Akua Asa-Awuku Named Clark School Associate Dean for Diversity and Equity
Akua Asa-Awuku – a professor in the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CHBE) and associate chair for the department’s strategic initiatives – has been appointed the A. James Clark School of Engineering Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion by Dean Samuel Graham, Jr. “For all members of the Clark School, I want to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion as foundational characteristics of our program,” said Graham. “It will impact who we are as a school, ensure that we create the environment where we can all thrive, and enhance the impact of our work from education to research. I am excited Professor Asa-Awuku will join the Clark School’s leadership team and help towards this goal.” Asa-Awuku is the president of the American Associate for Aerosol Research (AAAR) and has been honored by the Audubon Naturalist Society – alongside her UMD Colleagues Profs. Candice Duncan and Ebony Terrell Shockley – for working to diversify the geosciences, a field where just five percent of the degree holders are women of color. The trio established the PEARLS (Providing Educational Access to Research & Learning in geoscienceS) program: an NSF-funded initiative that aims to recruit students from non-traditional backgrounds. Asa-Awuku received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008; her M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006, and her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2003. Her primary research interest is understanding and predicting aerosol sources and interactions with water, although her research also explores the water-uptake of complex particles as it pertains to aerosol hygroscopicity, cloud condensation nuclei activation and droplet growth. A recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and EPA-STAR Grants, she has also served as a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies and Chemical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. “I am honored and excited by this appointment,” said Asa-Awuku. “I look forward to contributing to the mission of the Clark School to increase diversity, champion equity, and to encourage an atmosphere of compassion, tolerance and dignity.” Asa-Awuku’s appointment is effective immediately.
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