Remembering Hilda Diamond
A former BME Administrator and Associate Head, she helped to shape the Department and create opportunities for women
It is with sadness that the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) notes the passing of Hilda Diamond on January 2 at the age of 91. In her 40-year career at Carnegie Mellon, Hilda rose from an administrative position in the fledging biotech program to become the Administrator and Associate Head of BME.
“Hilda’s presence will be missed, but her influence will always be felt at Carnegie Mellon,” says Bin He, Department Head of Biomedical Engineering. “Not only was she instrumental in establishing the BME Department, but she also played a critical role in opening doors for female engineering students and creating a community for them.”
Hilda initially came to Carnegie Mellon in 1967 as an administrative assistant to help support the new Biotechnology Program, which was started by Professor George Bugliarello, a faculty member in Civil Engineering. She began as a part-time stenographer, helping to type manuscripts and submit them for publication. When a full-time administrative assistant left the program, Hilda assumed her responsibilities — a job that included submitting funding proposals, identifying promising students for training grants, and scheduling appointments.
Over time, Hilda’s responsibilities grew. One day in 1980, she was walking on the Cut when she passed the Dean of Engineering, Angel Jordan. He casually asked her to become the advisor to the Society of Woman Engineers, and she accepted. Over the ensuing years, Hilda passionately administered and grew the program.
As part of her involvement with the Society of Women Engineers, Hilda established “Engineering Your Future,” a two-week summer workshop for female and minority high school students. She tirelessly lobbied for funding from private foundations, visited with local high school counselors to attract students, and recruited female faculty members from across the College of Engineering to mentor and teach the students.
Hilda also single-handedly created the Technical Opportunities Conference (TOC) job fair, sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers as a means to help promising engineering students identify job opportunities. The first year, Hilda invited 10 local companies, including US Steel and Westinghouse, to visit the CMU campus and meet students.
Today, TOC is the single largest job fair at Carnegie Mellon, focusing specifically on technical employment. While TOC is sponsored by the College of Engineering, it is open to students from all over the campus and every school at the University. The event brings over 200 national companies to Carnegie Mellon each fall.
By the time the Biomedical Engineering Department was formally established in 2002, Hilda had risen to become its Administrator and Associate Head.
Hilda’s obituary noted that, although she was valedictorian of her class from Clairton High School, she was unable to attend college at the time. However, during her 40 years at CMU, she took classes on her lunch hour. After 10 years, she earned her degree in Art History, a topic she was passionate about.
In a 2011 interview, Hilda remarked, “Since Biomed was not really a part of anything for a long time, I was able to initiate these little programs like the TOC job fair without anybody saying anything. I didn’t have a specific person to report to, except for the Dean. So I started things and then they just took off from there.”
“Hilda always worried about the well-being of the students,” notes Professor Conrad Zapanta (B.S. 1991), Associate Department Head of Undergraduate Education in BME. “When I was an undergraduate, she helped me decide which classes to take and which graduate schools to apply to. She also recruited me back to CMU as a faculty member in 2006! Hilda has touched the lives of hundreds of Biomedical Engineering undergraduate and graduate students during her 40 years at Carnegie Mellon, and she will never be forgotten.”