Alum Elicia John ('03) Featured in Washington Post

Fischell Department of Bioengineering alum Elicia John (B.S. '03 biological resources) was featured in a Washington Post feature column this week for her efforts to use data to address many of the factors that contribute to racial prejudice and biased decision-making.

The article, "Solving America's race problem one byte at a time," walks through John's experiences growing up in Black D.C. and Prince George's County, Md. John noted how she found support from Black women in engineering through the National Society of Black Engineers. The article's author – Courtland Milloy – noted: "One of the reasons she enjoyed engineering was because it was science based; the correct answers were matters of fact, not opinion. But that couldn’t shield her from the realities of race and gender."

John earned her bachelor's degree in biological resources engineering prior to the official launch of the University of Maryland's bioengineering program. Afterwards, she earned her master's degree in public policy analysis from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in marketing/marketing management from the University of California, Los Angeles. Today, she is an assistant professor of marketing and a behavioral data scientist at American University.

Read the full feature article online.

Published August 10, 2022