The award recognizes her decades of outstanding achievements at Purdue, in the community and beyond, and her many endeavors to increase the number and success of women in engineering and all STEM-related fields. Nominators Barbara Clark, director of Purdue's Women in Science Programs and the Science Diversity office; and Patrice Buzzanell, professor of communication; cited Jamieson's co-founding of EPICS, which in addition to serving the community by delivering projects for deserving agencies and organizations, also encourages greater participation in engineering by women.
 
The nominators wrote: "The strength of Leah's leadership is that she has impacted lives on several different levels at the same time. At least 20 different universities such as Princeton, Notre Dame, Butler, Dartmouth and Penn State, have changed their engineering curricula to include an EPICS program, thus having a national impact. Many students, particularly female students, have a more community-based and service-learning experience of engineering due to participating in EPICS, and this has contributed to retaining these students in the STEM fields. Many community organizations are receiving volunteer assistance in solving their real-world, project-based problems, while their clients ultimately are impacted with improved services. It is a rare person who has the ability to impact so many individuals and organizations on so many levels with a single unique program."
 
The Lafayette Women's Political Caucus created the Salute to Women awards in 1974 to recognize women for their achievements. Since then other women's organizations have joined in the effort, with the YWCA becoming the sole sponsoring organization in 2000. Jamieson and seven other women will be recognized with 2014 awards, making a total of 287 women recipients since the awards' inception.