Adele Poynor Torigoe received a B.S. in Physics Summa Cum Laude from the University
of Maryland Baltimore County in 2001. She continued her education at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning her Master of Science in
Physics in 2003. On May 28, 2005 she married Eugene Torigoe, also a graduate student at UIUC. During her time at the University of Illinois, she worked with Prof Steve Granick studying how water interacted with hydrophobic surfaces using X-ray Reflectivity, Ellipsometry and Surface Plasmon Resonance. She earned a Ph.D. in July 2006 with a thesis entitled:

"How Water Meets a Hydrophobic Surface:Reluctantly and with Fluctuations".