Dr. Lydia M. Contreras is an Associate Professor (and Jim and Barbara Miller Faculty Fellow) of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas-Austin; she is also a member of the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology. She teaches Introduction to Chemical Engineering Computing, Thermodynamics, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis, and Fundamental and Applications of Cellular Regulation. Dr. Contreras obtained a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. She completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and postdoctoral studies at Wadsworth Center (New York State Department of Health). She began her career at the University of Texas-Austin in 2011, where she leads a research team focused on RNA biochemistry to study gene regulation mechanisms associated with stress-responses for applications in health and biotechnology (https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/).