The New Mexico Network for Women in Science in Engineering (NMNWSE) honors Sandra K. Begay with the 18th Annual IMPACT! Award.
The Award, given each year to a New Mexico woman for her extraordinary efforts in encouraging and helping women enter and succeed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as promoting networking and communication among women in these careers. Begay will be honored at the NMNWSE Annual Meeting and Technical Symposium, October 18 – 19, 2024, in Los Alamos, NM ( 2024 Annual Meeting Info ).
Begay is a Program Developer and Principal Member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), Indian Energy Program, where she leads a technical assistance team and creates internship programs to support tribal renewable energy development.
Begay is known nationally as a subject matter expert on tribal energy and is featured in the American Society of Civil Engineers book, Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers.
Begay created an Energy Internship sponsored by the Department of Energy and Sandia, and then mentored many Indigenous college students over 18 years in this Program.
Through the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Begay mentors many Indigenous students and young professionals during Leadership and National Conferences and supports young STEM professionals after they graduate.
In 2019, Begay served as City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department Director where she mentored women STEM managers and was responsible for a new woman City Sustainability Officer being named to that department.
The NMNWSE began in 1975 with a core group of faculty and staff from UNM wanting to reach out to women in science as a group. Since then, the Network has worked to encourage and help women enter and succeed in STEM careers and promote networking and communication among members by providing regularly scheduled meetings, youth outreach conferences, talks and other local activities.
