Published: Sept. 14, 2022 By

Rubén Donato of the School of Education and Shelly L. Miller of the College of Engineering and Applied Science have been recognized with 2022-23 Distinguished Research Lectureships.


The Lectureship is among the most esteemed honors bestowed by the faculty upon a faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder. Each year, the Research & Innovation Office solicits nominations from faculty for the Distinguished Research Lectureship, and a faculty review panel recommends one faculty member as a recipient. Two faculty members were selected for the 2022–23 academic year.

Professor Rubén Donato

Rubén Donato is the Bob & Judy Charles Endowed Chair and a professor of Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice in the School of Education. 

Professor Donato earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a master’s degree in history from Stanford University and a doctorate in education (History of American Education) from Stanford University. 

Donato is an American educational historian and specializes in the history of Mexican American education in the United States. 

Professor Donato is a prolific writer of peer-reviewed articles and has published in highly respected journals in his field. He is author of The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era (SUNY, 1997); Mexicans and Hispanos in Colorado Schools and Communities, 1920-1960 (SUNY, 2007); and (with Jarrod Hanson) The Other American Dilemma: Schools, Mexicans, and the Nature of Jim Crow, 1912-1953 (SUNY, 2021). He was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2020. 

Professor Shelly L. Miller

Shelly L. Miller is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and faculty in the Environmental Engineering Program.

Miller received her master’s degree and doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College. 

Professor Miller investigates and teaches about urban air quality, focusing on understanding the impact of air pollution on public health and the environment. She is an expert on indoor environmental air quality, including airborne infectious disease transmission and control and air cleaning technologies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Miller played an influential role on campus and globally through wide-ranging education and communication work to help mitigate the airborne transmission of the virus. 

Miller is a member of the Academy of Fellows of the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ) and is also an associate editor for Environmental Science and Technology. Professor Miller has published over 90 peer reviewed articles on air quality, authored a chapter on Indoor Air Quality in the Environmental Engineering Handbook, and advocates for women in the academy and engineering.

The lectures

Details about the lectures, both of which will be held during the academic year, will be shared in CU Boulder Today as they become available.