Mary Receives AWIS Chicago 2021 Motivator Award

We are incredibly excited to announce that Mary is the recipient of the 2021 Motivator Award by the Chicago Area Chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS)! The AWIS Motivator Award is awarded to individuals with demonstrated service, support, and mentorship of women in science.

CPERL team members nominated Mary for her excellent mentorship and her outstanding commitment in shaping the next generation of underrepresented women in science in her care. Mary's unique and intentional mentoring approach has shaped each of her mentees' trajectory tremendously. She takes it upon herself to provide exceptional support for new and continuing lab members, by leading by example. She shows strong compassion towards minoritized women in STEMM related fields and intentionally provides a tailored environment to set them up for success (e.g., flexible working hours for a new mother, protected space to share experienced racism, and serving as primary mentor to the first Bridge-to-the-Faculty Scholar in our college). We would like to congratulate Mary on this well-deserved award and to thank her for mentoring all lab members at various career stages and professional pathways.

Mary shares: This will forever be my favorite professional recognition. The collective effort of my CPERL colleagues to surprise me with their heartfelt nomination and fancy lab celebration upon notification this week meant so much to me as a gesture of reciprocity, and it comes at a very important time for me in my trajectory. I thought of Nadia Chaudhuri who would have savored a moment like this with those she mentored, so I soaked it up that much more in honor of her memory. I look forward to celebrating with my family, including those I live and work with, at the awards ceremony.