Notable Women @ Mines

Celebrating the achievements of women faculty, alumni, and graduate students at South Dakota School of Mines

Women Leaders on Campus - Dr. Cassandra Birrenkott and Jade Herman.

ME Professor Cassandra Birrenkott named as an ELATES Fellow

Cassandra Birrenkott, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota Mines, has been accepted into the 2023-2024 cohort of the prestigious Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) program at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa. 

Drexel describes ELATES as “a national leadership development program designed to promote senior women faculty, and faculty allies of all genders, in leadership for academic engineering, computer science and other STEM fields into effective institutional leadership roles within their schools and universities with a demonstrated commitment to increasing the representation of women in STEM.”

Dr. Birrenkott recently participated as part of a select group of 24 leaders in the community as part of the 2023 Elevate Leadership Group. For more information: https://www.elevaterapidcity.com/news/2022/08/11/press-release/24-up-and-coming-leaders-selected-for-2023-elevate-leadership-institute/

Jade Herman, Ed.D, Selected for Elite Leadership Initiative

Jade Herman, Ed.D., South Dakota Mines chief of staff, has been accepted into the 2023- 2024 cohort of the Millennium Leadership Initiative hosted by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).According to AASCU, the Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI) was launched in 1999 as a premier leadership development program designed to diversify and enrich the American college presidency. The year-long initiative is rooted in preparing higher education leaders from traditionally underrepresented communities with the skills, philosophical overview and networks necessary to advance to the highest ranks of postsecondary education. Since MLI’s inception, nearly 700 individuals have completed the program, with 153 going on to become university presidents or chancellors and 40 serving multiple presidencies or chancellorships. Herman is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and grew up in Mission, SD. She graduated from South Dakota Mines in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary sciences. She also earned a master’s degree in administrative studies with a specialization in organizational leadership from the University of South Dakota, and doctor of education degree in interdisciplinary leadership from Creighton University.

Nationally Recognized Leader in Geology, Dr. Laurie Anderson

Dr. Laurie Anderson, Vice President for Research, was named as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS).  Dr. Anderson is the first woman to be named an AAAS fellow while employed at a South Dakota university. Dr. Anderson is also a fellow of the Geological Society of America. 

For more information: https://www.sdsmt.edu/News/Anderson-Named-AAAS-Fellow/#.ZCXYkS-B31w

Lab Director and Research Leader, Dr. Alevtina Smirnova

 Dr. Alevtina Smirnova, Professor of Chemistry, is the Director of the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Solid-State Electric Power Storage (CEPS).  Dr. Smirnova leads the effort to provide integration between university research and industry for energy storage.  

For more information: https://www.greenceps.com/ and https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2052631&HistoricalAwards=false.

PhD Scholar and Inventor, Dr. Maryam Amouanmouha

Maryam Amouamouha, Ph.D., a graduate student at South Dakota Mines, has invented a new device that could revolutionize water treatment and improve water quality and availability around the world.  Dr. Amouamouha assembled a unique combination of current technologies and cutting-edge innovations to create a mini wastewater treatment plant called AMBER for Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor with Electrolytic Regeneration. The device can be installed in a home or business and take the place of a costly septic system. The invention can also be scaled up to clean wastewater from multiple homes or even a small town.

For more information: https://www.sdsmt.edu/News/Mines-Researcher-Invents-AMBER/#.ZCXEey-B31w

NSF Fellowship Winner, PhD student Laura Brunmaier

Laura Brunmaier, a PhD student in Biomedical engineering, was awarded a prestigious $130,000 NSF Graduate Fellowship.  Brunmaier is working to overcome a major hurdle in the ability to research and explain how blood vessels form and how they react to various contaminants or to new medicines. The device that Brunmaier helped to invent allows researchers to study living blood vessels in real time outside the body.  

For more information: https://www.sdsmt.edu/News/Brunmaier-Wins-NSF-Fellowship/#.ZCXFNi-B31w

Recognized Researcher in Engineering Pedagogy, Dr. Andrea Surovek

The ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education recognized the paper, "Investigating Problem-Solving Processes of Students, Faculty, and Practitioners in Civil Engineering," as the runner up for the best paper in the journal in 2022.  The paper, selected by the editorial board, was written with collaborators at Michigan State and Iowa State, as part of the NSF funded project DUE 1712195.  Dr. Surovek accepted the award on behalf of the research team at the ASEE conference in June, 2023.  https://ascelibrary.org/jceecd/best_paper_awards