Laura Balzano honored with Sarah Goddard Power Award

Laura Balzano, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), is the 2025 recipient of the Sarah Goddard Power Award, which is presented by U-M’s Academic Women’s Caucus and the Center for the Education of Women+. The award recognizes faculty members who have contributed significantly to the betterment of current professional challenges faced by women.

Balzano’s research focuses on developing new algorithms to model large-scale data in machine learning. These datasets are often “messy,” with corrupted and incomplete data or heterogeneous data sources. They are also very large-scale, requiring significant computational resources. Balzano’s work focuses on developing memory and computation efficient methods to extract useful predictions out of these messy data.

She strives to foster an inclusive and equitable environment in her research group and the courses she teaches, empowering students of all backgrounds to succeed. So far, she has mentored 10 PhD students, along with over 40 master’s and undergraduate students. Sixteen of these students are women, and Balzano has continued to advocate for additional women candidates during the recruitment process for the ECE signal processing and machine learning area.

“I have spent many hours talking to potential candidates, acting as a mentor to help them make the best decision for them rather than just worrying about trying to recruit them,” Balzano said.

Since joining U-M ECE as an assistant professor in 2013, Balzano has led initiatives to improve the experiences of women and other historically marginalized groups in ECE at all levels, from undergraduates to faculty. During her two terms on the Committee for an Inclusive Department, she played a central role in developing the current ECE Faculty Code of Conduct. She also organized ECE women faculty lunches and served on the Dean’s Advisory Committee for Women+ Faculty, working with women faculty to identify actions that would improve their professional lives at Michigan. Balzano currently serves on the Departmental Executive Committee.

I strive to make sure all students realize that they have the potential to excel and make key contributions in math and engineering.

Professor Laura Balzano

In the courses she teaches, Balzano has diversified and improved her content over time, adding a lecture about the ethics of race and gender bias in machine learning algorithms, with a critical look at historical views of statisticians who supported eugenics. Her expertise, inclusivity, and caring has made her a highly-ranked and well-liked professor of signal processing and machine learning subjects.

“I am a firm believer in the value of education to help make our society better. Unfortunately, many underrepresented students feel left out in typical classrooms, where their distinct technical backgrounds and experiences are not acknowledged,” Balzano said. “I strive to make sure all students realize that they have the potential to excel and make key contributions in math and engineering.”

In addition to mentoring the students in her research group, Balzano has made time to advise student groups on campus, including the U-M IEEE student branch, Girls in EECS, and the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) data science certificate students. She has also worked with diverse groups of middle and high school students in the M-STEM Academies, Wolverine Pathways, AI 4 All summer camp, Optimaize Day, and Engineering OnRamp programs, introducing them to her research in machine learning and helping them transition into a university environment.

“I am committed to programs that give high-school-aged students experience with engineering, machine learning, and data science, and introduce these areas as an excellent career opportunity,” said Balzano. “I am also serious about seeing Michigan improve these students’ experience once they enroll here.”

In addition to the many distinguished research awards Balzano has received throughout her early career, her service and promise as a role model in ECE has been recognized with the MLK Spirit Award, the Vulcans Education Excellence Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the University of Wisconsin ECE Early Career Award, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Peer Mentor Award.

“Professor Balzano is incredibly adept at tailoring research opportunities to individuals, so as to involve more people in research,” said alum Hana Baker (BSE CE ‘16). “Her impact reflects in my work ethic to this day, and I was lucky to be one of those students that absorbed her leadership style, her drive, her passion for technology, and her desire to build strong teams to solve some of the world’s toughest problems.”