Ramona M. Graves is the retired vice provost for international initiatives, the retired dean of the College of Earth Resource Sciences and Engineering, and an emeritus professor of petroleum engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Graves has an extensive background in multidisciplinary reservoir characterization, rock mechanics, environmental issues in petroleum development and production, and high-power-laser rock-fluid interaction. She served on international SPE committees, including the SPE Board of Directors, as the director of academia from 2018 to 2020. She is a 2009 SPE Distinguished Member and received the 2017 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty.

She holds a PhD from the Colorado School of Mines. In 2006, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Mining University of Leoben, Austria, becoming the first woman to receive this honor in the 166-year history of the university.