The University of Arizona is set to celebrate the recipients of their second annual Women of Impact awards at a private banquet Friday night.
The office of Research, Innovation and Impact originally announced the Women of Impact awards last year.
According to a release, the event honors 30 faculty and staff who, “have each contributed significantly to our identity as a world-class research enterprise.”
One of the recipients this year is Dr. Sudha Ram, whose titles include:
Anheuser-Busch Chair in MIS Entrepreneurship and Innovation Professor of Management Information Systems Director of INSITE: Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics
In an interview Friday, Ram said the award was an honor and that she was surprised to be included.
“I was just absolutely thrilled. University of Arizona has been home to me for 38 years now,” Ram said, “And I always think of my job as fun. It’s not a job. It’s something I love to do.”
Dr. Ram’s passion for research has led her to receive multiple awards and she has received over $60 million dollars in research grants, according to her university bio.
“I feel like I can really make an impact with my research in the real world,” said Ram, “I just love working with grad students and undergrad students on research issues. And I love seeing the results of the research being applied in the real world. So it’s just fun for me.”
The remaining nominees include:
Diane Austin Terry Badger Susan Beck Gurtina Besla Stephanie Russo Carroll Bonnie Colby Laura Condon Anne Cress Kacey Ernst Liesl Folks Carmala “Carmie” Garzione Rakhi Gibbons Felicia Goodrum Melanie Hingle Tanya Hodges Corey Knox Sharon Megdal Kathleen Melde Juanita Merchant Maggie O’Haire Mary Peterson Margaret Pitts Andrea Romero Lisa Romero Edella Schlager Valerie Shirley Shufang Su Gayatri Vedantam Ofelia Zepeda
The University is also honoring its first class of “Young Women of Impact” which aims to honor 20 local Pima County high schoolers for, “their commitment to and demonstration of six core values at UArizona: integrity, compassion, inspiration, adaptability, inclusivity and determination.”