Rebecca T. Ruck

Rebecca T. Ruck is Associate Vice President, MSD Process Research & Development, where she leads the Enabling Technologies group, an innovation incubator of biologists, chemists, engineers and data scientists. Becky is a leader in women in chemistry efforts externally through the WCC-Merck Research Award and Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry (EWOC) conference and internally through expanded Diversity, Equity & Inclusion accomplishments, such as a series of D&I-themed TED-style talks that have greatly impacted the department’s understanding and appreciation of these important topics. She has been recognized with the 2018 ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences and as a 2020 HBA Rising Star and ACS Fellow. She currently holds positions on the ACS Petroleum Research Fund and the MIT Chemistry Visiting Committee and is an Associate Editor at ACS Catalysis. Becky graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, obtained her PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in the lab of Prof. Eric Jacobsen and conducted NIH-funded post-doctoral research at the University of California-Berkeley with Prof. Robert Bergman.