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A WISE Choice: Mónica Bugallo is appointed the inaugural Faculty Director of WISE

Mónica Bugallo

By: Katherine Kurre

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) created a new Faculty Director for the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) honors program to support its strong commitment to STEM diversity.  Associate Professor Mónica Bugallo has been appointed to serve in the inaugural role.

Working hand-in-hand with that of WISE Director Carrie-Ann Miller-Engel, the aim of this new role will “build upon the success of WISE and take it to the next level, with the goal of advancing STEM professions by increasing the participation of women”, according to Associate Dean Robert Kukta. He continued to say, “STEM fields—engineering in particular—are about solving people’s problems.  It takes input from all people of all backgrounds and experiences to serve our diverse population.” 

In her new role, Bugallo brings her strong record of service, education, and research to enhance impact of the strong community of women that Miller-Engel has built over the past decade. The WISE program has set its sights on increasing the number of women in STEM through student outreach, recruitment, and retention. “The program will expand and improve educational and professional opportunities for female students at all levels in all fields of STEM by facilitating individual, institutional, and social change,” said Bugallo, who added, “WISE will become the Flagship Program of CEAS to promote girl power in STEM.”

Bugallo will also work towards growing resources through external grants and donations, and strengthening faculty support for the program. As Faculty Director, she will build stronger connections with faculty across many disciplines including, but not limited to, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SOMAS), and the Stony Brook School of Medicine.  

An exceptional faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bugallo teaches communication systems, digital communications, stochastic processes, and information theory to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is the advisor to the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the honors society Eta Kappa Nu and the sorority Alpha Omega Epsilon on campus and Bugallo is especially adept at outreach and garnering funding. She is the initiator of the Stony Brook Engineering Summer Camp and the Engineering Enterprise programs. These programs engage students from middle school through the graduate level in engineering and research.

Declaring Bugallo “a role model in STEM education,” Kukta emphasized that Bugallo is a “superior role model not only for women or the students in WISE, but for everyone”.

Bugallo earned her B.S., M.S, and Ph. D. degrees in computer science and engineering from the University of A Coruña, Spain. In 2002 she joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stony Brook University. Her research and educational efforts have been funded governmental and state agencies and corporations including the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, Hewlett-Packard, National Grid or PSEG. She is recipient of numerous research and education awards including the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award, the IEEE Outstanding Young Engineer Award (Long Island Chapter) and the IEEE Athanasios Papoulis Award.