Aprille Ericsson-Jackson

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N. Y., M.I.T 

graduate

 Aprille Ericsson was the first female (and the first African-American female) to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in engineering at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In 1996 and 1997 Ericsson-Jackson was named one of the top fifty minority women working in the Science and Engineering fields by the National Technical Association.