Gilda A. Barabino

Professional Honors

• Cuban Academy of Sciences: Corresponding Academician, 2024
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Elected Member, 2021
• National Academy of Medicine: Elected Member, 2020
• National Academy of Engineering: Elected Member, 2019

Honorary Degrees

• Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH: Honorary Doctor of Science, 2023
• Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA: Honorary Doctor of Science, 2016

Biography

Now Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Gilda A. Barabino served as the second president of Olin College of Engineering from 2020-2025. A chemical engineering pioneer in the field of medicine and global health, she has pursued an equity ethic across her interdisciplinary career and she brought that focus to her presidency at Olin. She is an internationally recognized thought leader on race/ethnicity and gender in science and engineering, with a particular focus on creating cultures and climates that support a sense of belonging.

Under her leadership, Olin College increased its representation of women and people of color among faculty and students under its mission of “Engineering for everyone,” where engineering is open to all, and engineering is pursued in service of everyone. Aware of visibility and invisibility when it comes to education, she continued Olin’s integration of the arts and humanities into STEM education as a way of examining the world through different perspectives.

Growing up in a military family, Dr. Barabino moved schools frequently. She was accustomed to being the first or only Black woman in academic spaces for her childhood and beyond: as the first African-American in the graduate chemical engineering program at Rice University and the fifth Black woman to receive a PhD in chemical engineering in the country. Her desire to give back to her community led her to sickle cell anemia, which disproportionately affects Blacks. Her groundbreaking research in the areas of sickle cell disease and orthopedic tissue engineering informed current technologies and formed the basis for novel therapies. Through her subsequent work in global health and interdisciplinary research and education, Dr. Barabino pioneered new engineering approaches to problems in medicine.

Prior to becoming president of Olin College, Dr. Barabino served as Dean of the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York. She established the Master’s in Translational Medicine program, which addresses unmet clinical needs through the integration of engineering, medical innovation, and entrepreneurship. She has also held academic and administrative appointments at Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and Northeastern University.

Advocating for equity and justice throughout her career, Dr. Barabino was the inaugural vice provost for academic diversity at Georgia Tech and vice provost for undergraduate education at Northeastern. She leads initiatives to foster cultures of belonging in STEM education, including as the founder and executive director of the National Institute for Faculty Equity. She co-chaired the National Academies study and report on Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations.

From 2021-2024, Dr. Barabino served as President-elect, President, and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest interdisciplinary scientific society. In advancing science, engineering, and innovation, she championed AAAS' commitment to science for and by all and engineering for everyone. She is also a past president of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.  She has served on the Defense Innovation Board, the NIH National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the congressionally mandated Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, the VentureWell Board, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Women in Science Engineering and Medicine which she chairs.

Dr. Barabino is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, as well as a past president and fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. She is a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring Award, the Pierre Galletti Award from the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and two honorary degrees from Xavier University of Louisiana and from Dartmouth College.

Dr. Barabino received a B.S. from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Ph.D. from Rice University.

Select Recent Speeches and Presentations

• 2025 Commencement Address, Olin College of Engineering, May 16, 2025
• Dickson Prize in Science Lecture, Carnegie Mellon University, February 19, 2025
• Dourdeville Lecture on Engineering in Service to Society, Brown University, November 28, 2023
• Investiture Keynote and Robert Fletcher Award Address, Dartmouth College, June 10, 2023
• Cascieri Lecture 31, Boston Architectural College, April 20, 2023.