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Monday, February 17, 2025

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N.Y.C. Council speaker calls on Mayor Eric Adams to resign; KY could do more to protect kids from accidental drug ingestion, shootings; OH food banks face fed funding uncertainty, DeWine budget cuts; Protesters say Trump administration actions 'cast aside democracy.'

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On a Middle East visit, Sen. Richard Blumenthal rejects a Gaza takeover. President's Day protests erupt around the country against White House moves, and another aviation accident draws attention to recent FAA cuts.

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Rural America struggles with opioids and homelessness in unexpected ways, Colorado's Lariat Ditch could help spur local recreation, and book deliveries revive rural communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

NM biology professor's success recognized in award-winning book

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Monday, January 6, 2025   

A New Mexico professor who was once encouraged to pursue a "more ladylike" career is now featured in a book about high-achieving women in STEM fields.

STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Adriana Romero Olivares, assistant professor of biology at New Mexico State University, said she did not excel in the classroom until high school, when a few teachers and a family acquaintance spotted her potential. And despite the rarity of seeing women or people of color working as scientists, she decided to study biology.

"They always show you your stereotypical scientist, which in most cases is a man, which in most cases is white," Romero Olivares observed. "All of those things do not mean that you're not going to be good in science."

Her childhood story and career are included in the book: "Determined to be Extraordinary: Spectacular Stories of Modern Women in STEM." She is one of 27 women interviewed from a range of backgrounds, ethnicities, classes and cultures. The book won a 2024 Moonbeam Children's Book Award, and also the 2024 NYC Big Book Award.

Romero Olivares, who grew up in Mexico, joined the biology faculty at the university in 2020. She and her students are researching long-standing questions on microbial ecology and how it relates to climate change projections.

"I do have a specific interest in fungi," Romero Olivares explained. "We study how the fungi are responding to global climate change -- things like environmental stress, drought, higher temperatures, physical disturbance -- those sorts of things."

Romero Olivares joined a think-tank organization last year to produce a report underscoring the importance of microbes in developing climate change projections. The reports are given to policymakers, members of Congress, the National Science Foundation and other agencies deciding on research funding.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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