Creator & Executive Producer
Aurora Washington is a native of the Mississippi Delta, specifically the historic Ruleville, MS. Aurora completed high school at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and science where she cultivated her passion for science. Which lead her to Tougaloo College where she received her Bachelors of Science in Biology with Honors in 2016. During Aurora's time at Tougaloo she was a scholar in the Jackson Heart Study and conducted research during academic years and several summers, interning with the Minorities Health and Health Disparities International Research Training program and NASA Rhode Island Space Grant program. She also joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and participated on multiple volunteer projects within the sorority and outside. After graduating she joined the Hoffman- Kim lab as a post-baccalaureate scholar in the Neuroscience department at Brown University. In 2017 she matriculated in the Biotechnology PhD program where she is currently investigating environmental toxicants response in both human and rodent 3D neural microtissues; she also studies disease modeling. Aurora has worked as a STEM workshop leader for the Leadership Alliance program during the summers of 2019, 2020 & 2021. Extracurricularly Aurora enjoys participating in community outreach with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council. Her research, mentoring and social interests include STEM accessibility and communication . She also considers herself an environmentalist and hope that her work can improve everyone's quality of life. She often turns to the wisdom of her hometown hero and great aunt Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer who left us with profound and prophetic insights.
"Whether you have a Ph.D., or no D, we're in this bag together. And whether you're from Morehouse or Nohouse, we're still in this bag together..." -Fannie Lou Hamer
