Doctor Ceciliah Ngugi was born in 1972 at Kimende, Lari of Kiambu County. She started School at Kimende nursery in 1978 and later joined Kimende Primary in1979 to1986 where she sat Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). From 1987 to 1990, she attended her Secondary School at Kambaa Girls High school where she sat her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and was admitted at Egerton University where she pursued degree Bachelors of Science in Agricultural Education and Extension (AGED) from 1991-1996. She holds a Master’s of Science in biotechnology degree from Kenyatta University.

From 1996 to 2013, she worked with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). She joined Kenya Agricultural Research Institute in 2013 where she works to date as Research Scientist in Crop protection.

In her research work, she has worked with USAID Feed the Future Project (Vegetable Integrated Pest Management-Innovation lab-IPM-IL), World Bank (Kenya Climate Smart Agricultural Project-Banana), the Immaginature Ltd Israel (Transgenic Gypsophila Project), the Dow chemical /Pest Control Products Board (Sulfoxaflor 247 SC efficacy evaluation on Mango scale insects among others. Dr. Ceciliah has also contributed to the preparation of the Tomato, Cabbage, and French bean farmer IPM training manual. In addition, she has participated in scientific conferences mainly the Horticultural Association of Kenya (HAK), National Biosafety Authority (NBA) and Food safety, Nutrition,  Agro processing and innovation conference among others. Dr. Ceciliah has publications in refereed journals including Journal of Agricultural Science and East Africa Journal of Science, Technology and Innovation among others.

She has attended and participated workshops like the Scientific Media Communication Training, Minimum Residual Levels in the USA, Preparedness on Field Release and Placing in the Market of GMOs in Kenya, Proposal Development and Scientific Writing Training, ARF Tomato Project Stakeholders Workshop, and Capacity building in plant Nematology among others.

She is a member of African Women for Biosciences (AWB), Horticultural Association of Kenya (HAK) and Africa Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF).