RAND Women to Watch

Elizabeth Bodine-Baron speaking at the Roberta Wohlstetter Forum on National Security in Arlington, Virginia, October 24, 2018

Women have been at the core of RAND's success since its earliest days. The diversity of talent and experience among women at RAND—in both research and leadership—is reflected in the quality and impact of our work. From providing evidence that informs the debate over health care reform, to quantifying the benefits of prisoner education, or providing insights into counterterrorism strategies, women at RAND are tackling our most complex policy questions.

Dionne Barnes-Proby

This Month's Woman to Watch

Christine Wormuth

Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center; Senior Fellow

Christine Wormuth is a frequent writer and speaker on foreign policy, national security, and homeland security issues. Prior to joining RAND, she was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense. In that role, she advised both Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary Ash Carter on national security issues. She often represented DoD at the White House and spent considerable time on the counter-ISIS campaign, the rebalance to Asia, counterterrorism operations, and U.S. defense relations with countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. She recently testified before Congress on how the U.S.-European partnership has advanced U.S. and global security since the end of World War II.
Quoted
- Part of the challenge that we have now is to go back to a more comprehensive approach to our foreign policy and use the full spectrum of tools of national power that are available to us. I think many of the issues and challenges that we're faced with now are better addressed through diplomacy, through development, through economic tools, through—frankly—soft power.
  
  Source: Roberta Wohlstetter Forum on National Security
The United States and Europe Since World War II: A Mutually Beneficial Partnership
Selected Commentary and Conference Proceedings
- The U.S. Military's Border Enforcement Role
- Roberta Wohlstetter Forum on National Security

Our Work Addresses Key Policy Questions About Gender

Gender Equity in the Workplace

Despite gains in recent decades, women continue to receive lower pay, experience lower workforce participation, and may miss career advancement opportunities due to motherhood. RAND's research has examined the challenges and discrimination women face in many settings, as well as the impact of parenting and family life on career outcomes.

Research Brief
Why Do Women Leave the Coast Guard, and What Could Encourage Them to Stay?
Women leave the Coast Guard at higher rates than men. Focus groups raised concerns about work environment, career issues, and personal life matters. More inclusive personnel policies could help the Coast Guard address these concerns and retain more women.

More on Gender Equity in the Workplace »

Women's Health

Women have unique health needs, and face inequity in both quality and outcomes of health care. RAND's work has highlighted gender gaps in health care access and quality, measured the health needs of specific female populations, evaluated programs aimed at improving outcomes, and demonstrated how policy impacts women's options.

Research Brief
Evaluating Global Family Planning Programs
In 2013, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched two programs to help track progress toward a global goal to increase modern contraceptive use by 2020. Evaluating these programs, researchers found opportunities for improvement in four areas.

Female Populations

Women and girls face barriers to fully participating in society, including gender-based and intimate-partner violence, sexual assault, unmet health needs, and discrimination. RAND research has examined the needs of women refugees and migrants, gender disparities in health care, the effects of homelessness on women, and the impact of stress on girls.

Commentary
As Refugees, Syrian Women Find Liberation in Working
Syrian refugee women in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan want opportunities to work. But there are multiple barriers and challenges that limit them. Improving the chances of safe and dignified work opportunities for Syrian women in these countries could yield broad positive social benefits for both the refugee and host communities.

Notable Women in RAND's History

Rose Gottemoeller

Gottemoeller is NATO's Deputy Secretary General, the first woman ever appointed to that post. She was a researcher at RAND from 1977 to 1993. Learn more »

Conflict and Consensus in the Soviet Armed Forces 1989

Melinda Moore

Moore's research focused on global health issues, mainly infectious diseases, health security, and public health preparedness. Her extraordinary career included 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, five years at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and 14 years at RAND. Learn more »

Data and Family Planning: An Evaluation of Two Programs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 2018

Nancy Nimitz

Nimitz joined RAND in 1952 and specialized in economic studies of Soviet agriculture. Her work involved research on Soviet national income and product.

Soviet expenditures on scientific research 1963

Roberta Wohlstetter

Wohlsetter first published at RAND in 1948. She was a military historian best known for her book Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision, considered by many to be the definitive analysis of the intelligence failures that led to the attack. Learn more »

Cuba and Pearl Harbor: Hindsight and Foresight 1965

Nicole Lurie

Lurie is a physician, professor, and public health official who served as the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response during the Obama administration. While at RAND from 2002 to 2009, she was the Paul O'Neill Alcoa Professor of Health Policy. Learn more »

Assessing Health and Health Care in Prince George's County 2009

Tora Bikson

Bikson, a nationally known advocate for ethics in social science research, worked at RAND from 1974 to 2013. She was among the first experts to address the United States' rules for human subjects protection in research in the social and behavioral sciences. Learn more »

Global Preparedness and Human Resources: College and Corporate Perspectives 1994

Leona Woods Marshall Libby

Libby was an American physicist who helped build the first nuclear reactor. She worked at RAND from the mid-1960s to 1976. Learn more »

Fifty Environmental Problems of Timely Importance. 1970

Margaret Mead

Mead was an American cultural anthropologist. She studied Russian culture and attitudes toward authority while at RAND from 1948 to 1950. Learn more »

Soviet Attitudes Toward Authority: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Problems of Soviet Character1951

Natalie Crawford

Natalie Crawford is a senior fellow and Distinguished Chair in Air and Space Policy at the RAND Corporation. She is also a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She has held a number of leadership positions within RAND Project Air Force, and was vice president and director from 1997 to 2006.

Crawford received the U.S. Air Force Academy's 2012 Thomas D. White National Defense Award for her significant contributions to national security. In 2011, she received the Air Force Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the advancement of aerospace science and technology. In 2006, she received the OSD Medal for Exceptional Public Service and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Defense Industrial Association's Combat Survivability Division. Crawford was awarded the Department of the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service twice, in 1995 and 2003. Also in 2003, she received the Air Force Analytic Community's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lt. Gen. Glenn Kent Leadership Award, and the Vance R. Wanner Memorial Award from the Military Operations Research Society. She was named an AIAA Fellow in 2011. In 2018 she was awarded the honorary degree of doctor of public policy by the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Women in Leadership at RAND

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RAND Women to Watch

This Month's Woman to Watch

Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center; Senior Fellow

Quoted

Selected Commentary and Conference Proceedings

Our Work Addresses Key Policy Questions About Gender

Notable Women in RAND's History

Conflict and Consensus in the Soviet Armed Forces 1989

Data and Family Planning: An Evaluation of Two Programs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 2018

Soviet expenditures on scientific research 1963

Cuba and Pearl Harbor: Hindsight and Foresight 1965

Assessing Health and Health Care in Prince George's County 2009

Global Preparedness and Human Resources: College and Corporate Perspectives 1994

Fifty Environmental Problems of Timely Importance. 1970

Margaret Mead

Soviet Attitudes Toward Authority: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Problems of Soviet Character1951

Women in Leadership at RAND

Organizational Leadership

Organizational Leadership