The Association of Women Faculty presented its annual Graduate Student Awards to Michele Johnson and Tara Sinclair on April 14 in the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
The award was designed to recognize women students in their second year of graduate study or beyond who demonstrate scholarly excellence and leadership potential.
Johnson is a fourth-year graduate student in the Evolution, Biology and Population Program of the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences.
Jonathan B. Losos, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, nominated Johnson, writing that her research is “at the forefront of evolutionary biology.”
Johnson’s work addresses the role that habitat structure plays in determining the social organization of a species. In addition to her qualifications as a researcher, the selection committee for the award was impressed by her active efforts to recruit more women to the graduate program in biology and to involve the faculty in such efforts.
Sinclair is in her final year of study in the doctoral program of the Department of Economics in Arts & Sciences.
Her work centers on macroeconomic fluctuations in the labor market, such as unemployment and pension contracts. She has been an active participant in top academic conferences and is a member of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.
Steven Fazzari, Ph.D., professor and chair of economics, and James Morley, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics, nominated Sinclair, noting in their letter that she is an outstanding teacher and a leader among her fellow graduate students.
For more information, go online to artsci.wustl.edu/~awf.