Today I’m very pleased to be talking with Professor Araceli Martinez Ortiz of the University of Texas San Antonio.

After a number of years in the corporate world as an engineer and often wearing a hard-hat, she completed her PhD and moved into academia.

Dr Ortiz holds the Microsoft President's Endowed Professorship at UTSA and is Professor pf Biomedical Engineering & Chemical Engineering/Interdisciplinary Learning & Teaching.

She is a NASA MSI Faculty Fellow IPA. And I promise to ask her what that means.

As a Latino woman who was brought up in the US and is now a distinguished academic, Professor Ortiz has a passion for developing innovative STEM education access for female students and is breaking barriers for woman in the field of engineering and leadership.