Karen Lozano, Rice University Trustee Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering and Chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, is a trailblazer in her field.
Also a Rice alumna '96 '99, she was the first Mexican woman to earn a doctorate in engineering from Rice—and now she encourages other underrepresented students to pursue scientific careers.
Lozano was recently honored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) with the ACS Award for Encouraging Underrepresented and Economically Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.
According to the ACS, this award recognizes her “boundless efforts in mentoring Hispanic students toward careers in materials chemistry and for being an entrepreneurial role model for an entire generation of Hispanic engineers.”
Lozano joined the Rice faculty in 2025. For the past 25 years, she was the Julia Beecherl Endowed Mechanical Engineering Professor at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). At UTRGV, she was the Founding Director of the UTRGV Nanotechnology Center and developed the first PhD program of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
She transformed the UTRGV engineering program through her educational, social and economic mobility initiatives for hundreds of at-risk students, leading them to successful careers in industry, academia, or government labs. Since returning to Rice, she has already served on a panel on careers in academia and participated in outreach efforts to expose K-12 students to STEM careers.
Lozano formally received the award at a ceremony at the ACS Spring 2025 Meeting & Expo in San Diego, Calif., on March 25. As part of the conference, she also delivered a talk titled, “Empowering Change: The Role of Mentors in Science and Community Building.”
Photo Credits: EPNAC.com