Senior Scientists Receive RCSA’s 2025 Holland Awards
From left: Kevin Hewitt, Angel Martí, and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz.
Three senior scientists with exemplary records in research, leadership, and mentoring will join the Cottrell Scholar community as recipients of Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s Robert Holland Jr. Award. The awards, which come with a $5,000 cash prize, honor the late Robert Holland Jr., an engineer and corporate executive who served on RCSA’s Board of Directors.
The 2025 awardees are Kevin Hewitt, Physics, Dalhousie University; Angel Martí, Chemistry, Rice University; and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, Astronomy, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Holland Award recipients will attend annual Cottrell Scholar conferences and be eligible to participate in Cottrell Scholar Collaborative projects to promote excellence in science education. They will also be eligible to apply for other Cottrell Plus awards, including Cottrell IMPACT, SEED, and STAR Awards.
“Members of the Cottrell Scholar community are eager to learn from each other,” said RCSA President & CEO Daniel Linzer. “Holland Awardees add critical depth and experience to conversations and collaborative projects aimed at helping more students with interest in science reach their full potential.”
Holland Award recipients will be introduced and will give presentations at this year’s Cottrell Scholar Conference, which will be held July 16-18 in Tucson.
“Like Bob Holland, Cottrell Scholars have long been committed to breaking down barriers to STEM education,” said RCSA Senior Program Director Silvia Ronco. “Our 2023 and 2024 Holland Awardees have already become terrific assets to the community, and we are delighted to welcome Kevin, Angel, and Enrico.”
Kevin Hewitt, Full Professor of Physics, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Chair for Inclusion in Science and Engineering, and Associate Dean at Dalhousie University, runs an interdisciplinary research program that integrates optical and spectroscopic instrumentation development with biomedical and materials science applications. He co-founded the Imhotep Legacy Academy, a STEM bridge program that has been running at Dalhousie University for 21 years and has been replicated at other institutions across Canada. He has been a guest on Canada's national flagship CBC Ideas program, featured in the series Cool Black North, and recognized with top provincial and national awards for science promotion. He has been recognized for his community engagement with Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee medal in Nova Scotia and a Youth Community Service Award in British Columbia, and the national Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence.
Angel Martí, Chemistry Department Chair, Rice University, has established breakthrough research on the chemistry and self-assembly of nanostructures dimensions to create advanced macroscopic materials. Furthermore, his research with photoactive metal complexes has been a turning point in amyloid research, inspiring researchers worldwide to study tau, insulin, and amyloid islet proteins, among others, using metal complexes. He is the faculty director of the Rice Emerging Scholars Program, which provides under-resourced students of high potential a suite of interventions to facilitate their transition from high school to college, and to support their retention and academic success in STEM. He is an American Chemical Society Fellow, a Royal Chemical Society Fellow, and a recipient of the American Chemical Society – Southwestern Regional Meeting Stanley C. Israel Award.
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, Astronomy Professor and Vera Rubin Presidential Chair, University of California, Santa Cruz, is a world-leading authority in the burgeoning fields of compact binary mergers, tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes, sources of gravitational waves, and transient astrophysics. To foster talent in STEM, he established the Lamat Institute, which primarily recruits students from community colleges. For 15 years, Lamat — meaning "star" in Mayan — has provided hundreds of students with one of the most impactful introductory research experiences in astrophysics in the nation. As a result, Lamat has played a key role in doubling the number of historically marginalized students enrolled in top astronomy Ph.D. programs in the U.S. between 2017 and 2021. He is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Mexican Academy of Sciences.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement is a private foundation that funds basic research in the physical sciences (astronomy, chemistry, physics, and related fields) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It creates and supports engaged communities of early career researchers through the Cottrell Scholar Program, Scialog, and the RCSA Fellows initiative.
