Elayne Arrington

Elayne Arrington (born ) is an American mathematician and engineer. She was the first African American woman to graduate with a bachelor's degree from the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. After earning her Ph.D., she went on to conduct performance analyses of Soviet Union aircraft at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Early life and education Elayne Arrington grew up in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Homestead High School (now Steel Valley High School) in 1957 where she received the second-highest SAT score in mathematics (797 out of 800). Despite finishing first in her class, Elayne was denied the opportunity to deliver the valedictory address. Instead school administrators assigned the speech to the class president who was white and male. In spite of that prediction, in 1961 Arrington became the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering. As a member of the engineering honorary Pi Tau Sigma. She became the 17th African-American woman in the United States to earn a PhD in mathematics.

Career Arrington was hired as an aerospace engineer in the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

In 2007, she was named a Community College of Allegheny County board member.

In 2016, Arrington took a class at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in New Testament Greek "so she could read the Bible in its original language." She pursued theological studies classes at the University of Pittsburgh and plans to complete her studies in 2021 at the age of 81, for another master's degree, this one in theological study.

Awards In April 2007, Arrington received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Pittsburgh's African American Alumni Council.