Mareena Katherine Robinson Snowden is the first Black woman to earn a

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

nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei (fission) or of combining atomic nuclei ( fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of nu ...

from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

Education

Snowden enrolled at Florida A&M University as a business major. In Spring 2011, Snowden was graduated from

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the U ...

as Mareena Robinson, with a B.S. Degree in Physics. In 2017, Snowden was graduated from the

with a Ph.D., nuclear science and engineering, as Mareena K. Robinson-Snowden, 30 years old, becoming the first self-identified American black woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the MIT, walking across the commencement stage on 8 June 2018, after 11 years of post-secondary study. .

Career

Snowden worked as a National Nuclear Security Administration Graduate Fellow in the

Office of Nuclear Energy The Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) is an agency of the United States Department of Energy which promotes nuclear power as a resource capable of meeting the energy, environmental, and national security needs of the United States by resolving technic ...

at the

US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...

before serving as a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Florida A&M University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni American women nuclear physicists {{US-physicist-stub