Jennifer Howcroft, a systems design engineering graduate student, is one of just two doctoral students in Canada chosen to receive a $15,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She was also selected as a Mary Louise Remy Endowed Scholar, a special designation only given to 13 of this year's recipients to recognize the finest Scholars. A total of 90 students across the U.S. and Canada are recipients of this year's award from the philanthropic organization focused on offering women increased opportunities for higher education.
Howcroft's research is focused on assessing and predicting the risk of falling in elderly individuals using wearable sensors. Her doctoral work is being supervised by systems design engineering faculty members Jonathan Kofman and Edward Lemaire.
The P.E.O. Scholar Award was established by the P.E.O. Sisterhood in 1991 to provide merit-based awards for women in the U.S. and Canada who are pursuing a doctoral level degree at an accredited college or university. The Mary Louise Remy Endowed P.E.O. Scholar Award was the first Endowed award for the P.E.O. Sisterhood and was established through gifts from California State Chapter in honor of Past President of the International Chapter Mary Louise REmy.