Northwest ACS Region Stanley Israel Award Recipient, 2020
Marilyn Rampersad Mackiewicz is a Trinidadian born-American Chemist and currently an Assistant professor at Oregon State University. She graduated from Hunter College the City University of New York with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Chemistry where she was an NIH Minority Access to Research Careers scholar. She moved to College Station, Texas, where she earned her Ph.D. in 2005 at Texas A and M University working with Marcetta Y. Darensbourg in Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry. Before moving to Oregon State University, she was at Portland State University as an investigator leading an undergraduate research program with diverse students whose work centered on designing nanostructured materials for biomedical applications. Besides being an incredibly dedicated researcher, Dr. Mackiewicz has a strong passion for mentoring, supporting, and advocating for students, particularly those from underserved communities, and received Portland State University Presidents Diversity award in 2017 in recognition of her commitment to creating diverse and equitable research, teaching, and adaptive learning environments. Her efforts to inspire and coach students in STEM motivated her to build a unique capstone on empowering and advancing women and underrepresented minorities that addressed barriers to success and the hidden curriculum skills necessary for women, black, indigenous, and people of color success in STEM. This work carried over with the NIH-funded Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) and Enhancing Cross-disciplinary Infrastructure Training at Oregon (EXITO) program, where she led and developed their sophomore enrichment programming to prepare students for research learning communities. Dr. Mackiewicz attributes her passion for helping students build resilient professional and scientific identities and a sense of belonging to her mentors throughout her career. She is incredibly grateful for this recognition and thanks all those that have worked and continue to work with her to advance diverse students in the chemical sciences.