ADA, Ohio — Elizabeth Spingola of Butler was named the outstanding female leader at Ohio Northern University and received the 2014 Catherine Freed Leadership Award.

Spingola will be the first person in the nation to receive a bachelor’s degree in engineering education. She is a member of Phi Sigma Rho and the university’s Joint Engineering Council and a founder of its American Society for Engineering Education chapter.

She provided engineering instruction in K-12 STEM programs and developed and offered workshops for teachers in the Dominican Republic.

She has published seven conference papers, co-authored papers with faculty of ONU and Olin College and presented at national conferences.

Spingola will enter a doctoral program in engineering education at Virginia Tech.