List of African-American women in STEM fields facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Contents

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
V
W
Y

A

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Rediet Abebe	computer scientist	1991-	first woman computer scientist to be appointed to the Harvard Society of Fellows
	Lilia Ann Abron	chemical engineering, environmental engineering	1945-	first African-American woman to earn a PhD in chemical engineering
	Claudia Alexander	geophysics, planetary science	1959-2015	Project manager for NASA's Galileo mission and Rosetta mission
	Gloria Long Anderson	chemistry	1938-
	Treena Livingston Arinzeh	biomedical engineering	1970-
	Donna Auguste	businesswoman, computer scientist	1958-
	Wanda Austin	aerospace engineering	1954-	Former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation
	Estella Atekwana	Biogeophysics; tectonphysics	1961-	Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment at the University of Delaware

B

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	June Bacon-Bercey	meteorology	1932-	Believed to be the first African-American woman to gain a degree in meteorology and confirmed to be the first African-American woman to be a televised meteorologist.
	Erica Baker	software engineer	2006-	Engineer and engineering manager in the San Francisco Bay Area, known for her outspoken support of diversity and inclusion.
	Alice Augusta Ball	chemistry	1892-1916	first woman and African-American to receive a master's degree from the University of Hawaii
	Patricia Bath	ophthalmologist, inventor	1942-2019	pioneered laser surgery to remove cataracts
	Regina Benjamin	physician	1956-	18th Surgeon General of the United States
	Angela Benton	internet entrepreneur	1981-
	Matilene Berryman	oceanographer	1920-2003
	Sarah Boone	inventor	1832-1904
	Sylvia D. Trimble Bozeman	mathematician	1947-
	Carolyn Brooks	microbiologist	1947-
	Dorothy Lavinia Brown	surgeon	1919-2004	First African American female appointed to a general surgery residency in the racially segregated South.
	Marjorie Lee Brown	mathematician	1914-1979
	Kimberly Bryant	electrical engineer
	Joy Buolamwini	computer scientist
	Ursula Burns	engineer, CEO	1958-

C

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Alexa Canady	neuroscience	1950-
	Carolyn Cannon-Alfred	pharmacologist	1934-
	Majora Carter	developer	1966-
	Gloria Chisum	experimental psychologist	1930-
	Mamie Phipps Clark	social psychologist	1917-1983	Researched self-esteem and self-concept in African-American children, which was used in 1954 civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas
	May Edward Chinn	physician	1896-1980
	Yvonne Clark	engineer	1929-
	Jewel Plummer Cobb	biologist	1924-2017
	Johnnetta Cole	anthropologist, educator and museum director	1936-	Spelman College's seventh president and the first Black woman to lead the institution
	Rebecca Cole	physician	1846-1922	Second African-American woman physician
	Bessie Coleman	aviator	1896–1926	first African American and Native American woman to hold a pilot license
	Betty Collette	veterinary pathologist	1930-2017
	Margaret S. Collins	zoologist	1922-1996
	Carol Blanche Cotton	psychologist	1904-?
	Patricia S. Cowings	aerospace psychophysiologist	1948-	'first African American woman scientist to be trained as an astronaut by NASA
	Rebecca Lee Crumpler	physician	1831–1895	first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States

D

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Marie Maynard Daly	biochemist	1921–2003	first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry
	Theda Daniels-Race	nanoengineering, electronic engineering		Michael B. Voorhies Distinguished Professor in the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Louisiana State University, 19th African American woman to obtain a PhD in a physics-related field in the US
	Christine Darden	aerospace engineer	1942-	Researcher at NASA where she was a pioneer in the design of supersonic aircraft
	Geraldine Claudette Darden	mathematician	1936-
	Mary Deconge	mathematician	1933-
	Giovonnae Dennis	electrical engineer
	Helen Octavia Dickens	physician	1909–2001
	Georgia Mae Dunston	Human Geneticist	1944-	Professor at Howard University and founder of the National Human Genome Center

E

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Annie Easley	mathematician and rocket scientist	1933–2011
	Cecile H. Edwards	nutritionist	1926–2005
	Joycelyn Elders	pediatrician	1933-	Surgeon General of the United States
	Lola Eniola-Adefeso	chemical engineer
	Anna Epps	microbiologist	1930-
	Jeanette J. Epps	astronaut and aerospace engineer	1970-
	Aprille Ericsson-Jackson	aerospace engineer	1963-
	Brittney Exline	software engineer
	Cassandra Extavour	evolutionary biologist		Director of EDEN, a national research collaborative encouraging use of non- Drosophila model organisms

F

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Etta Zuber Falconer	mathematician	1933-2002
	Angella D. Ferguson	pediatrician	1925-	researcher of sickle cell disease
	Evelyn J. Fields	oceanographer	1949-
	Njema Frazier	nuclear physicist
	A. Oveta Fuller	virologist	1955-

G

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Timnit Gebru	computer scientist
	Gloria Ford Gilmer	mathematician
	Sarah E. Goode	inventor	1855–1905
	Evelyn Boyd Granville	mathematician, computer science	1924-
	Bettye Washington Greene	chemist	1935- 1995
	Eliza Ann Grier	physician	1864–1902
	Margaret Grigsby	physician
	Bessie Blount Griffin	physical therapist, inventor	1914–2009
	Dr. Natasha A. Greene	Physicist, Nuclear Health Physicist, Meteorologist	1975-	Dr. Greene is noted as the first to earn a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from Howard University. She currently works in Federal Government at the US NRC.

H

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Sossina M. Haile	materials scientist	1966-
	Betty Harris	chemist	1940-
	Paula T. Hammond	Chemical Engineer	1963-	Koch Professor of Engineering, Department Head of Chemical Engineering, Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, MIT
	Mary Styles Harris	geneticist	1949-
	Alma Levant Hayden	chemist	1927-1967
	Euphemia Lofton Haynes	mathematician	1890-1980	First African-American woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics
	Ruby Puryear Hearn	biophysicist	1940-
	Gloria Conyers Hewitt	mathematician	1935-
	Mary Elliott Hill	chemist	1907-1969
	Stephanie Hill	engineer
	Jane Hinton	veterinarian	1919-2003
	Esther A. H. Hopkins	chemist	1926-
	Ruth Winifred Howard	psychologist	1900-1997
	Fern Hunt	mathematician	1948-
	Yasmin Hurd	neuroscientist

I

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Jedidah Isler	astrophysicist
	Nia Imara	astrophysicist and artist

J

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Deborah J. Jackson	aeronautical engineer
	Fatimah Jackson	biological anthropologist
	Shirley Ann Jackson	physicist	1946-	President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
	Chavonda Jacobs-Young	paper scientist
	Mae Jemison	astronaut and physician	1956-	first African American woman to travel in space
	Allene Johnson	chemist	1933–
	Ashanti Johnson	geochemist and oceanographer
	Katherine Johnson	mathematician	1918-2020	calculated the trajectories for many NASA missions, including Apollo 11
	Tracy L. Johnson	molecular and cell biologist
	Anna Johnson Julian	sociologist	1903-1994
	Lynda Marie Jordan	biochemist	1956–

K

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Sinah Estelle Kelley	chemist	1916-1982	worked on mass production of penicillin
	Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner		1912-2006
	Angie Turner King	chemist and mathematician	1905–2004
	Reatha King	chemistry	1938-
	Ruth G. King	Educational psychologist	1933-	First woman president of the Association of Black Psychologists

L

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Lisa Lambert
	Margaret Morgan Lawrence	pediatric psychiatrist	1914–2019	researched negative psychological effects of segregation on Black children
	Katheryn Emanuel Lawson	chemist	1926–2008
	Lillian Burwell Lewis	zoolologist
	Chekesha Liddell	material science and engineering
	Ruth Smith Lloyd	anatomist	1917-1995
	Farah Lubin	Neuroscientist
	Irene Long	aerospace medicine	1951-
	Beebe Steven Lynk	chemist	1872–

M

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Shirley M. Malcom	science administrator	1946-	head of education and human resources programs at AAAS
	Harriet Marble	pharmacist	1885-1966	early African-American woman pharmacist
	Cora Bagley Marrett	sociologist, science administrator	1942-
	Pamela McCauley-Bush
	Dorothy McClendon	microbiologist	1924-
	Linda C. Meade-Tollin	biochemist	1944–
	Juanita Merchant	physiologist
	Shireen Mitchell
	Ruth Ella Moore	bacteriology	1903–1994	first African-American woman with PhD in a natural science, department head at Howard University
	Tanya Moore
	Willie Hobbs Moore	engineering, physics	1934–1994	first African American woman to receive a PhD in physics

N

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Shelia Nash-Stevenson	Physicist, integration engineer		integration engineer for the Planetary Programs Missions Office at Marshall Space Flight Center
	Ann T. Nelms
	Lyda D. Newman	Inventor

O

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Joan Murrell Owens	marine biologist	1933-	expert on button corals

P

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Carolyn Parker	mathematician, physicist	1917–1966	worked on the Dayton Project, the plutonium research and development arm of the Manhattan Project first African-American woman known to have gained a postgraduate degree in physics
	Jennie Patrick	chemical engineering	1949–
	Hattie Scott Peterson	civil engineer	1913–1993	believed to be the first African-American woman to gain a bachelor's degree in civil engineering
	Clarice Phelps	nuclear chemist		first African-American woman to help discover a chemical element
	Vivian W. Pinn	pathologist	1941-	Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
	Chanda Prescod-Weinstein	theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, cosmologist, writer	1982 -	possibly first African-American woman to hold a faculty position in theoretical cosmology
	Jessie Isabelle Price	veterinary microbiologist	1930-2015	isolated and reproduced the cause of the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming in the 1950s
	Sian Proctor	African American explorer, scientist, STEM communicator, and aspiring astronaut		geology, sustainability and planetary science professor
	Johnnie Hines Watts Prothro	chemist	1922–2009	food chemistry and nutrition

Q

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Lynnae Quick	planetary scientist, planetary geophysicist		Ocean Worlds Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

R

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Mary Logan Reddick	neuroembryologist, biologist	1914 - 1966	possibly the first African-American woman scientist to receive a fellowship to study abroad, and the first female biology instructor at Morehouse College
	Eslanda Goode Robeson	chemist	1896–1965
	Gladys W. Royal	chemist	1926–2002

S

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Antoinette Rodez Schiesler	chemist, director of research at Villanova University	1934 - 1996
	Lyndsey Scott	computer programmer	1984-
	Cheryl L. Shavers	semiconductor engineering and management	1953-	first African-American Undersecretary of Commerce for Science and Technology
	Mabel Keaton Staupers	Nursing administrator	1890 - 1989	Instrumental in implementing the desegregation of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during WWII
	Susan McKinney Steward	pediatrician, homeopath	1847-1918	the third African-American woman to earn a medical degree, and the first in New York state.
	Moogega Cooper Stricker	Planetary protection engineer	1985-20??	NASA engineer working on Mars 2020 rover.
	Thyrsa Frazier Svager	mathematician	1930-1999	one of the first African-American women to receive a PhD in mathematics
	Latanya Sweeney	computer scientist		computer scientist best known for work on k-anonymity
	Alberta Jones Seaton	embryologist, biologist	1924-2014	One of the first African-American women awarded a doctorate in zoology, in Belgium in 1949.

T

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Valerie Thomas	physicist and inventor	1943-	Inventor of the Illusion Transmitter Overseer of NASA's Landsat program, international expert in Landsat data products
	Lisette Titre-Montgomery	Game Developer	1998-	Art Director and Game Developer . Lisette has contributed to some of the industry's highest profile games, including Tiger Woods Golf, The Simpsons, Dante's Inferno, Dance Central 3, SIMS 4, South Park, and Transformers Age Of Extinction for Android and iOS. Her most recent project is Psychonauts 2 with Double Fine Productions.
	Margaret E. M. Tolbert	chemist and science administrator	1943-	the first African American and the first woman in charge of a Department of Energy lab
	Rubye Prigmore Torrey	chemist	1926–

V

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Powtawche Valerino	mechanical engineer

W

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Chelsea Walton	mathematician	1983-
	Dawn Ward	synthetic chemist	1973-	Chemist creating molecules active against Hepatitis C virus
	Jessica Ware	evolutionary biologist, entomologist.		work on phylogenomics of insect evolution
	Marguerite Williams	geologist	1895 – 1991?	the first African American to earn a doctorate in geology in the United States
	Geraldine Pittman Woods	science administrator	1921–1999	known for her lifelong dedication to community service and for establishing programs that promote minorities in STEM fields, scientific research, and basic research
	Dawn Wright	oceanographer, geographer	1961-	expert in seafloor mapping, marine geographic information systems
	Jane C. Wright	cancer researcher, surgeon	1919-2013	pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy

Y

Image	Name	Field(s)	Dates	Notes	Ref.
	Josephine Silone Yates	chemist	1859-1912
	Chavonda Jacobs-Young	paper science		first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D in paper science
	Roger Arliner Young	zoology	1889-1964	first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Zoology

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List of African-American women in STEM fields Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.