Aprille Ericsson Speaks at Embry-Riddle

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NASA Engineer Launches Women’s History Month at Embry-Riddle

Daytona Beach, Fla., March 7, 2005 -- Dr. Aprille Ericsson, the first African-American woman with an engineering doctorate to work at NASA’s Goddard Flight and Space Center, will be the keynote speaker for the Women’s History Month celebration at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held Monday, March 14, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Miller Instructional Center.

Ericsson’s multimedia presentation, titled “Women Who Dared: The History of Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics,” will have an aviation/aerospace focus. She will also discuss how she came to choose a career in aerospace engineering. At Goddard, Ericsson leads proposals as well as designing and managing the development of Earth and space-science instruments and satellites.

“I feel obligated to help spur the interest of minorities and women in math, science, and engineering,” Ericsson says. “Without diversity in all fields, the United States won’t remain technically competitive.”

To educate and motivate young people, Ericsson serves as a mentor, an outreach speaker, and a sports coach. At her alma mater, Howard University, she is an adjunct professor in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. and a director of the university’s new Public Charter Middle School of Math and Science.

Among numerous honors bestowed on Ericsson is the prestigious “Women in Science and Engineering Award,” presented annually by the federal government to its best female engineer. She is frequently spotlighted by the news media and is profiled in two history books.

At Howard University, Ericsson earned a master of engineering and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with an aerospace concentration. She also holds a B.S. in aeronautical/astronautical engineering from MIT. Medgar Evers College presented her with an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

Ericsson’s lecture is a feature of Embry-Riddle’s “Women Change America,” a month-long series of events coordinated by the university’s Women’s History Month Committee, co-chaired by Dr. Joanne Detore-Nakamura and Prof. Jennifer Carney and sponsored by the Office of Diversity Advancement.

For more information, contact Detore-Nakamura at (386) 226-7903 or joanne.detore-nakamura@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates more than 30,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Extended Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through distance learning.