WiE Staff
WiE Administration
 Dr. Beth M. Holloway | Senior Assistant Dean for Student Access and Success
Leah H. Jamieson Director of Women in Engineering
Professor of Engineering Practice, Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Contact Information
Email: holloway@purdue.edu
Dr. Holloway has been the Director of the Women in Engineering Program since 2001. As Assistant Dean, she is responsible for the College's recruitment and scholarship strategy, broadening participation in our undergraduate programs, and all aspects of undergraduate student success. Her research areas include: admissions practices, sophomores in engineering, and gender issues in engineering and leadership. She received the 2012 IBM Faculty Advisor Award, the 2012 national Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award, the 2013 Purdue University Helen B. Schleman Gold Medallion Award, the 2014 Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) Distinguished Service Award, and the 2015 ASEE William E. Wickenden Award for the best paper published in the Journal of Engineering Education during 2014. She was elected fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in 2017, and fellow of the Society of Women Engineers in 2022. Under her leadership, the Purdue Women in Engineering Program received the 2013 WEPAN Women in Engineering Program Award and the 2014 ABET Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity.
Dr. Holloway was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) from 2019-2022, serving as Vice President of Professional Interest Councils in 2020-2021. Dr. Holloway has also been President of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) in 2006-2007, and served on WEPAN's Board of Directors from 2005-2008. She currently serves as the advisor to the Purdue Section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Phi Sigma Rho Sorority.
Prior to joining Purdue, Dr. Holloway was a research and development engineering group leader at Cummins, Inc., where she was a recognized corporate engine lubrication system expert, with specialties in piston cooling nozzle and lubrication pump performance. Dr. Holloway earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, all from Purdue University.
She is an advocate for research-informed approaches to engineering education equity, policy, as well as student recruitment and retention efforts. She is a strong supporter of underrepresented populations in engineering, including women, minorities, and first-generation college students. A few of her podcasts of these topics can be found at:
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 Dr. Suzanne Zurn-Birkhimer | Associate Director
Contact Information
Office: Dudley Hall, Room 2507
Email: zurnbirk@purdue.edu
Dr. Suzanne Zurn-Birkhimer has spent her career diligently working towards broadening the participation of women and underrepresented groups in STEM fields. She is the Associate Director of the Purdue University Women in Engineering Program where she leads retention efforts and conducts research around female student success. She manages the undergraduate and graduate mentoring programs that reach over 1,000 students annually, teaches two Women in Engineering seminar courses, and oversees the WiE/WISP tutoring center and WiE residential community. She also holds a courtesy Associate Professor appointment in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences where she teaches introductory Atmospheric Science courses. Dr. Zurn-Birkhimer's research focuses around understanding the barriers and pathways to success for typically marginalized groups in STEM. She is developing an online training program for students with underdeveloped spatial skills. She is also working to understand the intricacies of female undergraduate student's successful navigation to their degrees. Finally, Dr. Zurn-Birkhimer studies the career pathways of indigenous women to better inform practices and policies in the workforce. In 2019, she was appointed to the Advisory Board of the international organization Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations Research Network. She is also serving as the Director-At-Large for the Women in Engineering Division of the American Society of Engineering Education (2023-2025). She has held several positions across academia including Deputy Director of Purdue's NSF-ADVANCE initiative to increase the number of female faculty in the STEM fields and Associate Professor and co-Chair of Mathematics at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, IN where she implemented a curriculum revision and developed a Mathematics-Engineering dual degree program. Dr. Zurn-Birkhimer earned her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Purdue University. She was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award from the Purdue University Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Purdue University College of Science. |
 Brianne Wrede, M.S. | Assistant Director
Contact Information
Office: Dudley Hall, Room 2508
Phone: (765) 496-7442
Email: wredeb@purdue.edu
Brianne Wrede, Assistant Director of the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program, joined WiE in 2021. She is responsible for developing and implementing WiE's K-10 outreach programming, serving over 5,000 students annually. She manages the partnerships of engineering faculty and staff, community partners, and local schools to encourage and support girls and young women as they explore their interests in engineering and STEM. She recruits, supervises, and instructs engineering outreach leadership team members. Her leadership team assists with outreach programming including, Imagination, Innovation, Discovery, Design (I2D2), Innovation to Reality (I2R), ACCESS Engineering, For Your Imagination (FYI), Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED), along with several other community events. Brianne serves as an advisor for EPICS, a service-learning design program in the College of Engineering, and is a member of the Purdue Engineering Staff Leadership Academy 4.0. She brings her passion for educational and social equity, diverse programming, and STEM education to WiE to encourage and inspire future engineers.
Brianne's background includes a B.S. in Education, an M.S. in Higher Education, and her experiences as a K12 teacher, instructional coach, and certified educational advocate. She is currently completing her Doctorate in Education and serves as the Director of Academic Curriculum Development in Indiana for the Heritage STEAM Coalition. She provides professional development and training to fellow educators in student engagement, STEM integration, and engineering messaging. |
 Cathy Deno | Senior Administrative Assistant
Contact Information
Office: Dudley Hall, Room 2512
Phone: (765) 494-6608
Email: denoc@purdue.edu
Cathy has served as a member of the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program staff since 1984. She works with WiE's WE Link recruitment program, the Mentees & Mentors Program for undergraduate students, and the Graduate Women in Engineering (GWEN) program. She assists in the hiring and supervision of student leadership teams for these programs and coordinates the employment and payroll processes for over 100 students who serve on a variety of WiE's leadership teams. In addition, Cathy handles the tracking and reporting of expenses for WiE.
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 Dawn Mikels | Senior Administrative Assistant
Contact Information
Office: Dudley Hall, Room 2516
Phone: (765) 494-3889
Email: djmikels@purdue.edu
Ms. Mikels joined the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program staff in 2005. She supports the WiE directors and serves as the liaison to other university program offices, engineering faculty and staff, alumni and corporate partners. She manages contact for internal and external office communications and public relations. She supervises the Operations Assistant student leadership team and assists the WE Link student recruitment program. She administers WiE's stewardship processes and initiatives and provides assistance for WiE's annual scholarship awards for current students. She is responsible for internal and external aspects of recruitment initiatives and event planning of Exploring Engineering at Purdue visits for high school juniors and seniors. She also assists with outreach programming for Introduce a Girl to Engineering, Engineering FYI: For Your Imagination and K-5 Programs.
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WiE Graduate Assistants
 Nuela Chidubem Enebechi | Graduate Assistant
Contact Information
Office: Dudley Hall, Room 2509
Email: cenebech@purdue.edu
Nuela has been an integral member of the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program team, actively serving as a Research Assistant since Spring semester of 2023. Concurrently, she is pursuing her PhD in Industrial Engineering, specializing in Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction within the realm of Extended Reality (Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality (AR)/Mixed Reality (MR)). Her primary passion lies in leveraging her expertise to establish inclusive and accessible environments, thereby fostering equitable research and design processes catering to a diverse range of technology users. Nuela gained invaluable experience as an intern at Apple during the year 2022. In this role, she conducted research studies that significantly contributed to the enhancement of Apple's inaugural spatial computer and Vision Pro Extended Reality headset. Throughout her academic tenure at Purdue University, Nuela has assumed numerous leadership and mentorship responsibilities, thereby making meaningful contributions to her community. She previously held the role of Graduate Mentor for the Engineering Undergraduate Research Office (EURO) department's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) initiative. Additionally, Nuela undertook the position of Teaching Assistant in the EPICS department. Here, she adeptly guided students in the application of design principles and fundamental concepts of Human-Centered design, all the while collaborating closely with project partners from the community. Nuela holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM). Currently, at Purdue University, she is an active researcher within the Group Performance Environments Research Laboratory (GROUPER Lab), under the supervision of Dr. Barrett Caldwell. In addition, Nuela is engaged in a collaborative, interdisciplinary project with the Virtual Reality Lab at Purdue Polytechnic. In this endeavor, she receives joint guidance from Dr. Christos Muosas and Dr. Barrett Caldwell. Her current master's thesis project plays a pivotal role in her direct PhD degree. Specifically, she is delving into the study of the Impact and Robustness of Variability in Haptic Feedback for Virtual Reality during Task Performances and how it plays a role in Human cognitive abilities. Her unwavering commitment to research, mentorship, and inclusivity distinctly underscores her potential to make a profound impact not only within the realm of engineering but far beyond. |
 Juliana Pereira | Graduate Assistant
Contact Information
Office: Dudley Hall, Room 2507
Email: jpereira@purdue.edu
Juliana officially joined the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program team as Graduate Assistant for outreach activities in May 2021. However, she has been involved with WiE since 2018. She participated in many different programs. Outreach activities, I2R - Innovation to Reality, IGED - Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, and LT for GWEN - Graduate Women in Engineering Network. In 2020 and 2022, she received the Emily M. Wadsworth Graduate Mentoring Award from WiE. For the 2020/21 academic year, she received the Women's Association Teri Dres Scholarship from ADSC - The International Association of Foundation Drilling. Juliana also received the 2021/22 and 2022/23 Ada I. Pressman Memorial Scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers. Juliana earned her B.S. in Journalism and B.S. in Civil Engineering from Brazilian Universities. She concluded her CE studies with a year abroad in the Netherlands with a special project in Spain. Juliana received her M.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University, where she continues towards her PhD. Her research focuses on the seismic stability of lunar lava tubes, where she evaluates the possible use of those natural rock tunnels as future astronaut shelters. |
 Fanyi Zhang | Graduate Assistant
Contact Information
Office: Psychological Science Building, Room 2192
Email: zhan3822@purdue.edu
Fanyi joined the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program team in August 2022 as a Graduate Research Assistant. She has been part of a research project that delves into the factors influencing retention rates among second-year engineering students from diverse engineering backgrounds. Fanyi assisted in literature reviews, data analyses, visualizations, and manuscript preparation. Fanyi earned dual B.S. degrees in Psychological Sciences and French Languages and Literatures from Colgate University. After graduation, she worked as a lab manager at Purdue University and assisted in multiple research projects and practical initiatives, including the campus-wide Steps to Leaps Initiatives. Currently, she is working on her M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Purdue University. Fanyi's research focuses on promoting well-being and fosterimg inclusive environments. Specifically, she applies a developmental perspective in understanding the phases of positive relationships and advises on the various forms of social support that individuals can provide. |
