Kyla McMullen: The First Black Woman to Graduate With a PhD in Computer Science at Univ. of Michigan

Dr. Kyla McMullen is the first African American woman to graduate with a PhD in computer science at the University of Michigan.

“Bittersweet” is what Kyla described her feelings about her new title.

Dr. McMullen said it felt gratifying to have the distinction of being the first African American at the Univ. of Michigan to receive a doctorate in computer science, but it also reminds her of a sad reality. There aren’t many people of color pursuing advanced degrees in computer science.

Out of the more than 1,400 Americans who received PhD’s in computer science from 2010 to 2011, less than a quarter were female, and a mere 1.2 percent – 16 people – were African American, according to the latest Computing Research Association Taulbee Survey.

Dr. Kyla McMullen always had a passion for computers and nurtured it since she was in high school. Fortunately, the high school she attended had a special computer science track program. This meant exposure to a curriculum that most high schools lack, and the opportunity to take courses in computer programming and engineering early on.

If it were not for the advice of a guidance counselor — who’d recommended that she apply for UMBC’s Meyerhoff Program — she probably wouldn’t have considered acquiring a PhD. in the field. “It was an excellent opportunity,” says McMullen of the program. Interesting enough one of her two study buddies, Nwokedi Ibika, is coincidentally the first African American to get a PhD. in computer science from Perdue University.

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