Eric’el Johnson is a senior systems engineering manager at Boeing. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

Hometown: Alton, Illinois

Degree: BS in Electrical Engineering, 2016

Current Position: Engineering manager at Boeing

Fun Fact: Johnson enjoys completing home improvement projects with her grandfather, a former handyman. The two recently built a two-car garage, including designing a blueprint and laying the concrete themselves.

Eric’el Johnson was very nearly a first-generation college student – her mother completed her degree the semester before Johnson started studying electrical engineering at UMSL. Watching her mom work to pay bills while also taking classes had a lasting impact on Johnson, who earned a full-ride scholarship to UMSL through the Pierre Laclede Honors College’s Opportunity Scholars Program.

“Seeing her perseverance and dedication to furthering and improving herself, in addition to providing for our family, inspired me to want to do more,” Johnson says. “Her philosophy, just as mine is, is to make it easier for the next person.”

Johnson has delivered on that goal in her work at Boeing, where she’s worked since graduating. As a senior systems engineering manager, she helps connect different engineering teams to deliver computing-related products for multiple different aircrafts, but she’s also fostering connections between Boeing employees and current UMSL students. In 2017, she started the Boeing Engineering Mentoring Program, which matches current students with Boeing employees and hosts activities such as an early career panel. She’s also served on the Alumni Association governing board and frequently returns to campus to answer questions from Honors College and engineering students.

“It meant the world to me to have people looking out for me, reaching back, helping me navigate college and transitioning into the workforce,” she says. “I always want to make the world a better place than I found it. I don’t want to be the last at anything, and if I’m the first, I want to make sure more people are coming in behind me so that they have those opportunities, too.”

Johnson is grateful for the support she received as an UMSL student, from her scholarship to internship opportunities and the Engineering Career Foundation Program, and sees her work as a way to pay it forward to the next generation. Recently, she also made a $100,000 planned gift to the university to support the Opportunity Scholars Program and help future students afford a quality education.

Johnson has been named Student Leader of the Year and a 2016 UMSL Trailblazer and this fall, she received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Such recognitions are only further encouragement to keep pushing forward.

“It means a lot that people see the work that I’m doing,” she says. “For my work to be seen and recognized means the world to me, and I’m appreciative of it. I think it shows that I’m on the right track. I still feel like there’s so much more I can do to help, but there’s still a lot of time left for me to do even more.”

This story was originally published in the fall 2025 issue of UMSL Magazine. If you have a story idea for UMSL Magazine, email magazine@umsl.edu.