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Distinguished Professor at UAM. Recognition approved at the 432nd Session of the Academic Council held on December 7, 2017.

Dr. Gretchen Lapidus, a Chemical Engineer at heart, pursued her degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, and continued with a Master's at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She arrived in Mexico at the onset of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), where she found her professional home. Later, she earned her Doctorate in Sciences at UAM, specializing in hydrometallurgy.

Throughout 49 years at UAM, she passionately devoted herself to teaching in both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Chemical Engineering, covering subjects such as Thermodynamics, Material and Energy Balances, and Aqueous Processing of Materials, which was directly related to her research area: Extractive Metallurgy. This discipline sparked her students' interest in the fabrication of catalysts and new materials.

Her research focused on the recovery of base metals, precious metals, and rare earth elements found in minerals, electronic waste, and other discarded materials. She innovated in the use of more selective aqueous media with lower environmental impact compared to conventional processes, contributing to the development of integrated processing schemes that recycle resources and reduce toxic waste. This pursuit of novel methods earned her over fifteen patents in Mexico and other countries, with several applications still in process. Most of her findings were published in prestigious journals in the field.

Among the numerous awards she received throughout her career, the Teaching Award from the Division of Basic Sciences and Engineering at the Iztapalapa campus of UAM (1995) and the Academic Merit Award from the National Association of Faculties and Schools of Engineering (ANFEI) in 2007 stand out. However, for her, the greatest honor was being named Distinguished Professor of UAM in 2017, a recognition she attributes to the lessons she learned from her students, colleagues, and administrative friends throughout her career.