Alicia Nicki Washington is an American computer scientist, author, and professor at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. She is the author of the book ''Unapologetically Dope.'' She was the first Black woman to earn a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

in 2005.

Early life and education

Washington learned how to code from her mother, who was a

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

at IBM, while growing up in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. Washington said that at 12, she was told by her teacher that she "gave blacks a bad rep." She has also highlighted racist student reviews of her collegiate teaching referring to her as "rude" or "disrespectful". Washington attended undergraduate school at

Johnson C. Smith University Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and accredited by the ...

, obtaining a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

in 2000. She earned her

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 2002 and her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 2005 in Computer Science (CS) from North Carolina State University (NC State).

Career

2006-2020

In 2006, Washington became an assistant professor of CS at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

, where she was the first Black woman CS faculty. At Howard, Washington helped develop

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

's "Google In Residence" program. Washington joined

Winthrop University Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was founded in 1886 by David Bancroft Johnson, who served as the superintendent of Columbia, South Carolina, schools. He received a grant from Robert Charles Winthrop, ...

in 2015 as an associate professor of CS.

Duke University (2020-present)

Washington joined Duke University's faculty as a professor of CS in June 2020. Washington, along with Dr. Shaundra Daily and PhD candidate Cecilé Sadler, created the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows Program. In 2021, Washington and Daily were awarded a $10 million grant from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

to establish Duke University's Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AIICE).

Selected publications

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References

External links

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Profile
at Duke University * {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Alicia Nicki 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American writers American software engineers American women computer scientists American women engineers American women scientists Computer programmers Duke University faculty Google people Howard University people Johnson C. Smith University alumni Living people North Carolina State University alumni People from Durham, North Carolina Software engineers Winthrop University people Women computer scientists Year of birth missing (living people)