Coordinator for Wright State-led women-in-science effort honored by Air Force

The institutional coordinator for a Wright State-led partnership designed to increase participation and advancement of women in science and engineering careers has won a prestigious Air Force role-model award.

Heidi R. Ries, Ph.D., dean for research at the Air Force Institute of Technology, has been named winner of the 2011 Women’s History Month Foreign Language and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Role Model Award (Civilian Category).

The award honors Ries for her leadership in support of the recruitment, retention, promotion and career development of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. She was also recognized for her public  service to the STEM educational community and her involvement with middle-school science activities.

The award was announced Feb. 16 by the Air Force.

“Dr. Ries’ compassion and dedication for the principles and practices of STEM are acknowledged in this most prestigious award,” said Dr. Marlin U. Thomas, dean of the AFIT Graduate School of Engineering and Management. “She is an inspiration, from the school-aged children who benefit from STEM to the AFIT students who seek out her knowledge; a true champion of academia.”

Under Ries’ leadership at AFIT, the institute designated research centers and increased external research and educational funding from $2.6 million in fiscal 2000 to $20 million in fiscal 2010. And Ries acquired more than $15 million to support research and education projects in nonlinear optical materials, radiation effects, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and laser processing of materials.

Ries tutors 10 students as the optics coach for the Hadley E. Watts Middle School Science Olympiad program.

Ries, who obtained her doctorate in applied physics from Old Dominion University, is institutional coordinator for the Wright State-led LEADER Consortium. The consortium is funded by the National Science Foundation to support an institutional climate for women STEM faculty and includes Wright State, AFIT, the University of Dayton and Central State University.