Five-Year, $700,000 Award Supports Women in STEM

Posted January 13, 2026January 14, 2026 in Data Science, Faculty, Mathematical Sciences, News

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For women pursuing careers in science and mathematics, sustained mentorship, faculty leadership, and institutional investment are often decisive in whether opportunity leads to long-term participation. At Rutgers University–Camden, a new five-year, $700,000 award from the Henry Luce Foundation’s Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in STEM will support professorships and initiatives designed to strengthen those pathways and expand women’s participation across STEM disciplines.

The award designates Haydee Herrera-Guzman, director of the Mathematical Sciences and the Data Science program, and Julie Griepenburg, assistant professor of physics, as Clare Boothe Luce Professors during the funding period. The work will focus on faculty and student mentorship, curriculum development, and outreach, with departmental leadership shaping how resources are deployed. The opportunity was initially brought to the attention of STEM departments by Kwangwon Lee, with departmental faculty developing and advancing the proposal.

The award and its scope were detailed in “Rutgers–Camden Awarded $700,000 from the Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in STEM,” reported by Christina Lynn, which noted that Rutgers–Camden was one of only seven institutions nationwide selected as part of a $4.4 million national investment. In announcing the award, the Faculty Advisory Steering Committee recognized “the prior work of Kwangwon Lee and the Institute for Empowering Equitable Education in STEM team, whose equity initiatives laid the important groundwork for this achievement.”

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