Cigarroa Family Medical/STEM Lecture
AAHHE National Conference

Established in 2017, the Cigarroa Distinguished Lecture spotlights a prominent scholar or leader in a medical or science discipline. The lecture is named in honor of the Cigarroa Family of Laredo, Texas and its three generations of medical doctors and active leaders who have served in their communities and in national organizations. This lecture features established leaders and icons in the medical and science professions. Read more about Francisco Cigarroa. 

10th Annual Cigarroa Family Medical/STEM Lecture

Saturday, March 28, 2026, 9:30-10:30 AM PDT
AAHHE National Conference

Physics Education Research (PER): Navigating a space that is constantly adjusting to external pressures

 

Ximena C. Cid, Ph.D.
Full Professor of Physics
California State University, Dominguez Hills 

Sponsored by
Cigarroa Family

Ximena Cid received her BA in Astrophysics from UC Berkeley and her master’s and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas, Arlington. After completing a postdoc at the University of Washington, she joined the faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in 2015. She is full professor, past chair of the department, and the only faculty in Physics to be a designated Fellow (American Association of Physics Teachers - AAPT).

As a Yoeme/Yaqui - Chicana woman, Ximena represents an extremely small percentage of physics professionals. Her scholarship describe relationships between how one uses their mind to understand complex ideas such as fields as well as areas associated with access in STEM.

Ximena has led national and local professional development workshops for STEM professionals and administrators. Her professional service includes past board membership for the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP), committee work for the AAPT’s Committee on Diversity and the American Physical Society’s (APS) Forum on Education (FEd). She also holds life membership for SACNAS.

Recently, she co-founded the Society of Indigenous Physicists (SIP) 2020 and co-chaired the committee for the inaugural Gathering of SIP (July 2024). Her dedication to broadening participation has been recognized through national and local awards.

List of past speakers of the Cigarroa Family Medical/STEM Lecture:

  • 2025  Charles E. Vela, Engineering Scientist, President and Chief Architect at Afilon Innovation
  • 2024  Denise Martinez, MD, Associate Dean, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Clinical Professor, Family Medicine, University of California Riverside
  • 2023  Bryan Leyva, MD, University of Minnesota, AfroLatino Activist Artist Antiracist, Decolonizing MedEd, Centering Justice Critical Theory & the Oppressed
  • 2022  Jessica Esquivel, PhD, Chair, Associate Scientist, Muon g-2 Experiment, Particle Physics Division - Muon Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Co-founder of BlackInPhysics and Change-Now
  • 2021  Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD
  • 2020  Frances Colón
  • 2019  Olivia A. Graeve
  • 2018  Jose Hernandez
  • 2017  Francisco Cigarroa