Published: April 12, 2019

The Women in STEM2D Scholars Award aims to fuel the development of women and inspire career paths in their respective fields.

Assistant Professor Rebecca Morrison has been named a winner of the Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM2D (WiSTEM2D) Scholars Award.

She will receive three years of mentorship and $150,000 in funding from Johnson & Johnson for her research into flexible algorithms for climate modeling. The award had more than 400 applications this year, and Morrison is one of six winners, representing the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, math, manufacturing and design.

Rebecca MorrisonMorrison, who won in the math category, is interested in identifying flexible algorithms that can run mathematical calculations on variables like temperature, weather and rainfall more quickly and accurately as they shift over time. This will allow for more precise computational, physics-based and data-driven models of those changes so it's easier to address complex issues like climate.

“It really is an honor to receive this award, and I want to thank Johnson & Johnson for supporting women in STEM,” Morrison said. “I’m excited to learn more about how these complex models interact and see if we can’t make them faster and more streamlined, but just as reliable for predictions.”

Launched in June 2017, the Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Scholars Award aims to fuel development of female STEM2D leaders and feed the talent pipeline by awarding and sponsoring women at critical points in their careers, in each of the STEM2D disciplines.

"Through this Award and other programs, Johnson & Johnson is hoping to increase the participation of women in STEM2D fields worldwide," said Cat Oyler, vice president of global public health, tuberculosis, for Johnson & Johnson and a WiSTEM2D university sponsor. “We want to nourish the development of women leaders building a larger pool of highly trained female researchers so that they can lead STEM2D breakthroughs in the future.”

For more information and to submit nominations for the 2020 Awards, visit www.jnj.com/wistem2d.