Lydia M. Contreras, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor
- Laurence E. McMakin, Jr. Centennial Fellowship in Chemical Engineering
Affiliations
- Graduate Recruiting and Admissions Advisor
- Molecular Biophysics Portfolio Program
- Biochemistry Graduate Program
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
- John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies
- Academic Research Member, Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC)
- Associate Editor, BMC Systems Biology
- Editorial Board, RNA Biology
- Editorial Board, Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology Journal
- Guest Editor, Methods Journal Edition on: Methods and Advances in RNA characterization and design
- Editorial Board, Mexican Journal of Biotechnology
Educational Qualifications
- Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University (2008)
- B.S.E., Chemical Engineering, Princeton University (2003)
- NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (Infectious Diseases), Division of Developmental Genetics and Bioinformatics, Wadsworth Center-New York State Dept. of Health, Albany, NY (2008-2010)
- Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Biochemistry. Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Vienna, Austria (2010)
Recent Honors and Awards
- Elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) (2019)
- Mellichamp Emerging Leader Lecture (2018)
- Cornell Chemical Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award (2018)
- Biotechnology and Bioengineering Daniel I.C. Wang Award (2016)
- Teaching Excellence Award in Chemical Engineering, TAChE Award (2015)
- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineering (SHPE) Young Investigator Award (2015)
- Health and Environmental Institute (HEI) Walter E. Rosenblith New Investigator (2015-2018)
- Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program (NHARP) Early Career Program (2014-2016)
- NSF CAREER Award (2013-2018)
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator (2013-2016)
- Warfield Center Faculty Teaching Award (2013)
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Young Investigator (2011-2013)
- Innovative Early-Career Frontiers of Engineering Educator (2011)
- Keystone Symposia Fellow on Molecular and Cellular Biology (2011-2012)
- Welch Foundation Research Award (2011)
- FASEB Postdoctoral Development and Enrichment Award (2009)
- Edna and William Hooey Award, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University (2007)
- NSF IGERT Fellowship in Mathematical Nonlinear Systems (2004)
Meet Dr. Contreras (Selected articles)
- 2013 Featured as a Research Spotlight by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular biology (ASMBM)
- 2018 Featured on KVUE (ABC Austin) news
- 2018 Featured on Finding Answers to water Contamination on Rio Grande on CONTEXERE: Weaving Stories of Research and Collaboration (Page 12)
- 2019 Featured on The Impact of Chemicals on Health on ImpactMania.com
