By Krista Richmond—Dec. 9, 2016
Whitney Ingram’s interest in science started as a girl. This month, she becomes the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in physics at UGA — and she wants other young girls to do the same. “I hope I can encourage girls to pursue the sciences no matter what might hold them down,” she said. “It’s fulfilling to go after something you really like. Go after what you love.”
In particular, Ingram wants to see the number of minorities and women working in sciences grow. “There are not a lot of black women in physics,” she said. “There are recorded data that show there are less than 150 black females — living or deceased — in physics. I want people to know that because it’s a small number, pitifully small.
“You look at the world differently when you apply physics,” she said. “I like the idea of breaking down what you see and really thinking about it.” Ingram entered UGA as a freshman in 2007 and changed her major to physics early on, saying she “[felt dedicated] to stick with something I was passionate about.” After getting her bachelor’s degree in 2011, she began her doctoral program.
Read more at the Atlanta Daily World.
