 Beatrice Hicks was born in 1919 in Orange , New Jersey , to William Lux Hicks , a chemical engineer , and Florence Benedict . Hicks decided at an early age that she wished to be an engineer . While her parents neither supported nor opposed Hicks ' desired career path , some of her teachers and classmates tried to discourage her from becoming an engineer , viewing it as a socially unacceptable role for a woman . She graduated from Orange High School in 1935 and received a bachelor 's degree in chemical engineering from Newark College of Engineering ( now New Jersey Institute of Technology ) in 1939 , one of only two women in her class . During college , Hicks worked in the treasury office of an Abercrombie & Fitch store as a telephone operator , and in the university 's library . After receiving her undergraduate degree , Hicks stayed at Newark College of Engineering for three years as a research assistant , where she studied the history of Edward Weston 's inventions and took additional classes at night . 
