CCEE’s Ashly Cabas receives NC State Outstanding Global Engagement Award

CCEE Assistant Professor Ashly Cabas won the NC State Outstanding Global Engagement Award, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments in globally engaged teaching, student support, research, extension and outreach, and economic development by faculty and professional staff members at NC State. Recipients receive a plaque, $1,000 to advance their global work, and are recognized each year at the Global Engagement Honors and Awards Luncheon.

Cabas said she felt “incredibly honored,” to receive the award.

“There are many people at NC State doing extraordinary global engagement work, so I was very honored and excited to be part of that community.” 

Cabas is the Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation-funded initiative, E2SCALA, which stands for Earthquake Engineering and Seismology Community Alliance in Latin America and the Caribbean. The web-based application provides global, open access to educational resources, virtual mentorship, and collaboration opportunities to Latin American students in the U.S. and at partner academic institutions in Latin America. 

Cabas has also contributed to the coordination of an international undergraduate summer program in CCEE in partnership with undergraduate institutions in Venezuela, including her alma mater, the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, and the Universidad Metropolitana. 

“I participated in this summer program back in 2007, when I had the opportunity to visit NC State — and the U.S.— for the first time,” Cabas said. “The program made me fall in love with research, and I can confidently say that I would not be in academia now if it wasn’t for that amazing experience in CCEE.” 

Cabas emphasized that global engagement is important because “it can change lives.”

“It not only changed my life back in 2007 when I visited NC State for the first time, but with every new global engagement opportunity, my research embraces new dimensions, my teaching skills and philosophy get new perspectives, and my service to the profession gains more meaning,” she said. “I see this impact in my students too, and it is very rewarding to contribute to their growth by providing global engagement opportunities.”