AAHHE Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr. Distinguished Leadership Award

Sponsored by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education

The AAHHE Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr. Distinguished Leadership Award recognizes distinguished leadership and long-standing sustained contributions to higher education that transcend the nominees’ respective institutions and have had a notable impact and recognition in the field at the state and/or national levels. Sponsored by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education.

2025 Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr. Distinguished Leadership Award Recipient

Olivia A. Graeve, PhD
Elias Masry Endowed Professor in Engineering
University of California, San Diego

Olivia A. Graeve, PhD is currently the Elias Masry Endowed Professor in Engineering at the University of California San Diego, Director of the CaliBaja Center for Resilient Materials and Systems, Director of the Program in Materials Science and Engineering, and 24-25 Chair of the UC San Diego Academic Senate.  She holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering (2001) from the University of California, Davis, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Structural Engineering (1995) from the University of California San Diego.  Her area of research focuses on the design and processing of new materials for extreme environments.  Prof. Graeve has been involved in many activities related to the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minority students in science and engineering and has received several prestigious awards including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2020.  She has been inducted into the Tijuana Walk of Fame (2014), the Mexican Academy of Engineering (2016), the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2019), the Latin American Academy of Sciences (2022), and has been named Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (2017) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2021).

List of past recipients of the Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr. Distinguished Leadership Award: