:
·         Michael San Francisco, 2008, Texas Tech
·         Mike Hooper, 2008, The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH)
·         Todd Anderson, 2009, TIEHH
·         William Marcy, 2010, Texas Tech
·         Samuel Prien, 2011, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC)
·         Brandt Schneider, 2012, TTUHSC
·         Lou Densmore, 2013, Texas Tech
·         Jerry Dwyer, 2014, Texas Tech                                                  
·         Matt Vanlandeghem, 2015, Texas Tech
·         David Klein, 2016, TIEHH
                                  
Previous OWL award winners:
·         Martha Hise, 2009, Texas Tech
·         Elizabeth Hall Burns, 2010, Texas Tech
·         Barbara Pence, 2011, TTUHSC
·         Katy Henderson, 2012, Texas Tech
·         Jannette Dufour, 2013, TTUHSC
·         Raegan Higgins, 2014, Texas Tech
·         Nicte Ordonez-Garza, 2015, Texas Tech
·         Audra Morse, 2016, Texas Tech

(News release from Texas Tech)