Lilia Ann Abron

She has been bestowed the highest honor - Distinguished Member, Class of 2021 - of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). As of January 2021, she became President of The American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES).

Abron is a Christian who began her three-year term serving as deacon at The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C. on June 17, 2018. She previously served as president of the Washington D.C. chapter of Jack and Jill for America. She also plays the hand bells in the Angelus church choir.

In 2004, she was elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2020, for "leadership in providing technology-driven sustainable housing and environmental engineering solutions in the United States and South Africa". She was inducted into Tau Beta Pi, DC Alpha Chapter as an Eminent Engineer, and she is a History Maker®.

With this consulting firm, Abron succeeded in proving that by enacting sustainable practices in poverty-stricken parts of the world, living conditions there can drastically improve. In 1995, Abron co-founded PEER Africa Pty. (Ltd.), with the mission of building energy-efficient homes in post-apartheid South Africa. Abron was presented with a United Nations award for her work in developing low-cost energy-efficient housing. The company carried out projects all over Africa, including in Mali, Uganda and Nigeria.

In 1978, Abron founded and became President and CEO of PEER Consultants, P.C. She was the first African-American to start an engineering consulting firm focused on environmental issues and concerns relating to the physical and human environments. PEER offers engineering and construction management services, environmental management and sustainability services, and advisory/consulting services. With headquarters in Washington, DC and additional offices in Baltimore, MD, Burlington, MA, and Clearwater, FL, PEER is strategically located to serve its clients throughout the U.S. Since 1978, the firm is focused on providing transformative, appropriate, and sustainable solutions for its clients’ challenging environmental problems.

Abron was assistant professor of civil engineering at Tennessee State University from 1971. She was also an assistant professor of environmental engineering Vanderbilt University from 1973. In 1975, she moved Howard University as assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, simultaneously working at Washington Technical Institute (now part of the University of the District of Columbia).

Abron's advisor at LeMoyne-Owen, Dr. Bueler, suggested that she study engineering. She also credits Dr. Juanita Williamson, an English Professor at LeMoyne-Owen and a fellow African American, with inspiring her to pursue further education. She was offered a full-tuition scholarship from Washington University in St. Louis to study sanitary engineering, funded by the Public Health Service. Washington University was very different to anything she had experienced up to that point: it was her first time away from home, one of only two women in a large class of predominantly white males. She completed her entire degree in just thirteen months, graduating in 1968 with an MS in Environmental Engineering. During her time at Washington University, Abron developed the goal of working in academia and gained experience by working in her professors' labs.

She began her PhD in September 1968 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Department of Civil Engineering, under the supervision of Dr. Rolfe Skrimbee. When he moved to the University of Iowa, she moved with him. However, Dr. Skrimbree left the University of Iowa before Abron finished her research, so she completed her degree in Chemical Engineering in 1972, under the supervision of James O. Osburn. She was the first African American woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, and only the third woman to receive a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa. Her thesis focused on reverse osmosis, and was titled: "Transport Mechanism in Hollow Nylon Fiber Reverse Osmosis Membranes for the Removal of DDT and Aldrin from Water".

Abron studied at LeMoyne-Owen College. She was granted a scholarship, which she lost after her freshman year because her grades were not high enough. She switched from a biology major to a chemistry major. In 1966, Abron earned a B.S. in chemistry from LeMoyne-Owen College, with distinction.

Lilia Ann Abron (born March 8, 1945) is an entrepreneur and chemical engineer. In 1972, Abron became the first African American woman to earn a PhD in chemical engineering.