Elba Serrano, Regents Professor, New Mexico State University received her undergraduate degree in physics with distinction from the University of Rochester and her Ph.D. in biological sciences from Stanford University with an emphasis in neuroscience and biophysics.

Email:  serrano AT nmsu DOT edu     Lab  link     Courses link   ORCID link   
 Elba Serrano’s biomedical research focuses on the sensory systems for hearing and balance, neurogenetics, and glial neurobiology. Her research has been furthered by grants and awards from the National Institutes of Health, NASA, NSF, the Ford Foundation, and the Whitehall Foundation. Serrano is an advocate for interdisciplinary research and education and she has collaborated with scientists and engineers at UCSD, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), Harvard, MIT, UC Denver Anschutz and NMSU. 

Serrano served as the Principal Investigator and Program Director of NMSU's  Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) student training program between 2008  and 2018. She is the co-founder PI of the NIH funded BP-ENDURE Building Research Achievement in Neuroscience (BRAiN) program (in 2010). Serrano has offered courses, workshops, and lectures on science, ethics, and society for over 15 years.

She is a current member of the NIH BRAIN MultiCouncil Working Group, the BRAIN Neuroethics Working Group), the ACD Next Generation Research Initiative Working Group, and the Society for Neuroscience Global Membership Committee.  

Serrano has served on the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director,  as co-Chair of the NIH ACD Diversity Working Group, on the NIH NIDCD Council, NIH CSR AUD Study Section, the Health Sciences Advisory Council for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), the CINT User Executive Committee, the International  Neuroethics Society Program Committee, as  Faculty Adviser for the International Neuroethics Society Student/Postdoc Committee, and on the Advisory Board for the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS).

In 2018 Serrano became the NMSU lead PI for the NSF's first HSI National STEM Resource Hub that is tasked with building grantsmanship capacity at HSIs in support of student success in STEM careers.

In addition to leadership of NIH training programs that have financially supported over 300 NMSU STEM students through degree completion, Serrano has served as research mentor for over 130 NMSU BS, MS, and PhD students who have undertaken research as members of her team. Visit this link to view a roster.
Honors 
Research Specialties 
biophysics -  sensory cells and organs - tissue engineering- neuroinformatics - nanobioscience - organogenesis (acoustico-vestibular) -  stomata - mechanoreception - AFM membrane transport - glia

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Education Specialties
neuroscience - human biology for non-majors --plants and the nervous system - neuroethics - science, ethics, and society - gender and ethnic equity in STEM disciplines - research education for graduate and undergraduate students
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