Jasmine Bowers has recently made history as the first-ever African American student; to receive a doctorate degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida.
Bowers double majored in Math and Computer Science at Fort Valley State University; and earned her masters at North Carolina A&T before receiving her doctorate. She now joined the ranks of other historic Black women in STEM such as Mary Jackson; NASA’s first Black female engineer, and Dr. Patrica Bath, the first Black woman to receive a medical patent.
“The seed of motivation was planted at a young age when my mother taught me how to use Excel to record my ‘wish list.’ I grew up in a household where I was encouraged to embrace technology,” Bowers told BOTWC. “I also had the freedom to utilize technologies that included computers; and other equipment that my mother, an [self-taught] engineer, had.”
In addition, Jasmine Bowers hopes to inspire other students to be interested in STEM to occupy the; reportedly lacking representation of Black people in the workplace.
“I will be moving to a new state and starting my career as an engineer where I get to put into practice all of my studies. I will continue to give back and encourage young girls to explore STEM,” she said.
