3 African American Women x 3 Ph.D.s = One Rare Achievement in Mathematics (2024)

3 African American Women x 3 Ph.D.s = One Rare Achievement in Mathematics (1)

3 African American Women x 3 Ph.D.s=

One Rare Achievement in Mathematics

3 African American Women x 3 Ph.D.s = One Rare Achievement in Mathematics (2)

3 African American Women x 3 Ph.D.s = One Rare Achievement in Mathematics (3)


(l to r) Tasha Inniss,Sherry Scott and Kimberly Weems

PRESS RELEASE Dec. 12, 2000
[CONTACT: Lee Tune 301-405-4679 ltune@accmail.umd.edu]

COLLEGE PARK, Md. * On December21 at the University of Maryland, TashaInniss, KimberlyWeems and SherryScott will do something few other African American womenhave done * receive Ph.D.s in mathematics.

"You can count on your handthe number of African-American women today who are Ph.D.'s inMath," Inniss said. "And we all know who they are."

"These students, their workand their achievement are quite remarkable," said PatrickFitzpatrick, chair of the department of mathematics at Maryland."And its gratifying that our department is almost certainlythe first anywhere to award doctorates in math to three AfricanAmerican women at the same time."

According to Fitzpatrick, datafrom the American Math Society show that there were only 12 mathPh.D.s awarded to African Americans in the entire United Statesin 1998-99, the most recent academic year for which data are available."In addition, we have one of the top graduate programs inmathematics in the country, so earning a Ph.D. in mathematicsat Maryland is extremely challenging," he said.

Although in 1970 the Universityof Maryland awarded GenevieveKnight a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education, no one has earneda Ph..D. in Mathematics until now. Inniss, Scott and Weems, arethe first African-American women to receive Ph.D.s in mathematicsfrom the university, said that the support they got from the programwas important in their success. They lauded the faculty and theopportunities available at Maryland, and commended the schoolfor welcoming them and making them feel at home from the verybeginning. "You did not come across problems at Marylandlike you could find at other schools," said Weems.

Fitzpatrick said the departmentis making a strong effort to recruit and support women and minorities."Our department currently has what is, almost certainly,the most diverse body of [math] graduate students in the country.Thirty-three percent of our 213 graduate students are women. Wehave 21 African-American and 8 Hispanic graduate students. Overthe past five years, fully 33 percent of our Ph.D.s have beenawarded to women."

In February of 2000, the QualityEducation for Minorities Network honored the University of Marylandas one of the nation's leaders in awarding doctoral degrees tominorities in the areas of mathematics, computer and physicalsciences and engineering.

Inniss, Weems and Scott said theirfamilies were a primary reason that they developed an abidinginterest in math and pursued that interest all the way to Ph.D.s.Each said that, along the way, supportive teachers also were animportant factor in their success.

Inniss, whose thesis title is"Distributed Stochastic Models for the Estimation of AirportArrival Capacity Distributions," said her mother teachessociology at Florida A & M University and strongly believesin the value of education. And she said her grandfather, a 6thgrade teacher with a master's degree from Harvard, was an inspirationand another major source of encouragement. "He taught memy multiplication tables," she said. "In fourth gradewhen I won second place in a math competition, my grandfatherwas in the front row."

"I never was given the impressionthat a woman could not or was not supposed to do math," Innisssaid. "There weremany teachers, including my grandfather,that fostered and encouraged my love in math. These teachers andmentors have influenced me to give back a little of what theyhave given me."

Weems's said the long road toher thesis, "On Robustness Against Mis-Specified Mixing Distributionand Generalized Linear Mixed Models," began as a young child,when she would play after school in the classroom of her mother,a middle school math and science teacher. "She always encouragedme to pursue my interest in these areas."

Weems said that later she drewgreat strength from African American women math professors shehad at Spelman College in Atlanta, where she received her undergraduatedegree.

"I have been fortunate tohave strong influential women in my life, many of whom are AfricanAmerican," she said. "I hope that I can be a role modelfor young girls and inspire them to pursue mathematical careers."

Scott's mother, a professor ofeducation at the University of Wisconsin, inspired her to pursuea higher education path that has now culminated in a Ph.D. thesison, "Spectral Analysis of Fractal Noise in Terms of Wiener'sGeneralized Harmonic Analysis and Wavelet Theory. "We wereall taught that the math had to be there if you wanted to succeed,"Scott said.

All three women said they findit discouraging that there are so few women and minorities intheir field and that progress in graduating more minority Ph.D.shas been so slow. "The fighting doesn't stop. You still haveto prove yourself," Scott said.

Despite these feelings, the womensay they are encouraged about the future. "You have to show'em, don't tell 'em," Inniss said. "Be that good teacherand be that good researcher."

For Weems, Scott and Inniss, "lifeafter thesis" has already begun. Each completed the requirementsfor their doctoral degrees this summer and has been working eversince. Inniss teaches at Trinity College in Washington, D.C. whereshe has been appointed as a Clare Boothe Luce Professor, and alsoconsults for the Federal Aviation Administration. Weems does "CryptonicMathematics" and signal analysis as part of a research internshipat the National Security Agency. And Scott does research and teachingas a visiting assistant professor in George Washington University'sstatistics department.

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FAQs

3 African American Women x 3 Ph.D.s = One Rare Achievement in Mathematics? ›

In December 2000, three young African American women received doctorates from the Mathematics Department. Tasha Inniss and Kimberly Weems received doctorates in Applied Mathematics, and Sherry Scott Joseph received her doctorate in Mathematics.

Who was the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in mathematics? ›

D. 1943, the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, was a prominent educator and an alumna of Catholic University who helped reform the segregated D.C. public school system.

Who is a famous Black female mathematician? ›

Creola Katherine Johnson (née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.

What famous African-American contributed to the world of mathematics? ›

Benjamin Banneker, Dudley Woodard, Katherine Johnson and Dr. Gladys West were revolutionary Black mathematicians whose work we celebrate. At the age of 24, Benjamin Banneker developed the first wooden clock to be made entirely in America.

Who was the first black man to earn a PhD in mathematics not only in the United States but in the entire world? ›

Elbert Frank Cox (5 December 1895 – 28 November 1969) was an American mathematician. He was the first African American to receive a PhD in mathematics, which he earned at Cornell University in 1925.

Who was the third African American to earn a PhD in mathematics NASA? ›

Schieffelin Claytor, the third African American to earn a Ph. D. in mathematics, who was determined to prepare Johnson to become a research mathematician. At age 18, she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in mathematics and French.

Who was the second black woman to get a PhD? ›

Evelyn Boyd Granville (May 1, 1924 – June 27, 2023) was the second African-American woman to receive a Ph. D.

What famous African American woman who was also a famous mathematician and educator died in 2002? ›

Etta Zuber Falconer (born Nov. 21, 1933, Tupelo, Miss., U.S.—died Sept. 19, 2002, Atlanta, Ga.) was an American educator and mathematician who influenced many African American women to choose careers in science and mathematics.

Who were the three black ladies who worked for NASA? ›

The African-American women computers played a vital role in advancing NASA projects, a story popularized by the movie Hidden Figures, based on the book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly. Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan were especially prominent computers.

Who is the most famous female mathematics? ›

1. Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) Born in Alexandria sometime between 350 and 370 AD, back when Egypt was part of the Roman Empire, Hypatia is universally recognised as the first famous female mathematician.

Who was the first black person to do math? ›

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) is often recognized as the first African American mathematician; however, ex-slave Thomas Fuller's (1710-1790) and the Nigerian Muhammad ibn Muhammad's (16??-1741) activities predate Benjamin Banneker.

Who was the Black mathematician who changed the world? ›

Elbert Frank Cox (1895-1969) In 1925, Elbert Frank Cox was the first black man to earn a Ph. D in mathematics not only in the United States, but in the entire world.

Who is the greatest African mathematician? ›

Professor Allotey is arguably the greatest mathematician Africa has ever produced- Historian Lawyer Anokye Frimpong #gtvbreakfast | By GTV GhanaFacebook.

Who was the third African American woman to get a PhD in math? ›

Marjorie Lee Browne was a prominent mathematician and educator who, in 1949, became only the third African-American woman to earn a doctorate in her field. Browne was born on September 9, 1914, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mary Taylor Lee and Lawrence Johnson Lee.

Who was the first Black woman mathematician? ›

Born in the segregated south of 1918, Katherine Johnson was a trailblazer from day one. Not only was she one of the first Black students to integrate West Virginia's graduate schools, she went on to become a NASA mathematician—sending astronauts into orbit, around the Earth, and to the moon.

Who was the first woman to earn a PhD in math? ›

Sofia (or Sonya) Kovalevskaya (1850-1891)

She went on to become the first woman to be granted a Ph. D. in mathematics when she was awarded her doctorate from Göttingen University in 1874.

Who was the first African American woman to earn a doctorate PhD in physics? ›

Willie Hobbs Moore (May 23, 1934 – March 14, 1994) was an American physicist and engineer. She is the first African American woman to earn a PhD in physics.

Who was the first African American to receive a PhD? ›

Edward Alexander Bouchet: The First African American to Earn a PhD from an American University. When Edward Alexander Bouchet was born on September 15, 1852, in New Haven, there was little likelihood of him one day attending nearby Yale University (known at the time as Yale College).

Who was the first African woman to earn a doctorate degree? ›

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964).

Who was the first American woman to earn a PhD? ›

Helen Magill White (born November 28, 1853, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.—died October 28, 1944, Kittery Point, Maine) was an educator who was the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph. D.

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