Eve Ann Riskin

University of Washington | Seattle, WA | 2020

Eve Ann Riskin Portrait Photo

The Presidential Award is the honor of a lifetime. It sends the message that our nation's underrepresented and underserved people deserve our support to access myriad wonderful opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. For too long, engineering has lacked diversity in so many dimensions. Finally, as a woman in electrical engineering, the Presidential Award sends me the message that the past 40 years I spent working against so many obstacles has made a difference.

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.

Eve Riskin has been a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington for almost 30 years. In 2002, she became the Faculty Director of its ADVANCE program. With ADVANCE, she works on mentoring and leadership development programs for women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. When ADVANCE began at the University of Washington in 2001, the percentage of female faculty in its College of Engineering was 14%; it is now 25.5% compared to the national average of 17.4%. In 2005, Eve became Associate Dean of Diversity and Access in the College of Engineering where she leads programs to support women and underrepresented minorities in engineering. In 2013, with support from the University of Colorado Boulder Engineering GoldShirt Program, she established the Washington State Academic RedShirt in Engineering program at the University of Washington. This program gives students from low-income backgrounds and high-poverty high schools in Washington an extra year of preparation to succeed in engineering and computer science. To date, retention or graduation has been nearly 80% over the first six cohorts. Eve earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Her honors include a 1992 National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a 1994 Sloan Research Fellowship, the 2006 Women in Engineering ProActive Network University Change Agent Award, the 2006 Hewlett-Packard Harriett B. Rigas Award, the 2007 University of Washington David B. Thorud Leadership Award, and the 2017 Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association's Diversity Award. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.