October 15, 2025
Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center
JOin Us for the Celebrating Women in STEM Luncheon, an inspiring event dedicated to honoring Nebraska’s women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
At this year’s luncheon, we will have a fireside chat with inspiring women in STEM leadership from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Agenda
11 a.m. – Registration and Networking
11:30 a.m. – Lunch and Program
Speaker Bios
Kate A. Engel is the executive director of the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation, the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation owned by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Kate’s primary responsibility is to supervise NICDC staff, direct business operations and work to grow the roster of partners, including private businesses and university entities, at NIC. She also leads infrastructure planning and development, client services, and marketing and public relations, as well as manages relationships with commercial developers and other entities that may build or operate facilities at NIC.
Kate joined the NICDC team in 2011 to assist with establishing operations and marketing for the public/private research campus before its 2012 groundbreaking. Most recently, Kate was director of strategic partnerships and communications. In that role, she assisted the past executive director with recruitment and retention, additional marketing and public relations efforts, space build-outs, workforce development, and resources and programs for NIC’s private- and public-sector partners.
Kate grew up on a farm near Red Oak, IA. She holds a bachelor’s in fine arts from Nebraska Wesleyan University, a Master of Arts in management from Doane University, a Master of Science in leadership from UNL and a graduate certificate in public relations and social media from UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Dr. Tiffany Heng-Moss currently serves as the Interim Harlan Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources for the University of Nebraska system. In this role, she leads system-wide efforts focused on agriculture, natural resources, and rural economic prosperity strategic initiatives.
From 2017 to 2025, Dr. Heng-Moss served as Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. As dean, she provided visionary leadership in advancing academic innovation, workforce development, and student success. She led the development and implementation of interdisciplinary academic credentials, a graduate education framework, Nebraska’s first education compact, and a comprehensive student success roadmap aligned with UNL’s N2025 Strategic Plan. Her efforts have positioned CASNR as a leader in preparing students to address the dynamic challenges facing agriculture and natural resources.
Dr. Heng-Moss joined the UNL faculty in 2001 and has been engaged across the tripartite mission of teaching and learning, research and discovery, and extension and engagement. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has served as principal or co-investigator on over $70 million in teaching and outreach grants and $8 million in research funding. Dr. Heng-Moss has designed and led impactful extension programming, sharing her expertise with producers, industry professionals, and the broader community. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses and has mentored numerous graduate students and post-doctoral scholars—many of whom have gone on to assume leadership roles in academia, government, and industry.
Her contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the USDA National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences, the University of Nebraska Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA), Nebraska Science Education Catalyst Award, Engler Inspiration Award, and Inductee into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement.
Jennifer Nelson serves as Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. In this role, she is responsible for UNL’s research enterprise, including enhancing research development and its societal impact, as well as ensuring the ethical, safe, and efficient conduct of research. She works with Industry Relations, NUtech Ventures and Nebraska Innovation Campus to forge partnerships and technology development that advance the state and region economically and socially. She oversees UNL’s university-wide research centers, the University of Nebraska State Museum, and the University of Nebraska Press.
Before becoming Interim Vice Chancellor, Nelson was most recently Associate Vice Chancellor and Research Integrity Officer in the UNL Office of Research and Innovation. She worked closely as liaison to UNL’s university-wide research centers and major research core facilities and co-led a campus-wide effort to develop a comprehensive research data strategy. She was also Institutional Official with responsibility for several compliance areas, including the protection of human research participants, care and ethical treatment of animals, and the conflicts of interest program. Prior to joining the Office of Research and Innovation in 2019, Nelson was the Director of Administration in the UNL Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior from 2015-2019.
Nelson is research faculty in the Department of Psychology, and since her arrival at UNL in 2009, she has been a co-investigator in a National Institutes of Health funded laboratory studying children’s cognitive development and health outcomes. Specifically, her research has focused on the development of executive control in longitudinal samples from early childhood through adolescence, and implications of executive control abilities for mental and physical health.
Nelson received her undergraduate degree in psychology from UCLA, her Ph.D. in clinical child psychology from the University of Kansas, and completed a predoctoral clinical internship at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and the Children’s Health Council.