Lorena Medina Luna leads efforts to develop and expand NSF NCAR research collaborations with minority-serving institutions (MSIs) across the country. She leads the Collaborative Opportunities for Research Engagement (CORE) Awards, which offers seed funding to faculty at MSIs and ERIs for research programs in collaboration with NSF NCAR scientists. She also leads the pilot teaching exchange program, Engaging Scientists in Teaching, Training, and Learning Efforts (ESTTLE). From 2017-2022, she worked as an education designer within the NSF NCAR Education, Engagement, and Early Career Development program. In that role she was the lead organizer for the NSF NCAR Explorer Series and Traveling Climate Exhibit. She continues to work on bringing science to the community through bilingual science communication efforts. From 2017-2019, she worked with the NSF Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science program, leading the science communication workshop, professional development, and student mentoring.

Prior to coming to NCAR, she worked at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as a bilingual educator-performer teaching K-12 students about a variety of STEM fields, and she has experience in non-traditional science education. She is the co-founder and lead for SOLESS - Society of Latinx/Hispanics in Earth and Space Science based out of the Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Lorena received her Ph.D. in geology (geophysics) from the University of Michigan, where she investigated the stresses that generate earthquakes. She received her M.S. in geology from California State University, Northridge in stratigraphy & OSL geochronology of the southern San Andreas fault, and her B.S. is in earth and environmental science from the University of California, Irvine.