Donna Riley

Donna Riley is currently the Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing at University of New Mexico. Riley is known for her work in challenging traditional notions of engineering education. Riley has worked to incorporate a intersectional approach to engineering and uses STS (science and technology studies) as a framework for understanding how engineering affects society in a social and political way.

Education Donna Riley attended middle and high school at the Westridge School for Girls from 1982 to 1989. She started her higher education career by receiving a B.S. in chemical engineering from Princeton University. She then went on to receive a M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Career

Princeton University Riley started her professional career as a clayton postdoctoral fellow in industrial ecology at Princeton University. For 2 years she worked with electronic markets for second-hand goods, and on the industrial ecology of mercury, as well as its cultural and religious uses.

Environmental Protection Agency Riley then worked for a year as an AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Science and Technology Policy Fellow for the US Environmental Protection Agency where she continued her work with mercury.

University of New Mexico On 15 November 2022, the University of New Mexico named Dr. Riley as the dean of the UNM School of Engineering, effective on 1 April 2023.

Major publications Dr. Riley has published 2 books; Engineering and Social Justice (2008), and Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st century energy problems (2011). Engineering and social justice is a book aimed at introducing engineers to social justice theories and practices, and how engineering intersects with science and technology studies. Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st-century energy problems is meant to serve as a companion book to other thermodynamics textbooks and aims to place thermodynamics and its applications in a broader social context.

Other publications Employing liberative pedagogies in engineering education (2003) Resisting neoliberalism in global development engineering (2007)

Awards and recognition Riley was awarded the NOGLSTP GLBTA Educator of the Year for 2010.