2025 Ceremony & Seminar
Friday, October 10, 2025
- Seminar Featured Speakers: 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. in Bohannon 90 - Open to the public. Hear from each of the awardees about their career journey and get inspired!
- Awards Ceremony 5:30 p.m. at Pier B in Duluth, - Invitation only event
2025 Awardees
Academy of Science and Engineering
Christine Collins, Ph.D.
Bachelor of Science, Chemistry & Biology 1976
Bachelor of Arts, Chemistry & Biology 1976
Christine Collins graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1976, majoring in Chemistry and Biology with a minor in Mathematics. During her undergraduate years she also studied piano and pipe organ performance with Dr. Jean Swanson and participated in a National Science Foundation summer research program under Dr. Paul Anderson, leading to a first author publication. She received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Michigan State University and then performed postgraduate research at the Worcester Foundation of Experimental Biology in Massachusetts, focused on the cell biology and biophysics of cytoskeletal proteins.
Following her postdoctoral studies, Christine served on the faculty of Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago for 9 years, continuing the research she began as a postdoctoral fellow and teaching Biochemistry and Cell Biology. She had an opportunity to help establish a research program in Metabolic Disease at Abbott Laboratories. She served as Scientific Director leading multiple teams in investigating treatments for diabetes, dyslipidemia and obesity. Christine was asked to move to a new therapeutic area to establish a clinical grade biology laboratory for study of Hepatitis C in human clinical trial samples. In what was the newly established AbbVie biopharmaceuticals, Christine had a leadership role in coordinating with clinical development, commercial, and regulatory affairs teams worldwide, leading to regulatory approval of drugs that have cured more than one million people of their Hepatitis C infection. Christine has more than 200 publications, meeting abstracts and presentations, and over a dozen patents. Christine was active throughout her career in mentoring dozens of junior scientists. Since retirement in 2019, she has continued her interest in music and the arts.
Inspiring Scientist
Loranzie Rogers, Ph.D.
Bachelor of Science, Biology 2017
Master of Science, Integrated Biosciences 2019
Dr. Loranzie Rogers is a HHMI Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, working in the lab of Dr. Nicholas Bellono. Dr. Rogers earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD) in 2017 and completed his master’s degree in UMD’s Integrative Biosciences program in 2019, with support from the University of Minnesota’s Diversity of Views and Excellence Fellowship and the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship. Dr. Rogers went on to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 2023, where he studied the neural mechanisms of sound source localization in fish. Now at Harvard University, Dr. Rogers is utilizing biochemical, physiological, and molecular approaches to understand how diverse organisms, including axolotls, cephalopods, and piranhas, have adapted to their unique environmental niches.
Inspiring Scientist
Tana O'Keefe, Ph.D.
Bachelor of Science, Chemistry 2018
Dr. Tana O’Keefe is a Senior Scientist for Land O’Lakes on their Food Chemistry team. At Land O'Lakes, she develops and optimizes analytical methods for product development and characterization to better understand the flavor attributes and performance of products. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where her research focused on the design of silica nanoparticles for sustainable agriculture as part of the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology. Tana earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She is passionate about science communication mentoring in STEM, and making science more accessible through outreach.
SCSE Academy of Science & Engineering was established in 2002
The Academy of Science and Engineering was established by Dean James P. Riehl to publicly recognize distinguished alumni and special friends of Swenson College who have distinguished themselves through commitment and leadership in their chosen profession. It is the highest honor bestowed by the Swenson College of Science and Engineering. We have more than 15,000 alumni and each year a handful are nominated by their departments for induction into the Academy of Science and Engineering. Since its inception, 81 members have been inducted into the Academy.
In 2022, Dean Wendy Reed established the Inspiring Scientists and Engineers as part of the Academy of Science and Engineering. This award to recognize alumni who are early in their careers and making significant contributions in STEM fields.