The official biography below was current at the time of the award. Awardees may choose to provide their latest biographical information on their profile page.

Dr. Cheryl Schrader is currently a professor and Dean of the College of Engineering at Boise State University (BSU) (2003-present), although she is nominated for her mentoring programs at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) (1991-2003) as well as at Boise State University. Dr. Schrader has demonstrated a strong personal commitment to students and faculty guidance, and through her mentoring programs students have expanded their horizons in the fields of engineering. Her record of success is most grounded in her work at UTSA, where she was the founding faculty mentor for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) on campus, as well as for the engineering honor society. Her campus activities include involvement in a number of other student-support programs, such as the NSF Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), McNair Scholars, and minority scholar programs from NASA and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Since arriving at BSU, she has targeted mentoring female faculty, developing a partnership with Fort Lewis College (large American Indian enrollment) to establish a dual-degree program in physics and engineering, and outreach to hundreds of local pre-college girls.