Zenaida Otero Gephardt, PhD, P.E., is Professor Emeritus at Rowan Univ. where she has served as Director and Associate Dean of Engineering. She is a Fellow of AIChE and co-chairs the Grants Committee of its Foundation Board of Trustees. Gephardt is a Science History Institute AIChE Affiliate Council representative. She was selected 2024 Delaware Valley Chemical Engineer of the Year by the AIChE Delaware Valley section, is the recipient of a 2019 Eminent Engineer Award from the AIChE Minority Affairs Community, and received teaching and mentoring awards from Rowan Univ. She is past chair of the AIChE Societal Impact Operating Council and Delaware Valley Section. Gephardt consults for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in applied engineering analytics and experimental design. She is a registered professional engineer in Delaware and holds PhD and MS degrees in chemical engineering from the Univ. of Delaware and a BS in chemical engineering from Northwestern Univ.