Michole Washington
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Campus: Tempe
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Dr. Michole Washington is a mathematician, educator, and researcher whose work spans mathematics, STEM education, and creative science engagement. Her love of mathematics began in childhood, where the subject provided a refuge and a tool for making sense of the world. Growing up on the Southside of Atlanta and attending predominantly Black schools, she developed her mathematical thinking through community, analogy, and storytelling—modes of understanding that later clashed with the narrow expectations she encountered as an undergraduate at a predominantly white institution. Those experiences sharpened her awareness of the cultural misalignments embedded in mathematics education and inspired her lifelong commitment to diversifying who and what mathematics is for.
Washington earned her B.S. in Mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2016, becoming only the ninth Black woman in Atlanta to do so—an achievement that underscored systemic inequities in the mathematics pipeline. During her undergraduate years, she conducted research at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) and studied abroad through the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. These formative experiences, while academically rigorous, revealed the barriers that Black students often face in being recognized as capable mathematicians. Out of these challenges, she launched her first company, Aphrithmetic Tutoring, through which she tutored more than 200 students across metro Atlanta and designed, fundraised, and led community-based math summer camps.
She went on to earn both a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education and an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. There, she critically examined not only the content of advanced mathematics courses but also the culture of their teaching, bringing her developing expertise in education research into dialogue with her lived experiences as a mathematician. Her doctoral dissertation, The Space Outside of the Box: Fostering Fugitivity for Black Girls in STEM through Endarkened Storywork, built on this foundation by reimagining STEM education as a space where the generational knowledge of Black women could reshape how learners experience math and science.
Dr. Washington’s work bridges mathematics with other disciplines through creative design. She founded SpaceBox, an Afrofuturistic educational escape room that merges storytelling, game-based learning, and STEM concepts, and has collaborated on speculative research projects with Optimistic Design (funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) envisioning liberatory futures for math education. She co-wrote the ASU/Complexly Study Hall YouTube series. Her collaborations with NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement have included doctoral research at Glenn Research Center and developing frameworks that secured more than half a million dollars in summer STEM programming for HBCUs and MSIs.
Currently, as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, Dr. Washington contributes to NASA’s Science Activation (SciAct) portfolio through the SCoPE project, where she examines how NASA-funded teams recruit and engage scientists as subject matter experts. She has shared her research nationally, including as a Haynes-Granville-Browne Guest Speaker at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meeting, where she explored the intersections of algorithmic bias, AI, and mathematics education for Black students.
At the heart of all her work is the belief that mathematics must be experienced as expansive, creative, and culturally grounded. By weaving mathematics into art, history, space science, and community practice, Dr. Washington continues to broaden the narratives of who can do math and why it matters.
Ph.D. in Educational Studies (Concentration: Mathematics Education), University of Michigan
M.S in Mathematics, University of Michigan
B.S. in Applied Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology
STEM Education || Informal STEM Education || Design-Based Research || Educational Game Design || Educational Escape Rooms || Mathematics Education || Out-of-School/Informal K-12 STEM Education Program Development & Evaluation || Design-Thinking|| Space Science Education|| Learning Ecosystems || Epistomologies/Knowledge Systems || Science Communication || Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) || Endarkened Storywork || Programmatic Evaluations || College Math
NASA SCoPE
- Washington, M. (2024). The Space Outside of the Box: Fostering Fugitivity for Black Girls in STEM through Endarkened Storywork (Doctoral dissertation).
- Almodovar, L., Moll, V. H., Quan, H., Roman, F., Rowland, E., & Washington, M. (2016). Infinite Products Arising in Paperfolding. J. Integer Seq., 19(5), 16-5.
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NASA Glenn Research Center Office of STEM Engagement (2022) Best practices for implementing a High School Capstone Project. [NDA] (Sole Author)
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NASA Glenn Research Center Office of STEM Engagement (2021) Minority undergraduate research and education project (MUREP) Pilot Recommendations: Designing a Summer Bridge Residential Program at HBCUs and PBIs. [NDA] (Sole Author)
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NASA Glenn Research Center Office of STEM Engagement (2021) Assessing the Implementation of Different STEM Summer Bridge Programs for Minority Students: A Benchmark Study. [NDA] (Sole Author)
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NASA Glenn Research Center Office of STEM Engagement (2021) Effective Strategies for Developing a Summer Bridge Program. NASA Glenn Research Center Office of STEM Engagement. [NDA] (Sole Author)
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NASA Glenn Research Center Office of STEM Engagement (2021) The Participation of K-12 Girls in NASA STEM Engagement Activities: A Literature Review of Evidence-based Effective Practices. [NDA] (Sole Author)
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Washington, M., & Vakharia, V. (2020). What math class and police brutality have in common. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved from https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-what-math-class-and-police-brutality-have-in-common/
2025 “Bridging Worlds: Stories, Relationships, and Other Ways of Knowing in Science”, ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration’s 5th Annual Symposium
2025 “Honoring Legacy: Centering Black Girls in Mathematics Through AI and Culturally Relevant Education”, National Association of Mathematicians’ Haynes-Granville-Browne Session at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meeting
2024 “A Seat at the Table: Black Girls Critically Designing their own STEM Experience”, Yale University’s Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education
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2025 Recent Doctoral Recipient Recognition, National Association of Mathematicians
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2023 Anti-Racism Collaborative Research Grant, University of Michigan [$5000]
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2023 Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, University of Michigan
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2021 The James A. Kelly Learning Levers Prize, University of Michigan [$10,000]
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2021 Mathematician of the Year Nomination, STEMedia’s STEM Success Summit
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2021 40 Under 40 Alumni Class of 2021, Georgia Institute of Technology
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2020 Rackham Merit Fellowship Research Grant, University of Michigan [$1,500]
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2019 CREATE-X Start-Up, Georgia Tech
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2019 - 2023 Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, National Academies
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2018 Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation
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2017 Georgia Tech Black Alumni Award, Georgia Tech Black Alumni Association
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2017 - 2024 Rackham Merit Fellowship, Georgia Institute of Technology
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2016 Trailblazer Award, Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
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2016 Black Women in STEAM Dr. Jedidah Isler Award, Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
Select Work History. See Full Catalog on CV.
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2025 Assistant Program Director, I AM STEM, LLC Summer Camp in Kingston, JA
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2024 - 2025 Operations Strategist Consultant, I AM STEM, LLC
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2024 STEM EdTech Research Consultant, Optimistic Design
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2023 - 2024 Senior Math Education Researcher, Modernizing Mathematics Project, Optimistic Design
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2023 Research Associate, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy Research Project, Center for Measurement Justice at University of Michigan
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2022 Math Scriptwriter, “Study Hall’s Real World College Math”, Complexly & Arizona State University
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2021 Statistical Expert Witness, David Bozeman Law Firm
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2020 Cultural Consultant and Sensitivity Reader, MATHeatre’s “Calculus: The Great Musical Math-Off”
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2020 - Present Founder, CEO, & Executive Producer, STEMulation Escape Room
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2019 Instructor, “Topics in Elementary Math for Future Teachers (Abstract Algebra + IBL)” Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan
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2017 - 2020 Founder & Program Director, Afrithmetic
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2014 - 2015 Supplemental Instructor Supervisor, Center for Academic Success at Georgia Institute of Technology
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2025 Newsletter Co-Editor, National Association of Mathematicians
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2024 Peer Review Panel, Bouchet Honor Society Application Selection Review, Rackham Graduate School
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2024 Advisory Board Member, for Lawrence Technological University’s “Land of Three Fires: Indigenous Narratives via Coding & Computational Thinking” project
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2023 Peer Review Panel, Department of Education’s Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)
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2022 Peer Review Panel, Bouchet Honor Society Application Selection Review, Rackham Graduate School
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2019 Advisory Board Member, for University of Michigan’s School of Education’s Department Chair’s Ph.D. Advisory Board
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2019 Math Education Representative, Association of Women in Mathematics at University of Michigan
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2018 - 2019 Programs Chair, for UM’s Graduate Society of Black Engineers
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2016 Academic Development Chair, for National Society of Black Engineer’s National Pre-College Initiative
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2015 - 2016 Conference Chair and Special Events Coordinator, for National Society of Black Engineers’ Region 3 Pre-College Initiative Conference
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2025 Assistant Program Director, I AM STEM, LLC Summer Camp in Kingston, JA
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2024 - 2025 Operations Strategist Consultant, I AM STEM, LLC
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2021 Statistical Expert Witness, David Bozeman Law Firm
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2020 Cultural Consultant and Sensitivity Reader, MATHeatre’s “Calculus: The Great Musical Math-Off”
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2020 - Present Founder, CEO, & Executive Producer, STEMulation Escape Room
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2017 - 2020 Founder & Program Director, Afrithmetic
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2014 - 2015 Supplemental Instructor Supervisor, Center for Academic Success at Georgia Institute of Technology