Mentorship, Access, and the Future of Tech Talent

In competitive industries like tech and business, talent alone is rarely enough. Those who succeed often have something or someone in their corner supporting them, like a mentor, for example.

There are some who intentionally create space for those pathways, like Professor Alicia Nicki Washington at Duke University. Few have worked harder to build those pathways than Washington. Her work is reshaping how students are supported and connected to careers in computing and technology.

“Broadening involvement in computing remains a tough challenge,” said ACM President Yannis Loannidis. “Nicki Washington has been an outstanding innovator in finding new ways to attract and retain students from underrepresented communities.”

BUILDING PATHWAYS INTO OPPORTUNITY

Washington, a professor at Duke University, was recently named the recipient of the 2025 ACM Frances E. Allen Award for Outstanding Mentoring. This honor recognizes leaders who actively change who will have the opportunity to succeed in computing.

Early in her career at Howard University, Washington became the first Black woman on the computing faculty. While she was there, she noticed that students weren’t just lacking technical knowledge, they were lacking access to real industry pathways. So, she built one.

That idea became the Google-in-Residence program, which brought Black engineers from Google directly into classrooms to teach students. What started as a teaching initiative quickly grew into a program that helped students connect classroom learning with real career experience.

Her concept later expanded into the Google Tech Exchange, which was all about giving students from HBCUs and Hispanic-Serving Institutions hands-on experience solving applied industry problems.

BUILDING SYSTEMS THAT SCALE

Today, Washington’s influence stretches beyond a single program. At Duke, she leads the Alliance for Interdisciplinary Innovation in Computing Education. She also co-directs the Cultural Competence in Computing Fellows program – a world-wide initiative focused on making tech education more inclusive and accessible.

Washington has been building systems that make mentorship scalable. Across more than 200 fellows worldwide, the program has supported over 120 identity-inclusive projects impacting thousands of students and educators. This type of a system is critical for supporting all students.

In an interview published by Concordia University–St. Paul, Sir Richard Branson, billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, says, “I have always been a huge believer in the inestimable value good mentoring can contribute to any nascent business. Ask any successful businessperson and, if they are honest about it, they will almost certainly admit to having benefited from the advice of a mentor at some point along the way.”

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