Verdiana Masanja is the first Tanzanian woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics. She became a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam. She works to increase women’s participation in science, mathematics and technology education in Africa.
Marie Françoise Ouedraogo became the first female doctorate from Burkina Faso. She is President of the African Women Mathematicians Association, and a member of IMU Women in Mathematics Advisory Group.
Joséphine Guidy-Wandja was the first African woman with a Doctorat 3ème cycle in mathematics (Paris VI), the first African woman with a Ph.D. in mathematics (Abidjan) and the first African woman to become a professor of mathematics in a university (Abidjan).
Olabisi Ugbebor is the first female professor of mathematics in Nigeria. She has written many papers on Brownian motion and on economics, and is a co-author of books such as Further Mathematics, Analytical Geometry and Mechanics, and Fundamentals of Abstract Algebra.
Talitha Washington is an American mathematician who, in 2001, became the first African American to graduate with a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Connecticut. She became co-leader of the National Science Foundation’s ‘Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ programme and won the 2019 Black Engineer of the Year STEM Innovator Award.
Katherine Okikiolu was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for both her mathematical research and her development of mathematics curricula for inner-city school children.
Katherine Johnson was an African-American mathematician who made contributions to NASA’s space programmme. She was featured in the 2017 film Hidden figures.
Nkechi Agwu is an expert on mathematical education and is particularly interested in ethnomathematics.
Grace Alele-Williams was the first Nigerian to be awarded a doctorate. She became a professor of mathematical education, then the first female Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin.
Marsha P. Johnson was one of the most prominent figures of the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s in New York City. Always sporting a smile, Johnson was an important advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, those effected by H.I.V. and AIDS, and gay and transgender rights.