Aprille Ericsson Accomplishments

I selected Aprille Ericsson for multiple reasons. One being that I know blacks make up only about 3.3% of engineering professionals in the United States. Building on the first reason, I was curious how Ericsson navigated through her career with the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) against the definite lack of diversity among the engineering profession.
Aprille Ericsson became the first African American female to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University in Washington, DC. She then went on to becoming the first African American female at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to receive a Ph.D. in engineering. Ericsson has been acknowledged for her work and achievements by receiving the following awards:

She grew up being encouraged and pushed by her mother and grandfathers to do the best she could do in school and to never give up. One of the things she credits for her love for engineering was winning second place in her 8th grade science fair and building her first science instrument. Growing up and being the first African American female to graduate with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Howard and a Ph.D. in engineering at Goddard motivated her to work towards motivating minorities and females to get into the science and math fields of

I also have not faced being one of the only females in my career field obstacle that Ericsson has faced. Finally, Ericsson pursued a career in aerospace engineering in which I have no interest in.
If I was to pursue a career in aerospace engineering, it would not be looked at as a revolutionary milestone because I am of the most common demographic in the engineering field. Obstacles I might face could include companies looking to create a diverse workplace in which a white male would not improve the level of diversity. Also, it might be hard to distinguish things that I would bring to a workplace that would differ from the next individual since I would not bring much multiculturalism into the workplace.
The challenges that Aprille Ericsson faced largely impacted her accomplishments. Since, she was included in the minority of being an African American female it was rewarding to her to pursue a career in engineering. Thus, she became the first African American female to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard and a Ph.D. from Goddard. She used her challenges growing up being in the minority to spearhead her outreach to young individuals leading to her receiving NASA’s Exceptional Achievement in Outreach Award. Ericsson utilized her challenges in a way that made her better in her career