Indiana Native Is Keynote Presenter for IUP Women in Stem Event
An Indiana County student attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania was selected for the 2025 Patricia Hilliard Robertson Memorial Scholarship for Outstanding Female Science Student.
Anna Cutshall, a biology major and business administration minor from Homer City, a 2023 Homer Center High School graduate, was selected for the scholarship, which was presented April 7 during IUP’s annual STEM Women’s Summit, which highlights current women scientists and alumnae working in the science fields.
From left, IUP John J. and Char Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Assistant Dean Amy Cook; Zach Hilliard, nephew of the late Patricia Hilliard Robertson; 2025 recipient of the Dr. Patricia Hilliard Robertson Scholarship, Anna Cutshall; Hilliard Robertson’s mother, Ilse Hilliard; Scott Hilliard, the late Hilliard Robertson’s brother; and Women in STEM keynote presenter Bonnie Anderson.
The STEM Women’s Summit is the opening event for IUP’s annual Research Appreciation Week. The STEM Women’s Summit also included a poster session of women student research projects and networking opportunities.
This year’s STEM Women’s Summit featured Indiana native and veteran diagnostics industry leader Bonnie Anderson as the keynote speaker.
Anderson is the cofounder, chairwoman, and CEO of PinkDX Inc., an early-stage diagnostics company focused on addressing unmet medical needs for women. Anderson is a 1980 IUP medical technology graduate, 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award winner, and 2023 honorary doctorate recipient.
Patricia Hilliard Robertson
The Hilliard Robertson scholarship was established as a living legacy for Dr. Patricia Hilliard Robertson, a 1985 graduate of IUP from Homer City, who received the Distinguished Alumni Award from IUP in 2000.
Hilliard Robertson died May 24, 2001, in Houston from injuries sustained in the crash of a private plane at Wolfe Air Park in Manvel, Texas. She had been assigned as a crew-support astronaut for the Expedition Two crew that was preparing for service aboard the International Space Station in 2001.
The scholarship is presented annually by family members of the late Hilliard Robertson, including the late Hilliard Robertson’s mother, Ilse Hilliard of Homer City, who was a long-time faculty member at IUP in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. This year’s presentation included Hilliard Robertson’s brother Scott Hilliard and Zack Hilliard, Hilliard Robertson’s nephew.
“This scholarship is a living memorial that keeps Patty’s memory and legacy alive,” Ilsa Hilliard said. “It also represents her values, education, and a life full of activities and adventure. I find it deeply, profoundly moving that IUP continues to highlight her in this way. It is very meaningful.”
In December 2023, the late Hilliard Robertson was honored with the naming of a Cygnus spacecraft. The spacecraft, constructed by Northrop Grumman, was named NG-20: the S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson.
“It’s our tradition to name each Cygnus spacecraft after a significant figure in human spaceflight,” company officials said. “Dr. Robertson was selected in honor of her accomplishments as a space medicine fellow, flight instructor, and pilot and her service as a NASA astronaut.”
The S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson was launched on January 30 and arrived at the International Space Station on February 1, 2024, where it was installed to the Earth-facing port of the Unity module. The spaceship is the twentieth Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services flight to the space station for NASA.
The Patricia Hilliard Robertson Center for Aviation Medicine at the Indiana Regional Medical Center was named in her honor in 2009.
Bonnie Anderson delivers the 2025 Women in STEM keynote presentation
Cutshall is the daughter of Jim and Beth Cutshall and is a dean’s list student. She is a member of the Biology Club and the American Chemical Society Club and is doing biochemistry research.
Her collaborative research project, “Determining the Ideal Conditions for Linker-Payload Assembly,” is one of the projects presented during IUP’s 2025 Scholars Forum, held as part of IUP’s Research Appreciation Week.
“I’m very grateful to be recognized for this scholarship,” Cutshall said. “Knowing Dr. Hilliard Robertson’s story and coming from the same small town she did is truly inspiring, and it motivates me to continue pursuing my passions and goals. I hope I can honor her and continue her legacy.”
“One of my primary educational goals is to expand my knowledge of the sciences and the human body,” Cutshall said. “I have always been fascinated with the intricate, interconnected systems that work together to create one functioning human being. This curiosity has led me to pursue my ultimate goal: becoming an optometrist,” she said.
“From a young age, I have been drawn to careers in the medical field. Many of my family members, most of them women, have careers as physical therapists, nurses, and doctors. Growing up surrounded by such smart, hard-working women inspired me to follow in their footsteps and dedicate my career to helping others,” Cutshall said.
“While the women in my life influenced my love for helping others, my father’s entrepreneurial spirit gave me my desire to own my own business someday. I witnessed firsthand the rewards and challenges of running a business as he managed multiple real estate properties. These influences shaped my passion for optometry, a field that perfectly blends my love for health care with my ambition to one day run my own practice.
“I’m especially fascinated by how the eyes can reveal broader health issues within the body, further reinforcing my interest in this profession. I look forward to expanding my knowledge by attending optometry school and taking the first steps toward building my future career,” she said.
While in high school, Cutshall was actively involved in a number of sports, clubs, and community service activities.
Research Appreciation Week spotlights the spirit of innovation and collaboration in disciplines throughout the university and recognizes the contributions that IUP’s original research and scholarship make to this region, commonwealth, and world. This year’s events included the second annual Artificial Intelligence Summit, sponsored by the IUP Center for Scholarly Communication in IUP’s Research and Innovation. The Center is directed by Dana Driscoll, who is also the Center’s founder.
Research Appreciation Week also included the twentieth annual Scholars Forum, featuring IUP undergraduate and graduate students and 63 high school students from Indiana Area High School, Blacklick Valley Jr.-Sr. High School, and West Shamokin High School; the annual Three-Minute Thesis competition; and a number of workshops and presentations for student and faculty researchers.
About the Keynote Speaker
Bonnie Anderson during the 2025 Women in STEM keynote presentation
Bonnie Anderson has a strong track record of building successful businesses in novel markets.
She cofounded Veracyte, a global diagnostics company, where she served as CEO from 2008 to 2021. During her tenure, she raised more than $1 billion in private and public funding, launched market-leading diagnostic tests that are transforming patient care in multiple disease areas, and established Veracyte’s strategic vision for offering its tests to physicians and their patients globally.
Prior to Veracyte, Anderson provided strategic consulting services to venture capital firms and early-stage businesses following 18 years in leadership positions at Beckman Coulter. At Beckman Coulter, she led the company’s “intrapreneurial” start-up division, focused on the emerging immuno-oncology field.
Anderson serves on the boards of Bruker Corporation, DNA Script, and the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences. Additionally, she is president of the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine, representing the genomic diagnostics industry to federal and state-level policymakers and regulators, and previously served on the boards of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and Castle Biosciences.
Anderson has received numerous awards for her industry leadership, including Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business;” Fierce Pharma’s “Fiercest Women in Life Sciences;” and the San Francisco Business Times’ “Bay Area Most Admired CEOs.”