{"id":27978,"date":"2021-03-09T10:54:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T15:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=27978"},"modified":"2021-12-09T11:50:58","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T16:50:58","slug":"2021-womens-history-month-honorees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/2021-womens-history-month-honorees\/","title":{"rendered":"2021 Women\u2019s History Month Honorees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each March, Faculty Excellence honors 31 women for their impact on students and UCF\u2019s campus community. This year, as we continue to charge on during a pandemic, our women faculty have not wavered in their commitments as mentors, role models, friends, researchers and teachers.<\/p>\n

This blog post will be updated daily during the month of March to feature each woman and her accomplishments.\u00a0LIFE@UCF<\/a> generously sponsored this years\u2019 award. Each woman received a Barnes and Noble gift card. Below you’ll find profiles of the College of Sciences winners, along with the names of all the winners.<\/p>\n

The 2021 honorees are:<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Elena Flitsiyan<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Physics<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Elena\u00a0Flitsiyan<\/a>\u00a0is the current Undergraduate Program Director for the\u00a0department of\u00a0physics at UCF.\u00a0She is also a panelist for NSF Divisions, as well as a reviewer for\u00a0the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Civilian Research and Development Foundation, Georgia Science Foundation and\u00a0the Journal\u00a0of Nuclear Instruments\u00a0and\u00a0Methods among many others.\u00a0Flitsiyan\u2019s\u00a0nominator\u00a0says she\u00a0is a\u00a0tireless advocate for undergraduate students in\u00a0physics.\u00a0Under\u00a0Flitsiyan, the\u00a0department of\u00a0physics has seen tremendous growth in the number of graduates.\u00a0She\u00a0has\u00a0a large workload yet\u00a0continues\u00a0to publish peer-reviewed articles and\u00a0has championed women in physics by\u00a0founding the Women in Physics Society.\u00a0She says her dad influenced her life in a\u00a0significant\u00a0way, by instilling in her strong morals, a love for science and a work ethic.\u00a0Throughout\u00a0her life, his words of encouragement\u00a0have guided her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Amanda Groff<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Anthropology<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Amanda\u00a0Groff<\/a> specializes in archaeology and bioarcheology.\u00a0Groff has\u00a0participated\u00a0in many archaeological investigations, including work in Australia, Belize, Egypt, Italy,\u00a0Turkey\u00a0and\u00a0Florida.\u00a0Her\u00a0nominator\u00a0says\u00a0she has been a great mentor to women\u00a0by\u00a0helping them advance in their careers. Groff says she was inspired by her first archaeology class as an\u00a0undergraduate\u00a0student at UCF because it was taught by a woman. It set her on a path to becoming an archaeologist herself. Her advice is: embrace your ambition and\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0let fear or failure stand in your way.\u00a0She strives to be a role model for her female students who never knew they could\u00a0pursue\u00a0a career in\u00a0archaeology.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Noemi Pinilla-Alonso<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Florida Space Institute and Robison Observatory<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Noemi\u00a0Pinilla-Alonso<\/a> joined the Florida Space Institute of the University of Central Florida as a visiting scientist before\u00a0becoming\u00a0as an\u00a0associate\u00a0researcher in Planetary Science in 2016. Her work focuses on the study of the surface properties of small bodies in the Solar System.\u00a0She\u00a0is also the Deputy Principal Scientist of the Arecibo Observatory and acts as the Science Manager since December 2018. Her\u00a0nominator\u00a0says she is an exceptional researcher as well as an excellent student\u00a0mentor.\u00a0Pinilla-Alonso is unique in her ability to lead groups to success and her genuine talent\u00a0for promoting her postdocs to assure they excel in their respective fields.\u00a0She says she is inspired by the people around her and by people who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0work in science. \u201cReach out for advice, do your best every day, and allow yourself to fail because failure will give you the greatest growth,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cLook up, dream big, reach far, and surround yourself with kindness, love and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Brigitte Kovacevich<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Anthropology<\/em><\/p>\n

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Brigitte Kovacevich<\/a>\u00a0is an archaeologist, and her areas of focus are lithic (or stone tool) technology and household archaeology among the Maya. Kovacevich primarily focuses on\u00a0the rise of social inequality and how people play a role in the everchanging economic and political landscapes.\u00a0Her work has been funded by the National Geographic Society, the National Science\u00a0Foundation\u00a0and the American Philosophical Society, among others.\u00a0Brigitte\u2019s\u00a0nominator, which happens to be her spouse, says that\u00a0Kovacevich broke gender barriers in\u00a0archaeology and proved that women can\u00a0accomplish\u00a0feats in a male-dominated field. Kovacevich is also a great mentor to young women\u00a0in the\u00a0archaeology field as well as her undergraduate students.\u00a0Kovacevich says she\u00a0was\u00a0inspired by her mother, who had an adventurous spirit, to\u00a0accomplish\u00a0her dream of becoming an archaeologist.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Kristy Lewis<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Biology<\/em><\/p>\n

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Kristy\u00a0Lewis<\/a>, a first-generation college student,\u00a0is a marine ecologist aiming to understand how natural and anthropogenic disturbances in marine ecosystems impact fish communities and how humans interact with these changes. She has a passion for elevating the next generation of women scientists, as\u00a0displayed\u00a0in her lab of four women graduate students and\u00a0a\u00a0woman\u00a0research assistant. Her dedication to equity was recently\u00a0highlighted\u00a0in a co-authored piece in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science outlining the differential impacts of COVID-19 on women faculty.\u00a0Her\u00a0nominator\u00a0says\u00a0she is an inspirational mentor, an active\u00a0advocate\u00a0and\u00a0a champion for\u00a0equitable\u00a0representation of all groups of people, especially women in STEM.\u00a0\u201cBuilding on the backbone of my parents\u2019 support, my drive for success is fueled by my hope to make the path easier for those who come after me,\u201d Lewis says. \u201cI want the students I interact with to understand their future options and to learn skills they can use across multiple careers in a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Karen Mottarella<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Psychology<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Karen\u00a0Mottarella<\/a>\u00a0teaches clinical psychology and career readiness. She also created and coordinates the Behavioral Forensics Certificate. Her nominator says she has significant impact on\u00a0all\u00a0psychology majors\u00a0and has been an innovator in creating an online, customized psychology career-development\u00a0course platform.\u00a0Her innovation and\u00a0strong support of her undergraduate program has allowed her students to continue to grow and\u00a0succeed.\u00a0Mottarella\u00a0says she is one of the lucky people who loves their job and goes to work happy. \u201cMy advice for other women as they purse their goals is to build a support system that includes other professional women who they can turn to for perspective, advice, and support,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Other honorees:<\/p>\n