2 Livermore Women to be Inducted into Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame

Information submitted by Alameda County—

Two Livermore women will be inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame later this month for being role models to other women and encouraging them to pursue their academic and athletic dreams.

The two women are Vanessa Hanley Lordi, an accomplished runner who is being inducted in the Sports and Athletics category; and Katherine Dunphy Guzman, a senior engineer at Sandia National Laboratory whose outreach efforts to interest women and minorities in the sciences has earned her induction in the Education category. 

Vanessa works extensively to involve other women in high-level track, cross country and road racing programs.  She is vice president of the West Valley Track club, Northern California’s oldest track club, and she has spearheaded expanded recruitment of women into the Club’s programs to help runners reach their athletic potential.  Vanessa rises each day at 4:30 a.m. to lead workouts before spending a 10-hour day as a Product Manager at Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara.  Vanessa’s career as an elite runner includes competing in track at Princeton University and she is dedicated to helping young women with advice on balancing academics with athletics, and striving for success in all aspects of life.

Katherine is a Senior Engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore who is a leading figure in the development of modeling and mapping technologies vital to Homeland Security in the United States.  She also is distinguished for her outreach efforts to interest women and minorities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers where these groups are vastly underrepresented.  She plays leading roles in programs at UC Berkeley, Sandia and elsewhere to encourage women to pursue science-related careers.  Katherine also sets an auspicious example when it comes to treading new paths for women in the sciences.  One of only a handful of Latinas to earn a Mechanical Engineering degree, she has quickly risen to a position of prominence where her work is having a positive impact nationally.