Memorial Scholarship Awards

Funding of the memorial scholarships are made possible by the continuous generosity of the Smoliar Foundation.

Scholarships are given to women at community colleges (De Anza or Foothill) who are in a STEM discipline and hope to transfer to a 4-year university. Applicants are chosen each year by our scholarship committee and are announced at the Awards Ceremony.

Kristi Lin Chrispell Forbes Memorial Scholarship
This Palo Alto chapter scholarship commemorates Kristi Lin Chrispell Forbes, PhD, who died in a car accident in April 2003. Dr. Forbes, the quintessential researcher-scientist, studied the cell cycle of caulobacter and the fission yeast, S. Pombe.She received a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Well College where she graduated summa cum laude, then earned her doctorate in Genetics at Harvard University. She had recently completed a post-doctoral position at Stanford investigating genetics and the cell cycle. At 32, she had just gotten married.

Dr. Forbes was a member of AWIS and active as a science fair judge at the Synopsis Championship and at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. She was a violinist member of teh Peninsula Orchestra, a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and an avid dancer and skier. She is greatly missed by her husband, family, and friends.

  • 2023 Naomi Martin, Foothill College
  • 2022 Siyi Song, Foothill College
  • 2021 Maria Khan, De Anza College & Linh Pham, De Anza College
  • 2020 Bernice Webber, De Anza College & Vy (khanh) Pham, Foothill College 
  • 2019 Narmin Mammadsoy, De Anza College
  • 2018 Jocelyn Cervantes, Foothill College
  • 2017 Zhengzheng Li, Foothill College
  • 2016 Jackie Do, De Anza College
  • 2015 Rachel Meyer, Foothill College
  • 2014 Miriam Wierzchula, Foothill College
  • 2013 Anastasia Borovich, Foothill College
  • 2012 Felicia Hoehnle, De Anza College
  • 2011 Reta Sarsam, De Anza College
  • 2010 Shaoai Yan, De Anza College
  • 2009 Rachel Alice Silili Mbassa, Foothill College
  • 2008 Debra Schlee, Foothill College
  • 2007 Uyen Pham, De Anza College
  • 2006 Bonnie A. Bea, De Anza College
  • 2004 Teresa Kinnet, De Anza College

Iris Ferber Memorial Scholarship
Iris Ferber, born on March 29, 1965, grew up in Schwetzingen, Germany. A talented woman scientist, she embodied the spirit and mission of AWIS- mentoring, community service, and excellence in science. Iris pursued her university degree in human biology and Marburg University and fell in love with biology research. she received her Ph.D. from German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg where she discovered a novel mechanism fo T cell tolerance. The work, published in Science in 1993, is still considered a seminal result in the field. She did a post-doc at Stanford University, where she tested a hypothesis that the proinflammatory cytokine interferon gamma was critical for autoimmune diseases like MS and diabetes. Again, her results culminated in a seminal paper showing that this very popular theory was not true. Iris was not dissuaded by the naysayers who did not want to believe this important finding. She always pursued the truth, trusted the data, and encouraged her fellow scientists to do the same in their interpretation of science.Iris fell in love with California and went to work as a senior fellow at DNAX Institute. She chose to work in drug discovery research at Geron and then at Sierra Biosource, rising in just a fwe years from scientist to director level before becoming the Chief Technical Officer of a spin-off company from Sierra Biosource. She finally became Director of Pre-Clnical Pathology at Anesiva in South San Francisco. Her commitment to the education of young scientists and women scientists was evident in her volunteer work with AWIS and her role as Secretary of the AWIS Palo Alto Chapter. It was also evident in her daily life, through dedicated mentoring of undergraduates, graduate students, and helping those making career transitions. She loved science and her eyes would light up when she talked about her work and helping people.

  • 2012-2013 Combined Chrispell/Ferber/Bih Scholarship
  • 2009-2012 Combined Chrispell/Ferber Scholarship
  • 2008 Suiting He, Foothill College
  • 2007 Nithakan Chou, De Anza College


Fong-Yi (Caroline) Bih Memorial Scholarship
Fong-Yi (Caroline) Bih served as a Board member for Palo Alto AWIS from 2001-2004. She was Chapter Vice-President, Co-Chaired the Mentoring Program, served on the Program Committee and was an active Outreach volunteer, sharing with kids and younger scientists the excitement of scientific discoveryIn 2002, Caroline joined the Chinese Bioscience Association. There, she hosted a research conference on SARS and organized ‘Bioscience Careers in the 21st Century’, a conference for high school students. She was a moderator of an entrepreneur panel at the first CBA Boot Camp. Early in 2007, Caroline became President-elect of CBA. She had plans for a mentor program for CBA members which unfortunately she did not have time to develop.

Caroline grew up in Taiwan and had an adventurous spirit. She received her Ph.D. at UC Riverside and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley. She worked as a molecular biologist at PPD Discovery and at Microgenetics. She was a great friend and colleague who was engaged a few months before she fell ill.

The Fong-Yih-(Caroline)Bih Memorial Scholarship was establieshed by the Palo Alto AWIS Chapter and Chinese Bioscience Association, to honour our friend. She passed away on May 31, 2007 due to brain cancer at the age of 45.

  • 2012 Combined Chrispell/Ferber/Bih Scholarship
  • 2011 Lina Ma, Foothill College
  • 2010 Millicent Bogue, Foothill College
  • 2009 Marisol Patino-Orozoco, De Anza College
  • 2008 Quynh Mai Nguyen, De Anza College

Palo Alto Scholarship 1997-2007

  • 2007 Claudia Caballero, De Anza College
  • 2006 Nguyen N. Nguyen, De Anza College
  • 2005 Po Chi Ceinlus Wong, De Anza College
  • 2004 Teresa Kinnet, De Anza College
  • 2003 Carole Foster, De Anza College
  • 2002 Janice Chan, De Anza College
  • 2001 Giselle Sylvester, De Anza College
  • 2000 Monglan Duong, Foothill College
  • 2000 Vankhanh Tran, Foothill College
  • 1999 Alison Kang, De Anza College
  • 1999 Mihalia Popescu, Foothill College
  • 1998 Lan-Chih Wang, De Anza College
  • 1998 Sophia Bornstein, Foothill College
  • 1997 Trang Vo, De Anza College
  • 1997 Diana Wiszowaty, Foothill College

Judith Pool Award

This award recognizes a woman who is in a research function, is well along in her career and takes time to mentor.

Judith Pool1919-1975
Judith Pool, PhD, was very active in promoting opportunities for women in the field of medicine and science.She was the first co-President of AWIS, formed in 1971, and the founder and first chairwoman of the Professional Women of Stanford Medical School. Dr. Pool was an exceptional scientist, making major contributions in two areas. In the field of physiology, she was the first to measure the membrane potential of single cells. Dr. Pool was highly regarded in hematological circles, both nationally and internationally, for her work on blood coagulation. She published extensively in the field. Contributions included assays of coagulation factors, in vitro synthesis of coagulation factors, studies of the anticoagulant coumadin and antibody inhibitors of factor VIII. Dr. Pool also developed a method to purify factor VIII cheaply and easily from plasma, greatly improving the lives of hemophiliacs.
In 1972, Dr. Pool was promoted to professor, making her one of the first two women to attain this position at Stanford Medical School. It was in part her struggle for recognition at Stanford that led her to co-found AWIS. In addition to her significant contributions to science and to women, she also raised three children. Judith Pool died of cancer in 1975, at the age of 56.
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2023 Dr. Xi Zhao-Wilson, CEO, Co-founder, and Director of BioMarker Inc. a senior researcher awarded for her decade-long senior researcher career in academia and industry

2022 Rivka Sherman-Gold, PhD, MBA, Advisor

2021 Ingrid Oakley-Girvan, PhD, MPH, Medable, Inc. 

2020 Tejal Desai, PhD, UC San Francisco

2019 Katherine Ferrara, PhD, Stanford University

2018 Yasmin Chandrasekher, PhD, Allertope

2017 Laura Smoliar, PhD, Berkeley Catalyst Fund

2016 Leilani Miller, PhD, Santa Clara University

2015 Susan W. Lindgren, PhD, Sacramento State University

2014 Deanna Kroetz, PhD, UC San Francisco

2013 Telle Whitney, PhD, Anita Borg Institute

2012 Marlene Rabinovitch, MD, Stanford University

2011 Tonya L. Kuhl, PhD, UC Davis

2010 Patricia R. Burchat, PhD, Stanford University

2009 Helen E. Moore, PhD, Pharsight

2008 Marilyn Winkleby, PhD, MPH, Stanford University

2007 Ann Reisenauer, PhD, San Jose State University

2006 Gail Schechter, PhD, BioIntelligence

2005 Dora Games, PhD, Elan Pharmaceuticals

2004 Elaine S. Yamaguchi, PhD, Chevron Oronite Company

2003 Caroline M. Kane, PhD, UC Berkeley

2002 Sheila McCormick, PhD, USDA-ARS

2001 Paula Jardieu, PhD, Genentech

2000 Paula J. Shadle, PhD, Bayer Corporation

1999 Cherrill M. Spencer, PhD, SLAC

1998 Phyllis Gardner, MD, Alza Corporation

1997 Kathelyn Sue Steimer, PhD, Chiron Corporation

1996 Lynda J. Goff, PhD, UC Santa Cruz

1995 Ellen Weaver, PhD, San Jose State University
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Ellen Weaver Award

This award recognizes a woman who is in a research function, is early in her career and takes time to mentor.

Ellen Weaver1925-2011
Ellen Weaver, PhD, had been Past-President of National AWIS. After receiving her BA in Chemistry from Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University, she worked as an analytical chemist for the Manhattan Project, Standard Oil of Ohio, and Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, CA. She returned to school, earning her MA in Biological Sciences from Stanford and PhD in Genetics from UC Berkeley. Dr. Weaver worked for several years on the genetics and mechanism of photosynthesis before joining the faculty of San Jose State University (SJSU).
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Dr. Weaver had served as Director of the SJSU Foundation and as Interim Executive Vice President. Retiring from teaching in 1991, she served two additional years as Associate Dean for Development in the College of Science. Dr. Weaver had been an officer and director of many professional societies and organizations including Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, Mills College Science Advisory Board, Associated Western Universities, Institute of Marine Resources, the Sea Grant Committee, and the American Society of Plant Physiologists.
Dr. Weaver had been a board member and President of the Sempervirens Fund, a conservation organization dedicated to acquiring and preserving natural land and scenic vistas in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Dr. Weaver also served on the board of The Textbook League, which works towards the improvement of secondary texts in science, history, social sciences, geography, and health. Dr. Weaver was an early member of AWIS, serving as membership chair from 1971-75. She was AWIS National’s President from 1992-1993 and was elected an AWIS Fellow in 1996.

2023 Abbie Stack, MS, Genotyping Innovation and Technologies Lead at Bayer Crop Science, received this award for her remarkable contributions in academia and industry as a junior researcher in science.

2022 Qianni Dong, PhD, Bayer

2021 Violet Votin, Ph.D., Machaon Diagnostics

2020 Andrea Schmidt, Ph.D., Lawrence Livermore National Lab

2019 Kim Williams, Ph.D., Fibrogen, Inc.

2018 Kelly Lee,  Ph.D., Senti Biosciences

2017 Fan Yang, Ph.D., Stanford University

2016 Wendy Fantl, Ph.D., Stanford University

2015 Christina D. Smolke, Ph.D., Stanford University

2014 Melissa Cline, Ph.D., UCSC

2013 Becket Feierbach, Ph.D., Genentech Inc.

2012 Amy Herr, Ph.D., UC Berkeley

2011 Angelique Y. Louie, Ph.D., UC Davis

2010 Nadine C. Gassner, Ph.D., UCSC

2009 Juliet V. Spencer, Ph.D., USF

2008 Angela I.M. Barth, Ph.D., Stanford University

2007 Adina Paytan, Ph.D., Stanford University

2006 Wendy B. Levine, Ph.D., Genemed Biotechnologies

2005 Rebecca MacKenzie, M.S., Roche Bioscience

2004 Maureen A. Sharberg, Ph.D., San Jose State University

2003 Katy Kuo Korsmeyer, Ph.D., SCCBEP

2002 Kimberly Tanner, Ph.D., UCSF

2001 Sharron Penn, Ph.D., Aeomica

2000 Kathryn M. Stephens, Ph.D., GeneTrace

1999 Rosario C. Denoga, Bayer Corp.

1998 Aurora Sosa, M.A., Bayer Corp.

1997 Rona G. Giffard, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University

1996 Deborah Bravo, Ph.D., Bayer Corp.

Sherrie Wilkins Award

This award recognizes a woman using her science away from the bench who is committed to mentoring.

Sherrie Wilkins1942-2010
Sherrie earned a BS and MS in Nursing and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Education, and a PhD in microbiology, from UCSF. Sherrie received a March of Dimes Medical Fellowship to Stanford to study birth defects and genetic disorders in adolescents. She was the first nurse in the U.S. to receive such an award previously given to MD’s. Her careers include certified nurse practitioner, scientist, executive, entrepreneur, and consultant in healthcare and biotechnology at Stanford Medical Center, UCSF, Genentech, and Cytokinetics. She served as president and board member of Wilkins and Wilkins International Inc.
Sherrie is a former President of the Palo Alto Chapter. She founded these Recognition Awards. The first Judith Pool award to Ellen Weaver, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Palo Alto chapter and secured our first corporate sponsorship from Genentech. She was co-PI on the Sloane Foundation grant to the Palo Alto chapter to initiate a mentoring program and co-chair of the first AWIS-NCC conference “Women in Bioscience: Opportunities in the Nineties” at Stanford and the AWIS-GWIS conference at UC Davis. 
She lived with breast cancer and was a strong proponent of providing needed support through education and service to women through her affiliations with societies and non-profit organizations. Sherrie volunteered as project leader and developer of outreach programs at Breast Cancer Connections. Before, during, and after her active service for AWIS, Sherrie spent countless hours mentoring, counseling and advising women in science about career possibilities and choices. She shared her experience and insights by speaking extensively on mentoring and leadership for women in STEM.

2023 Dr. Abby Kennedy, PhD, VP of Clinical Operations at CymaBay Therapeutics, was honored for her exceptional work in non-research STEM careers.

2022 Sara Farahmand, PhD, ParmD, Edgewell Personal Care

2021 Mitra Kashanchi, M.S., Chevron Chemicals

2020 Deborah Ovadia, M.S., Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc.

2019 Manjula Chinnappa, Ph.D., Personalis, Inc.

2018 Janice Zdankus, MBA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

2017 Olga, Potapova, Ph.D., Cureline, Inc.

2016 Tracy Lin, R.Ph., Johnson and Johnson

2015 Jennifer Saltzman, Ph.D., Stanford University

2014 Bonnie Charpentier, Ph.D., Cytokinetics

2013 Roopa Ramamoorthi, Ph.D., BIO Ventures for Global Health

2012 Michelle Runge, Ph.D., Genentech Inc.

Distinguished Professional Award. This award was renamed for Sherrie Wilkins in 2012​​

2011 Patricia Chandler Seawell, Ph.D.

2010 Toby Beth Freedman, Ph.D. Author “Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development”

2009 Sherrie Fasola Wilkins, Ph.D., Community Breast Health Project

2008 Doris E. Davis, RN, BSN, BABCN

2007 Monica A. Rosoff, Genentech

2006 Audrey S. Erbes

2005 Carol Muller, Ph.D., Mentornet

2004 Susan L. Bernhard, Ph.D., Elan Pharmaceuticals

2003 Krishna Ghosh, Ph.D., Agilent Corp.

2002 Elise Brownell, Ph.D., Bayor Corp.

2001 Coreen Booth, B.Sc., Consultant

2000 Amy E. Ryken, M.P.H., BBEI and Laney College