A New Mexico professor who was once encouraged to pursue a "more ladylike" career is now featured in a book about high-achieving women in STEM fields.

STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Adriana Romero Olivares, assistant professor of biology at New Mexico State University, said she did not excel in the classroom until high school, when a few teachers and a family acquaintance spotted her potential. And despite the rarity of seeing women or people of color working as scientists, she decided to study biology.

"They always show you your stereotypical scientist, which in most cases is a man, which in most cases is white," Romero Olivares observed. "All of those things do not mean that you're not going to be good in science."

Her childhood story and career are included in the book: "Determined to be Extraordinary: Spectacular Stories of Modern Women in STEM." She is one of 27 women interviewed from a range of backgrounds, ethnicities, classes and cultures. The book won a 2024 Moonbeam Children's Book Award, and also the 2024 NYC Big Book Award.

Romero Olivares, who grew up in Mexico, joined the biology faculty at the university in 2020. She and her students are researching long-standing questions on microbial ecology and how it relates to climate change projections.

"I do have a specific interest in fungi," Romero Olivares explained. "We study how the fungi are responding to global climate change -- things like environmental stress, drought, higher temperatures, physical disturbance -- those sorts of things."

Romero Olivares joined a think-tank organization last year to produce a report underscoring the importance of microbes in developing climate change projections. The reports are given to policymakers, members of Congress, the National Science Foundation and other agencies deciding on research funding.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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By Kyla Russell for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration

Congress has slashed a decades-old federal medical funding program by more than half.

The Indiana University School of Medicine could be one of the hardest organizations hit.

In 2023, the school was awarded $715,000 from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDRMP). As the largest medical school in the U.S., the university was tasked with using the money to improve treatment for mild traumatic brain injuries.

In March, Congress passed a bill that cuts the funding by 57%. The move is leaving doctors worried.

"I'm involved with the entire athletic department, which certainly includes the football team," Dr. Nicholas Port, an IU optometry professor, said recently. "I am quite involved in and was at practice today."

In addition to teaching and several other responsibilities, Post helps care for the school's top athletes. He also specializes in treating traumatic brain injuries.

"The CDRMP is a congressionally mandated research program in the Department of Defense," Port said. "It's been around for at least a decade or two, maybe more, and they fund biomedical research that is relevant to the mission of the Department of Defense."

Under the program, the Department of Defense had $1.5 billion in 2024. That money was dispersed to researchers from across the country.

After Congress cut that budget to $650 million, researchers feared their funding will be cut.

"Well, grants are already very competitive, so they're only funding well less than 10% of the proposals that are submitted each cycle each year," Port said. "There will be fewer grants by 50% or less, so they may only fund 40% of what they funded last year."

Port says they've received little communication about the future of the funding.

Traces of the federal program have started to vanish. The program's web page reads "page not found." It once listed the many research programs it funded.

"That will have direct impact on patient care and a direct impact on developing tools and clinical interventions," Port said. "In my case, we have two clinical trial proposals that we're working on proposing. Our chances of getting those funded will go down tremendously."

Several other organizations in Indiana receive a small amount of CDMRP funding. The change means they too may have less opportunity to get funding through the program.


Kyla Russell wrote this article for WISH-TV.


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A new bill in Sacramento would dramatically raise K-12 school funding targets by 50% over ten years. Assembly Bill 477 is intended to help districts raise educators' pay, to attract more people to the profession and keep them there.

Grace Consentino is a middle-school science teacher in Novato.

"My commute every day is a total of one hour and 30 minutes. I would love to be able to live in the town that I work in, but I live in a separate county because the cost of living is so high," she said. "This is why teachers leave."

A recent study on the state of education in California found one in three new educators is seriously thinking about leaving, mostly because of low pay. The bill would hike the local control funding formula.

Opponents say they are concerned about cost. The Assembly Appropriations Committee has not yet completed a fiscal analysis.

Dannel Montesano is a longtime attendance clerk in the Galt Joint Union School District.

"Starting paraprofessional pay in my district is $18.63 an hour, while down the street at McDonald's, the starting pay is over $20 an hour. So, our schools are suffering from constant turnover and staffing issues," Montesano said.

California is bracing for a big hit to the state budget, as tax receipts are expected to be lower. In addition, Congress has proposed billions in cuts to Medi-Cal. And the administration has threatened to pull federal funding from schools that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, sponsored the bill, which went before the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday.

"The Trump administration is attempting to dismantle public education and defund our schools. California must fight back to defend public education," he said.


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After several weeks of public comment, bills addressing school finance in Texas will be presented to the House of Representatives.

House Bill 2 is the public school funding bill and Senate Bill 2 is the voucher proposal, along with its companion bill, House Bill 3.

Chandra Villanueva, director of policy and advocacy for the group Every Texan, said the proposed voucher initiative, which would provide students $10,000 to help pay for private school, would hurt public schools and low-income families.

"Our schools are funded based on attendance, so when kids leave the system, the schools will get less money," Villanueva explained. "Until you can actually close a campus, you still have all of your same fixed costs around utilities, teachers. You'll see more overcrowded classrooms."

Backers of school vouchers, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have said public schools will not be negatively affected. This is the second legislative session where Abbott has made a voucher program his top priority.

Teachers, advocacy groups and even members of the Republican Party have spoken out against vouchers. Many Texas teachers spent their spring break testifying before the legislative committee. Villanueva emphasized although the proposal is out of committee, they are not giving up.

"Members need to hear from their constituents," Villanueva stressed. "The public education committee has been targeted the most -- but even now, if your member is not on that committee, they're going to be the ones who are hearing this bill. And a lot of amendments are going to be offered up on the House floor. So that's an opportunity to try to limit the voucher, try to put more guardrails on it."

Both bills are expected to be brought to the House floor at the same time, but a date has not been set.


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