2021 GMiS Luminary Honorees

Dr. Maria Isabel Lopez is currently an OTF Yield Engineer at the Intel Corporation responsible for inline yield improvements through defect reduction in the company’s electronic circuit manufacturing processes.

Growing up in El Paso, Dr. Lopez has known since she was only 9 years-old that she wanted to become a doctor like her nuclear physicist father, who gave her the opportunity to begin working in engineering labs, become an expert in electron microscopy, and co-author a scientific article, all while still in high school.

That experience gave her a major head start at the University of Texas, El Paso where, as a freshman, she was awarded the Undergraduate Research Award normally only given to graduating seniors, before earning her B.S. degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.

From UTEP, Dr. Lopez went onto the University of California at San Diego, supported by an AGEP Fellowship and a research assistantship to earn both an M.S. and a Ph.D.

After her first year she received the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, as well as a Fellowship from the National Science Foundation to perform research at National University in Taiwan.

The recipient of multiple awards and honors and author of dozens of publications, Dr. Lopez is passionate about the promotion of STEM through SACNAS, SHPE and NSHP.