Dear Purdue ChE Community, The Award Selection Committee for the 2020 Marilyn Forney Trailblazer Award recently evaluated the nominations submitted for this award, and selected the winners. This award recognizes outstanding students whose impact have helped pave the way for women in the field of engineering. Although the selection committee received numerous nominations for deserving students, only two students (one graduate and one undergraduate) could be recognized with this award. Please join me in congratulating this year’s winners of the Marilyn Forney Trailblazer Award: Laura Wilcox (graduate level award) and Jennifer Barrett (undergraduate level award). Each award comes with a plaque and $500. Unfortunately, a face-to-face recognition is not possible at this time, but we will hopefully be able to have a more formal recognition in the near future. Laura Wilcox is a 4th year PhD student advised by Dr. Gounder. Laura has participated in, and led various outreach events at Purdue and not only, aimed at recruiting and mentoring women and girls in STEM. She is a leadership team member for Access Engineering (part of the Women in Engineering Program), and an active participant in other outreach events, such as the Murdock after school science club (organized through the ChE Graduate Student Organization (GSO)), and the Duke Energy Academy, event aimed at recruiting 9th-12th grade students into the STEM disciplines. Laura has successfully mentored undergraduate students with research activities and with applications to graduate school programs. Jennifer Barrett is senior student in our School. She has been an integral part of the ChE Student Ambassador Program, the Women in ChE Seminar organizing committee for two years, and the Women in Engineering Program (WIEP). As a leadership team member for WIEP, she has facilitated group meetings and activities for large groups, analyzed data to improve programming and managed program details for events such as Juniors Exploring Purdue, Seniors Exploring Purdue and Youth Outreach. Within the ChE Student Ambassadors Program, Jennifer not only helped with recruiting events and building tours for prospective students and their families, but also mentored younger ChE student ambassadors to ensure the program continues its mission successfully. Please join me in congratulating again Laura Wilcox and Jennifer Barrett as well-deserving recipients of the 2020 Marilyn Forney Trailblazer Award. Sincerely, Gabriela __________________ Gabriela Nagy, PhD Industrial Education Director Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Room FRNY G051 Purdue University Tel: (765)-496-1710 E-mail: nagyg@purdue.edu<mailto:nagyg@purdue.edu>