The official biography below was current at the time of the award. See the organization's website for its latest information.

In 1989, the Women in Engineering Initiative (WIE) served 50 women; today it serves over 1,300 students a year on the University of Washington campus and over 3,000 students off campus by providing mentoring activities aimed at increasing the number of women in science and engineering. Between 1990 and 1997, the WIE program has increased retention rates among undergraduate women from 50 percent to 74 percent. WIE research on mentoring has also produced a nationally-disseminated cross-gender, cross-racial curriculum for training mentors and mentees in science and engineering.