2020 HENAAC Award Winners

Engineer of the Year

Jesse A. Ortega

Architectural
Chief Engineer

General Motors

Scientist of the Year

Alfonso Fernandez Davila, Ph.D.

Research Scientist,
Exobiology Branch

NASA Ames Research Center

Albert V. Baez Award

CAPT Mercedes Benitez McCrary,
Dr HS, MS- CCC-SLP

Captain, United States Public Health Service,
Commissioned Corps 13th Chief Professional Officer
( 2016- MAR 2020) Therapy Rehabilitation

U.S. Public Health Service

Chairman’s Award

Fred Whipple

Vice President, Employee
Relations/Diversity and
Inclusion of Human Resources

Shell Oil Company

Executive Excellence - Industry

Eliezer Maldonado

Senior Global Business
Director, Functional Polymers
Packaging and Specialty Plastics

Dow, Inc.

Executive Excellence -
Military

John D. Moreno

Regional Business Director
South Pacific Division

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Santiago Rodriguez Diversity and Inclusion Award

Armando L.
Castorena, SPHR, CCP

Vice President of
Human Resources
Lockheed Martin Space

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Outstanding Technical Achievement - National Laboratory

Hector J. Santos-Villalobos, Ph.D.

Group Leader, Biometrics and Identity Research Group Cyber and Applied Data Analytics Division of the National Security Sciences Directorate

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Outstanding Technical Achievement - Industry

Luis A. Verde Chifflet, Ph.D.

Research Director, Latin American R&D Commercial Zone Lead

Corteva Agriscience

Professional Achievement II- Industry

Marco Gardner

Analog Signal Chain Linear
Amplifiers Precision Amplifiers
Product Line Manage

Texas Instruments

Professional Achievement II - Military

Miguel Rivera

Director, Integrated Air and Missile Defense Technical Authority

Missile Defense Agency

Professional Achievement I - Industry

Melanie L. Weber

Structural and Mechanical
Design Engineer, CST-100
Starliner–Subsystem Lead
for Crew and Cargo Accommodations,
Boeing Defense
Systems–Space & Launch

The Boeing Company

Professional Achievement I - Military

Alicia I. Ruvinsky

Research Computer Science,
U.S. Army Engineer Research and
Development Center

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Pioneer Award

Susana F. Lizcano
Gonzalez, Ph.D., P.E.

Director, Shipment Quality Field Operations

Union Pacific

Lifetime Achievement – National Laboratory

Evaristo Bonano, Ph.D.

Senior Manager,
Nuclear Engineering
Fuel Cycle, Org 8840

Sandia National Laboratories

Lifetime Achievement – Industry

Priscila Vansetti

Director, Global Strategy and
Business Development

Corteva Agriscience

Education Distinction

Jorge A. Lopez, Ph.D.

Schumaker Professor of Physics Department of Physics

The University of Texas at El Paso

Community Service

Gilberto Morales, Ph.D.

Staff Engineer

Bell Textron, Inc.

Entreprenuer

Stephanie N. Murphy

Principal Owner & Executive Chairman

MEI Technologies, Inc.

Most Promising Engineer, Ph.D. - Government

Margaret Z. Dominguez, Ph.D.

Optical Engineer

NASA - Goddard Space Center

Most Promising Engineer, Ph.D. - Industry

Maribel Jaquez, Ph.D.

Principal Engineer,
Microelectronics Semiconductor

Northrop Grumman

Most Promising Engineer, Ph.D. - Military

Carlos M. Torres, Jr., Ph.D.

Researcher/Electronics Engineer,
Enterprise Communications and
Networks Division Naval
Information Warfare Center Pacific

U.S. Navy

Most Promising Engineer, Ph.D. - Education

Eduardo Rojas Nastrucci, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, ECSSE Department

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Most Promising Engineer,
Master’s Degree - Industry

Andrea Hidalgo

Calibration Specialist

General Motors

Most Promising Engineer, Master’s Degree - Military

1Lt Flavio F. Marroquin

Wing Training
67th Operations
Support Squadron (ACC)

U.S. Air Force

Most Promising Engineer, Undergraduate

Carmen M. Mercado

Mechanical Engineer II,
Antenna Systems Department
Raytheon Missiles & Defense

Raytheon Technologies

Most Promising Engineer,
Undergraduate

Juan D. Quintero

Project Manager
El Segundo Refinery
Chevron Products Company

Chevron