Sirena Hargrove-Leak, assistant professor of engineering, has been named to Ebony Magazine’s “30 Leaders of the Future” list. The list showcases aspiring African American leaders in academia, medicine, religion, the arts and community service who are 30 years old and younger. Nominations are accepted and the final list is chosen by the magazine’s editors, based on a review of curriculum vitae and letters of recommendation from established community leaders.
Hargrove-Leak was nominated by her sister, Sonya Terry, and received letters of support from Harold Martin, chancellor of Winston-Salem State University; Johnnie McFadden, the Benjamin E. Mays Professor and director of the African-American Professors program at the University of South Carolina; and Michael Amiridis, professor and chairman of the department of chemical engineering at the University of South Carolina.
In 2003, Hargrove-Leak became the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate degree in engineering from the University of South Carolina. She is the recipient of a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Minorities and a Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society Graduate Fellowship.
As a student, she was awarded a patent along with other co-investigators at North Carolina A&T State University for a membrane flow reversal technique she helped develop.
She is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, and the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Hargrove-Leak says she is particularly interested in serving as a role model for other African-Americans, particularly women, who want to pursue careers in science and engineering.