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

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. 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, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

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

from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

in 2005.

Early life and education

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

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, 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 historically black university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SAC ...

, obtaining a

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

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

in 2000. She earned her

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

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 is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

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

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

'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, a ...

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 Shaundra Bryant Daily (born May 29, 1979) is an American professor and author known for her work in the field of Human-centered computing, human-centered computing and broadening participation in STEM. She is a professor in the Department of Elec ...

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 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

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

Selected publications

* * * * * * * Washington, Alicia Nicki, Cecilé Sadler, and Shaundra Daily
“Identity-Inclusive Computing: Paving the Path Forward.”
In ''Proceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2'', 1730–1730. ACM, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1145/3641555.3705086.

References

External links

*
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 computer scientists American women engineers American women scientists Computer programmers Duke University faculty Google people Howard University faculty Johnson C. Smith University alumni Living people North Carolina State University alumni People from Durham, North Carolina Winthrop University people Year of birth missing (living people)