Ana Maria Porras

{{Short description|American biomedical engineer}}

{{about|the American scientist|the Costa Rican athlete|Ana María Porras}}

Ana Maria Porras is an American biomedical engineer{{Cite web |title={{!}} IF/THEN® Collection |url=https://www.ifthencollection.org/anamaria |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=www.ifthencollection.org}} who is assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida{{Cite web |title=Ana Maria Porras, Ph.D. – J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering |url=https://www.bme.ufl.edu/dept-member/ana-maria-porras-ph-d/ |access-date=2022-11-17 |language=en-US}} and an IF/THEN Ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Porras has published academic research in the fields of human microbiome, tissue engineering, biomaterials, global health, and infectious disease.{{Cite web |title=Ana Maria Porras |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oWHtD70AAAAJ&hl=en |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=scholar.google.com}} She is known for creating crochet versions of micro-organisms as a way of connecting with a wider audience, especially children in her home country of Colombia.{{Cite web |last=Wight |first=Andrew |title=How Do You Tell Colombian Kids A Science Yarn? With Crochet! |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewwight/2019/09/22/how-do-you-tell-colombian-kids-a-science-yarn-with-crochet/ |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=Forbes |language=en}} A 3-D printed statue of Porras holding several of her crochet creations was included in the IF/THEN exhibit{{cite web | url=https://ifthenexhibit.org/ambassador/B-27/ | title=#IfThenSheCan – the Exhibit }} at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. in March 2022.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} She was named a UF International Center Global Fellow in 2021, a Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, 2019-2022 and an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellow, 2015-2016.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} She co-founded the LatinX in Biomedical Engineering (LatinXinBME){{Cite journal |last1=Aguado |first1=Brian A. |last2=Porras |first2=Ana M. |date=December 2020 |title=Building a virtual community to support and celebrate the success of Latinx scientists |journal=Nature Reviews Materials |language=en |volume=5 |issue=12 |pages=862–864 |doi=10.1038/s41578-020-00259-8 |pmid=33101711 |pmc=7574393 |bibcode=2020NatRM...5..862A |issn=2058-8437|doi-access=free }} community with Brian Aguado, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California San Diego. Porras was quoted in a 2021 BBC article on the gender differences in the use of professional titles.{{Cite web |last=Ro |first=Christine |title=Why we use women's professional titles less than men's |url=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210216-why-do-professional-titles-actually-matter |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}