Ashley Morales Cartagena, from the Dominican Republic, has just become the first Latina woman to hold a position on the board of directors of the United States Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), having been selected as director of the prestigious entity for the period 2023-2027.
The outstanding professional is the founder and president of Women in Engineering RD (MIRD), the first community of women engineers in the country, focused on the science, technology and engineering fields, from which space she works for the empowerment and professional development of Dominican girls and young women in all areas of engineering.
Currently, Morales works as a university professor and consultant in disaster risk reduction, working with multilateral organizations such as the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and previously the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
“I am very happy and grateful to take on this great commitment, because as we have been reminded by the earthquakes that have occurred in recent days, the Dominican Republic is a country with a high seismic risk that needs access to leading professionals in the field, who can share experiences and best practices in disaster risk reduction, for the benefit of all Dominicans,” said Morales, who will assume her duties from the Dominican Republic starting next March.
She stated that as director she will help strengthen the Institute's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, which represents a triumph for the participation of the Dominican community abroad and an achievement for Latina professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Ashley was the director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at PUCMM, Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra, and has a master's degree in geotechnical engineering focused on the seismic area, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she attended as a Fulbright scholar of the United States Department of State.
She has been awarded the Younger Member Award by the EERI (2018) and by the American Society of Civil Engineers as the New Face of Civil Engineering (2019), for her outstanding contributions and extraordinary personal achievements.
About the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
Founded in 1948, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) is the premier non-profit membership organization dedicated to understanding earthquake risk and increasing earthquake resilience in communities around the world.
Its diverse, multidisciplinary membership boasts thousands of members located in nearly every U.S. state as well as countries in Asia and Europe, and includes researchers, practitioners, and students in engineering, geoscience, social sciences, architecture, planning, government, emergency management, public health, and policymaking.
