The Dr. Martha Bidez Endowed Memorial Scholarship was created in memory of Dr. Martha Bidez, the first Graduate Program Director of the Master of Engineering in Advanced Safety Engineering and Management. Criteria for the scholarship include enrollment in ASEM, completion of at 6-credit hours in the program, at least a 3.0 GPA, and having shown leadership in the occupational safety and health profession. Ms. Melissa Rohrer is the 2023-2024 recipient of this scholarship.

Melissa is a Safety Supervisor Power Generation Texas at Entergy where she leads a team who is implementing an organizational-wide Safety Mentoring Program to foster knowledge sharing and professional development for Entergy Safety Professionals. She recently led a team who successfully hosted a two-day Safety Conference for all Entergy Safety Professionals and supported a team who is implementing a Safety Management System for the organization. Her specific contributions to the Safety Management System have been updating and implementing the Safety Incident Communication, Notification, and Reporting Standard, Nurse Triage, Driving Standard, Legionella, and Hydrogen Storage and Handling Standards. She also supports hosting an annual Contractor Safety Summit and Texas Lineman Rodeo Event. Her current role for Incident Response (storm duty) at Entergy is Communications Leader which entails obtaining all incident information related to the storms, track, analyze, and communicate the information to all necessary leadership and generate solutions for preventing reoccurrence, as well as writing daily safety communications to share with employees and contract partners. She is also a member of the High Energy: Controlling the Uncontrollable team with the Construction Safety Research Alliance partnered with University of Colorado Boulder. This team explores why Direct Controls are sometimes challenging; how to determine if an alternative work plan is sufficient; and how to continuously monitor the state of high-energy when workers are exposed. She also served on a leadership project tracking data for underground utility strikes to create solutions to mitigate high energy risk.

Melissa has also been active within the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), serving as the Administrator for the ASSP Emerging Professionals Common Interest Group. In that role she led a team of six to ten volunteers to support members of the Emerging Professional Common Interest Group via hosting webinars, creating opportunities for networking, professional development opportunities, and mentoring safety professionals. The team also supports members in navigating resources within ASSP and the safety profession. She has served in various volunteer roles within ASSP within Women in Safety Excellence, the Gulf Coast Chapter, and Gulf Coast North Section and previously served as a mentor for two Women in Safety Excellence mentees. She currently mentors another ASSP Safety Professional out of Washington, who she meets with virtually each month to serve as a resource as he progresses as a Safety Professional. In 2020, she was awarded two ASSP Community Safety Professional of the Year Awards, from both Emerging Professionals and Women in Safety Excellence Common Interest Groups.

Outside of work and safety Melissa served as the Committee Chair for the East Montgomery County Fair Calf Scramble Committee in connecting donors for children who are gifted monies to raise an animal and show at the county fair each year. Children learn organizational skills, project management skills, and to write monthly expense reports and essays as part of the scholarship program.