Theresa A. Maldonado

Theresa Anna Maldonado is an American electrical engineer and academic administrator serving as the vice president for research and innovation at the University of California since 2020. She has served as the president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since March 2024.

Maldonado was the dean and Ritter Professor of Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso College of Engineering from 2017 to 2020. Maldonado was an administrator at the National Science Foundation for six years.

Life Maldonado is Mexican American and was a first-generation college student. She earned an A.S. in mathematics from Macon Junior College in 1979. She completed a B.E.E. (1981), M.S.E. (1982), and a Ph.D. (1990) in electrical engineering with a minor in mathematics from the Georgia Tech. Thomas K. Gaylord was her doctoral advisor. From 1999 to 2001, she was a program director of the engineering research centers program at the National Science Foundation. Maldonado was announced as the president-elect in March 2024. She is a member of the board of directors of the California Council on Science and Technology since 2020.