Fierce and determined! A fitting mantra for both the state from which Dr. Michelle Lollie hails and the resolve that served her academic career. Hailing from the Wolverine State, this Michigan native’s journey to attaining a doctorate degree in Physics with a research focus in Quantum Optics. This is nothing short of outstanding.

Michelle’s journey into physics marked a non-linear process. After receiving a finance bachelor’s degree from Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, Georgia), she forayed into the business world of banking. Subsequently having received her second bachelor’s degree in physics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana), this pivot from finance to science solidified her journey into physics. While still in Indiana, Michelle attained her physics master’s degree from Indiana University. And, as to be expected Michelle Lollie became the first African American woman to acquire a physics Doctor of Philosophy degree from Louisiana State University (LSU).

She would be the first to admit the journey was not easy. And the challenges, obstacles, and hurdles she had to overcome seemed insurmountable at times; but she had an inner resolve -- fierce and determined.  This tenacity coupled with the community network that grounded her, supported her and encouraged her, she persevered.

What many may not know about Michelle is her passion for weightlifting and calisthenics.  She often shares as you exercise, your muscles develop microtears – the more intense the workout, the more muscle breakdown occurs. After the exercise, your body begins to repair and build muscle.  It was this approach that Michelle used to successfully navigate her studies in physics. Breaking down to build back stronger, literally and figuratively.

Paying It Forward …

 Family. It is extremely important. Being aware that her grandmother did not have a college education, Michelle aptly gifted her LSU diploma to her grandmother. It was her way of honoring a forefather's dedication and sacrifice. We are standing on the shoulders of giants.
Continuing to “paying it forward”, her own commitment to mentorship and professional development through community engagement can be seen through many initiatives. In her numerous outreach efforts, like the APS-IDEA and Bridge Program, NSBP, and various other belonging enterprises she fulfills the cycle of goodwill to the next generation.

Michelle’s community engagement is not limited to STEM. She is an active member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and somehow managed to find time to hone another craft of violinist. As you can see, Michelle is multidimensional. However, through all her pursuits, she remains grounded and wants society to always recognize and value the full humanity of individuals. And not simply reduce people to specific labels or categories. In conclusion, during a conference speech, Michelle began her introduction by saying:
“Hello, I am Michelle Lollie, a Black woman who studies physics— and I am a human being. All too often, society wants to place people in boxes—like being a Black woman or a physicist—rather than taking the time and responsibility of humanizing others.”

Michelle’s journey into the field of physics was winding and unconventional. She navigated through various interests and challenges, each step adding a unique layer to her understanding and passion for the subject. Her path made distinct by moments of doubt and discovery, leading her to where she is today—a dedicated physicist with a rich tapestry of experiences that shaped her along the way.

Reference:

• https://www.aps.org/people/michelle-lollie
• https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2022/10/banking-quantum-physics
• https://physics.indiana.edu/news-events/news/2022-10-19-michelle-lollie.html
• https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2021/03/advancing-diversity-equity-inclusion
• https://www.rose-hulman.edu/news/2023/alumna-michelle-lollie-takes-non-traditional-journey-to-break-new-ground-in-science.html
• https://physicsworld.com/a/from-banking-to-quantum-optics-michelle-lollies-unique-journey/
  

Dr. Norman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and M.S and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Washington. She was the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Washington.

Her primary research interests include Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their environments as they relate to the triggering of AGN, and their influence on galactic evolution. She held postdoctoral positions at the State University of NY, Stony Brook, and Cerro Tololo InterAmerican Observatory, in Chile, as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow before moving north to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ.

Dr. Norman served for many years as the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) Diversity co-Advocate at NOAO. She has served on the governing board of the AAS where, among other things, she chaired the task force to revise the society’s Ethics Code. She has been an active member of the AAS’s Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA). She has led efforts on several astronomy community white papers including one entitled, “Significantly Increasing the Numbers of Minorities in Astronomy in the Next 10 Years” for the 2010 Decadal Survey and “Women of Color in Astronomy and Astrophysics” for the National Research Council’s Women of Color in Academia 2012 Conference. She was an organizer of the Inclusive Astronomy 2015 conference and was invited, as a panel member, to summarize that conference as well as concerns around access and leadership in STEM fields to Obama’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Dr. Norman was lead editor of “An Astronomical Inclusion Revolution: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Professional Astronomy and Astrophysics” an IOP publication.

Fun fact: Dr. Norman decided to pursue astronomy after viewing Jupiter through a telescope for the first time as an undergraduate at MIT. 20 years later, Dr. Norman was invited to the first White House Star Party in 2009. She showed President Obama and the First Family the moons of Jupiter through a small telescope. As a native of Chicago’s South Side, this was a particular thrill for her.

Dr. Noman has received many prestigious awards for her scientific research, and outreach efforts, and a strong significant leader in the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field over her 40+ year professional career. She was recognized in the inaugural class of the American Astronomical Society Legacy Fellow in 2020. AAS Legacy Fellows are AAS members recognized for their contributions toward the Society's mission of enhancing and sharing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe. In 2012, Dr. Norman was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Timeless Award from the University of Washington. She is a Howard Advance-IT Visiting Faculty Fellow. In 2012, she was also awarded the University of Washington Distinguished Alumni Timeless Award. From the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Dr. Norman was awarded the AURA Team Award as part of the Dark Energy Camera Team in 2013 and the AURA Service Award As Diversity Advocate in 2010. She was co-chair of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Task Force to Elevate African American Representation in Undergraduate Physics and Astronomy (TEAM-UP) Report Implementation Committee. Dr. Norman was on the organizing committee for the groundbreaking first Inclusive Astronomy Conference in Nashville and the second Inclusive Astronomy Conference in Baltimore in 2019.

Dr. Norman is currently on the AIP TEAM-UP Together Advisory Committee. Dr. Norman is the lead author of two books “Voices in Physics: Black Brown, and Indigenous Scholars in their Own Words” and “An Astronomical Inclusion Revolution: Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in professional astronomy and astrophysics”.

She is also an active member of the National Society of Black Physicists. She has co-chaired the NBSP astronomy and astrophysics (ASTRO) technical section for 11 years and chaired the ASTRO technical section for the last 3 years. She has been an instrumental leader and advocate for the Astronomy group in NSBP. She has fostered the relationship with AAS and NSBP for the Beth Brown Memorial Award. In 2023, she served as a panelist on the session for Women in Industry at the annual NSBP Conference in Knoxville, TN.

Sources:

https://www.wired.com/story/women-in-science-dara-norman/

https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/aas-fellows

https://noirlab.edu/public/about/staff-prizes/

https://aas.org/posts/news/2023/04/interview-aas-president-elect-dara-norman

https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/beth-brown-memorial-award

Farrah hails from Jamaica and moved to the United States to pursue an undergraduate degree in applied physics at Columbia University. She now works with the Princeton CMS group to search for Beyond Standard Model physics and enhance the sensitivity of searches for long-lived particles using machine learning techniques. Additionally, she contributes to the detector upgrades for the High Luminosity (HL) LHC. In recognition of her research, she was selected as a graduate scholar at Fermilab’s Large Hadron Collider Physics Center in 2022, allowing her to reside at Fermi National Laboratory for a year learning new techniques of testing for the HL LHC upgrades. 

Farrah is deeply committed to teaching, mentoring, and advocating for historically underrepresented groups in STEM. She served as the Student Representative on the Executive Board of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) from 2020 to 2022 and currently serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee of US CMS, as well as the American Institute of Physics (AIP) TEAM-UP Together Committee. As co-PI on grants and co-chair of the Student Leadership Development Summit (SLDS), jointly hosted by NSBP and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP), she has helped secure funding for and organize the event successfully for the past two years. During her tenure as NSBP Student Representative, under the leadership of then-president Professor Stephon Alexander, Farrah co-founded and led a mentorship program in collaboration with the Harlem Gallery of Science. She also played a key role in helping establish the Simons-NSBP Scholars Program, for which she has served as a fellow. Additionally, she structured the NSBP Student Council and launched several initiatives, including the NSBP Innovate Seminar Series, regular member meetings, and the Phuture of Physics series. Under her leadership, NSBP expanded by adding six new chapters and introduced the Chapter Activity Grant to support their initiatives.

After the completion of her doctorate degree, she conducted a postdoctoral position at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC during which she was involved in the fabrication, and optical and electrical testing of mid-infrared antimonide based lasers. In 2008, she was recruited by the University of Houston as an Assistant Professor of Physics where she established her research program in the area of structural, optical and electrical characterization of semiconductor and related materials by high-resolution x-ray diffraction, absorption/transmission spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and Hall Effect measurements for optoelectronic device applications. From 2006-2019, she serves as the Undergraduate Academic Advisor for the physics department. In 2019 she was promoted to full professor while at the same time moving to becoming the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Affairs and eventually the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs and Student Success of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, her current position.

Dr. Stokes is also involved in education research where she focuses on the preparation of Science and Math teachers for secondary education and on physics/STEM education research to improve student success in physics courses. Her approach utilizes inquiry-based teaching and learning strategies for promotion of success through learning communities.

Dr. Stokes received numerous honors and awards over the years: she is a recipient of a National Science Foundation Career Award (2003), University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award and Fellow of the American Physical Society Physics Teacher Education Coalition (2017), received the Outstanding Paper Award from the American Education Research Association Narrative Special Interest Group (2019) and Improving Undergraduate Education Award from the American Physical Society Committee on Education (2019-2021), and highlights from the Noyce by the Numbers: 20 Years of NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (2022). She also received the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (2023), the nation’s highest honor for outstanding mentoring in STEM disciplines.

After obtaining his PhD, Dr. Diallo conducted a two-year postdoc position at Ames Laboratory on neutron scattering to characterize magnetic excitations in newly discovered single crystals of FeAs superconductors. He then accepted a position in 2010 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the Time-of-Flight Spectroscopy Group to work on the BackScatterIng Spectrometer (BASIS) neutron detector. He eventually became the staff scientist responsible for BASIS, conducting independent research, supporting neutron user programs, instrument operation and ensuring optimum performance. During his tenure, he worked on various projects that included fundamental understanding of nano-confined fluid, structure-dynamics-property relation of macromolecules such as polymers or proteins, nanoscale physics and quantum fluids/solids.

After six years at ORNL, Dr. Diallo was hired as a manager and research scientist at Smiths Detection in 2016. For the next three years, he worked on R&D imaging, low energy transmission X-Ray, checkpoint computed tomography (CT), X-ray diffraction, TSA certification and qualification, aviation security, laboratory and personnel management, as well as interactions with internal cross-functional teams (technical, marketing, legal, finance) and external customers (Government & other private entities). During that time, he led and contributed greatly to several innovative projects.

At NSF, Dr. Diallo co-manages the National Facilities and Instrumentation program, which supports the operation and development of major research instruments and facilities for the materials science community. Dr Diallo is an experimental condensed matter physicist with more than 20 years of experience in research and technology development, product development, research laboratory and team management. In 2019, he was recruited by Battelle as a Senior Research Scientist to work on the critical infrastructure and aviation security division. His role focused on X-ray image quality measurements and Analysis, R&D imaging projects, cargo and people screening instruments, data science and statistical analysis, as well as process improvement.

With his impressively large expertise, Dr. Diallo joined the Division of Materials Research of the National Science Foundation in 2021 as a Program Director for the National Facilities and Instrumentation Program, a position that he currently occupies.

Dr. Diallo is a champion for increasing diversity in the STEM fields. He is passionate about broadening participation in the Mathematical & Physical Sciences, and advancing scientific knowledge and innovation.

Dr. Gregory E. Williams is a multifaceted individual. As a way of Introduction, he can be classified as an American Physicist, Engineer, Project Manager, Entrepreneur, CEO, and STEM Champion. Note, these identifiers do little to highlight the tremendous impact that he has had on our community.  Greg Williams is a native son of Indianola, Mississippi.   He credits his high school physics teacher in setting his sights on being a physicist when he challenged his students to identify three black physicists. After finding none, he decided that he wanted to be one in the future. Two nuns during his undergraduate education, even though they were chemistry professors, set the bar for high standards and solidified his choice to become a physicist. Two of his physics professors provided real life experiences of a physicist to reinforce his career choice.

Greg Williams’ educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in physics from Jackson State University, and master’s degree in physics from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Engineering from Cornell University with a minor in Applied Physics. His area of expertise is laser physics and photonics.

Dr. Greg Williams retired after a successful 30-year career at Corning Incorporated. He was awarded several patents and or presented several papers at international conferences. He was the Worldwide Global Lab Manager in Research and Development for their 12 research facilities located  over four continents. What many may not be aware of is that Greg and his brother, Dr. Quinton L. Williams along with two other native Mississippians, founded a tech company with venture capital money during the 2000’s. The company was Quantira Technologies Inc. The company developed proprietary innovations for its groundbreaking technology in making photonic switches for enhanced optical communications systems. 

Greg Williams indicated that his experience at MIT helped to sharpen his resolve for science and focus his determination to succeed. As an undergraduate he participated in the Lincoln Laboratory Summer Science Program. This summer internship program was a model for the own summer science program that he helped to develop at Corning, Inc.

Greg Williams cite many people who were champions and inspirations in his life, like former President of Florida A&M University, Frederick Humphries and the former President of Jackson State University, John Peoples Jr.  These giants in education planted the seed for Greg’s own commitment to professional development and community engagement. He has generously supported NSBP, NSBE, OSA, and MIT’s MITRES Program (i.e. Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science) over the past 30 years providing scholarships, summer internships, and employment opportunities for many aspiring physics and engineering students.

Dr. Williams said in an interview: “I believe that diversity of thought, mind, religion and gender is important.”  He explained that today’s technology is the result of multiple viewpoints coming together to explore ideas that might not otherwise be given a chance. Because of these ideas, innovation is occurring so rapidly that some of today’s developments won’t see widespread adoption for twenty or more years.

 “Never stop dreaming.” 

References:

https://mites.mit.edu/news-and-articles/senior-corning-manager-speaks-to-mites-students-in-career-seminar/

https://news.mit.edu/2015/celebrating-40-years-mites-1001

Lanny Smoot was born on December 13, 1955  in Brooklyn, NY. Smoot attended Brooklyn Technical High School and was selected as a Bell Labs Engineering Scholar, earning a full scholarship to Columbia University, summer work at Bell Labs and a guarantee of full-time employment with the company after graduation. Upon earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering, he began his career with Bell Labs in 1978.

At Bell Labs, Smoot invented some of the first fiber-optic transmission technologies to be widely used in the Bell Telephone system. Later, he moved to Bellcore, founded following the breakup of the Bell System, where he became the company’s patent leader and a Bellcore Fellow, the company’s highest technical honor. Around 2000, he moved to Disney. 

At Disney, Smoot's accomplishments include the drive system for the Star Wars BB-8 droid, interactive zoetropes for facial animation of objects, eye imaging for superhero masks and helmets, “Where’s the Fire?” at Innoventions (Epcot), many Haunted Mansion special effects, virtual interactive koi ponds in Hong Kong Disneyland, Fortress Explorations at Tokyo DisneySea, Power City" in Spaceship Earth (Epcot), and lightsabers for the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience.

Throughout his illustrious career, he has worked as a theatrical technology creator, inventor, electrical engineer, scientist, and researcher, resulting in more than 100 patents—an incredibly rare feat that makes Smoot one of the most prolific Black inventors in American history, based on patents issued. He is a Disney Research Fellow, the highest technical honor at the company. Lanny Smoot was the first Disney Imagineer Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the second Disney employee overall, after Walt Disney himself.

Throughout his career he has worked to inspire young people, especially Black youth, towards STEM. Looking toward the future, Smoot plans to keep inventing, and he supports greater diversity and collaboration among innovators. “I chose technology myself, but I believe that every person has a special talent, sometimes multiple talents, and I would love to see a world that exposes more life choices to all people so that their natural talents can bloom.”

Sources

• https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/lanny-smoot-to-be-the-first-disney-imagineer-inducted-into-the-national-inventors-hall-of-fame/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanny_Smoot
• https://www.invent.org/inductees/lanny-smoot

Lisa Dyson was raised in Southern California and obtained a physics bachelor's degree in 1997 at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Dyson won the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and studied abroad in the UK, obtaining an MS in physics at Imperial College London in 1998, specializing in quantum field theory. She went on to study at MIT and receive her PhD, with her thesis on the topic of string theory, naked singularities, time travel, and horizon complementarity with advisors Leonard Susskind and Washington Taylor.   

Dr Lisa Dyson is the 4th black woman to earn a PhD in theoretical high energy physics.  

Dr Dyson then went on to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow. She gained experience as a consultant inThe Boston Consulting group where she advised Fortune 500 companies and also had research experience with Princeton, Stanford, UCSF, and UC Berkeley. Dr Dyson went on to found and chair a company named Kiverdi which seeks to use carbon to make production more sustainable in the economy, such as converting plastics into biodegradable goods. Dr Dyson went on to help found and be CEO of Air Protein, a company that produces food products from carbon to increase sustainable practices. Dr Dyson’s inspiration to focus on sustainability in production stems from her family visits to Louisiana and witnessing how climate change and catastrophes could impact vulnerable communities. Dr Dyson has received patents for her work, given a famous TED talk, and received several grants from the Department of Energy, in addition to wide corporate recognition for her success in the biotechnology industry.  

Sources:

• https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/17744
• https://medium.com/@chanda/the-five-black-women-phds-of-theoretical-high-energy-physics-7a18ccc18d8a
• https://youtu.be/sm1fjcHl7dE?si=6IlzDRjKRwA0ZFxc

Prior to landing a position at her current employer, Lockheed Martin, Zelda Gills held technical leadership roles at two telecommunications technology start-up companies and Lucent Technologies Bell Labs (formerly known as AT&T Bell Labs).  She holds a patent for all optical switching and has diverse work experiences in infrared signature analysis of celestial bodies and targets of interest at MIT Lincoln Labs; thin film optical materials characterization for optical computing at Bell Labs in New Jersey and digital RF modulation for high density ‘wired’ communications at a local start-up.

Dr. Gills’ career at Lockheed began in 2003 with engineering, prototyping and testing solutions for airborne communications, radar and defensive systems. She currently serves as a physicist at Lockheed Martin Aerospace’s Lockheed Martin Space Program Management Strategy and Execution organization.  She has over 19 years of technical experience at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and more than 30 years of industry experience. She currently leverages expertise in systems engineering and avionics to conceptualize and mature solutions for mission system modification contracts valued at over $100 million each and direct support of aircraft recapitalization programs valued at over $1.5 billion. Over the course of her career, she has led many multi-site/multi-disciplinary technical teams in a variety of industries including optics/photonics, telecommunications, electronics, and avionics.

She is recognized by both industry and academia as a thoughtful technical leader and competent technical reviewer for the National Science Foundation; the National Academies of Sciences Panel on Ballistics Science at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL); and Association of Old Crows (AOC) Professional Organization for Electronic Warfare and Cyber Professionals Georgia Institute of Technology.  She is also an active member of the National Society of Black Physicists and served as a panelist on the session for Women in Industry at the 2023 NSBP Conference in Knoxville, TN.

Dr. Gills credits her hunger for continuous improvement and strong mentors for her success. She passes along this support to others and finds great joy in encouraging young people to be successful, particularly in science and technology.

Currently, Dr. Johnson is an American experimental physicist, a professor of physics, and a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR), also situated on campus at UMBC. Additionally, Johnson also serves as the deputy director and materials research thrust leader for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment, or MIRTHE, established in 2006.

Dr. Johnson’s general area of research is in ultrafast optical and optoelectronic phenomena. The work he has done in this area of research resulted in Dr. Johnson being the first and only African-American president to date of Optica, previously known as the Optical Society of America. Throughout his extraordinary career, Dr. Johnson has received numerous accolades. Some of them include:

• 1992 Charter Fellow of the  National Society of Black Physicists [NSBP]
• 1995 Fellow of the American Physical Society [APS] "For his contributions to ultrafast optoelectronics and nonlinear optics, including high speed semiconductor sampling gates, optical pulse compression and tunable ultrafast laser sources."
• 1996 APS Edward A. Bouchet Award "For his pioneering contributions to nonlinear optics, lasers, and optoelectronics; for his leadership in the national scientific community; and for his many efforts to attract minorities to careers in science and engineering.
• 1996 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS][18]
• 2000 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers[IEEE] "For contributions to ultrafast optoelectronics and nonlinear optics."[19]

He is married to Adrienne, who has a doctorate in education from Columbia University, and is a former college professor turned writer. They have three adult children together.

Jemison worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa before becoming a general practitioner. She applied to NASA and became the first African American woman in space in 1992, serving as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavour. After her space flight, she founded the Jemison Group, focusing on developing technologies for the developing world. Jemison also appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation and founded a science camp for students.

She taught environmental studies at Dartmouth and is now an at-large professor at Cornell. Jemison speaks several languages and enjoys jazz dance, skiing, and photography. She has received numerous honors, including the Essence Award and induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Source:
https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_168.html

Chris Beatty completed his bachelor's degree in physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and received a master’s degree in physics from Clark Atlanta University.

Chris’s commitment to professional development and community engagement is reflected through his active participation in various organizations. He is a member of 100 Black Men of Greater Knoxville Inc., where he served as president from 2017 to 2022, mentoring young men from single-parent homes. He is a dedicated member of the National Society of Black Engineers, the National Society of Black Physicists, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Project Management Institute. He is also an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

Chris’s extensive work experience and professional career has allowed him an opportunity to work for Jacobs Technology at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. He supported the Constellation Program as a senior systems engineer and team lead for the Systems Engineering team and Computational Fluid Dynamics team, supporting loss-of-crew and loss-of-mission calculations. Chris also worked for TYBRIN Corporation, supporting the Space and Missile Defense Command at the Kwajalein Missile Test Range, where he performed trajectory and debris analysis for launch vehicles and missiles. Chris also completed the Range Safety Analysis for the first SpaceX Falcon 1 launch from Kwajalein. 

Chris joined ORNL in 2011 to support the US ITER project, working as a field engineer, quality assurance engineer and senior systems engineer. In 2019, he was selected to join ORNL’s Mission Support Rotational Leadership Development Program where he was a member of the Senior Mission Support Staff, where he supported several key ORNL mission-support functions and responded to special projects originating in the Mission Support Directorates and the Lab Director’s Office. 

During a Juneteenth Celebration Chris Beatty indicated that "Inequality anywhere is a threat to equality everywhere”.

References

• https://www.ornl.gov/staff-profile/christopher-beatty
• https://www.energy.gov/orem/person/christopher-beatty
• https://www.ornl.gov/organization-news/blasting-advanced-nuclear-technology-carbon-free-energy

Dr. Jones obtained his doctorate and master degrees in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida, and also has a bachelor degree in ceramic engineering from Clemson University. He was chair and professor for both the optical and electronic engineering departments at Norfolk State University, the director of engineering for Applied Plasmonics, technical manager and distinguished member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories of Lucent Technologies, senior scientist at Luxcore Networks, and lead line engineer at Hoechst Celanese. He is an industry-recognized expert in luminescent materials and the fabrication of optical waveguides and has been awarded nine U.S. patents. He is the co-inventor of Lucent’s high-bandwidth multimode optical fiber used in today’s Fiber-To-The-X (FTTX) applications such as FiOS cable television and Fiber-to-the-Home applications. His work led to the IEEE standards for 10G multimode optical fiber as well as the lasers and detectors employed in these systems.

Dr. Jones honors include the Senior Executive Services Member Career Award, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Award for Excellence, and the National Science Foundation Director’s Equal Opportunity Achievement Award. He is a fellow of the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Engineers and Scientists

At ANL, Dr. Jones works with the laboratory director and associate laboratory directors to implement a laboratory-wide science strategy and further develop Argonne’s $1.1 billion multidisciplinary science and technology portfolio, comprised of 21 research divisions, six national scientific user facilities, and over 1,700 research and technical staff.

Dr. Jones has more than 30 years of experience in the research and development area, across academia, industry and the federal government. Prior to joining ANL, Dr. Jones served as assistant director of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences directorate – the agency’s largest organization – where he oversaw a $1.86 billion science portfolio, including five science divisions, a portfolio of domestic and international user facilities, and a suite of interdisciplinary research programs, centers and institutes. His 14-year career at the NSF also included leadership and program management roles in the Division of Materials Research, where he was the lead manager of 31 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers across the United States. He served as the NSF’s executive secretary for the Committee on Strategy and Budget of the National Science Board. During this tenure, he also spent time on assignment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), serving as a policy analyst and its assistant director for physical science and engineering. During his tenure at OSTP, Dr. Jones was instrumental in the launch of the Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation program of the National Society of Black Physicists.

Very little is known about the early life and upbringing of Dr. Barbara Ann Williams prior to college.   Williams earned her bachelor's degree in physics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.   She then moved on to the University of Maryland, College Park for her graduate studies, earning a Master's and PhD in the field of radio astronomy in 1981.  She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.

As a student, Williams studied elliptical galaxies using HI emissions.  Her research largely focused on compact galaxy groups, in particular observations of their emissions in the H I region in order to build up a larger scale picture of the structure and evolution of galaxies. Williams's work on the Hickson Compact Group of galaxies established that atomic gases must undergo a phase transformation to result in the observed HI deficiency.  She used VLA neutral hydrogen imaging of compact galaxy groups. 

She returned to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as a research associate, where she worked until 1984. In 1984 Williams was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She spent a year as a NASA-American Society for Engineering Education summer faculty member at the Goddard Space Flight Center. 

After college, Williams went on to teach at the University of Delaware in 1986, eventually becoming an associate professor.  There, Williams later studied educational research and in particular strategies to retain women in physics.  In the Spring of 1994, she served as the acting Associate Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.  One other major contribution was working along with Sheella Mierson.  Mierson and Williams served as co-principal investigators of a study on problem-based learning in introductory sciences, in the Center for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Delaware.  She is a retired associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware.

In 1986, she was named the Outstanding Young Woman of America (OYWA), in a book published in 1987 about the Outstanding Young Women in America. Williams is also a Fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists. 

Continuing his journey as a scholar, Massey obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from Washington University in St. Louis in 1966 focusing his research on the ground state of liquid helium. From there he went on to join the research staff at Argonne National Laboratory. At Argonne National Laboratory he delved into research about the many-body theory of liquids and solids. In 1968, he accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Illinois, where he became an advisor to the Black Students Association and the first chairman of the Black Faculty and Staff Association reflecting his commitment to social justice and equality.

Massey’s career trajectory would lead him to Providence, Rhode Island, where he would serve as a professor and then dean of the college at Brown University. During his tenure, he co-developed the Inner-City Teachers of Science program, which aimed to improve the science education in urban high schools. Nevertheless, in 1979 he returned to Argonne National Laboratory as its director while being appointed professor of physics at the University of Chicago.

Years later, in 1991, then president of the United States George H.W. Bush appointed Massey as the director of the National Science Foundation, NSF. During his tenure, he emphasized strengthening and further building connections between academia and industry while advocating for diversity in the fields of science and engineering. In addition, he played a critical role in securing approval and funding for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project. This project would later confirm the existence of gravitational waves.

After his time at NSF, Massey would serve as the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for the University of California system. Then in 1995, he became the president of Morehouse College, where focused on enhancing the academic programs and the infrastructure. Following his tenure at Morehouse he served as the president of the school of Art institute of Chicago from 2010 to 2016.

Throughout his career, Massey has been a trailblazer often being the first African American in his roles. He remains dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in science. How different would the world be if Walter E. Massey had never shared his gifts? Thankfully, we will never know.

Adams was born on December 5, 1918, in Kittrell, North Carolina, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School as valedictorian and from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1938, majoring in math and physics. After graduation, she returned to Columbia, where she taught mathematics at the local high school while studying part-time for a M.A. degree in psychology at the Ohio State University.

Adams enlisted in the U.S. Army's Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in July 1942, becoming the first African American woman to be an officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps. In December 1944, Adams led the only battalion of Black WACs ever to serve overseas. They were stationed in Birmingham, England. The women began to socialize with the citizens and broke through prejudices on both sides. Adams was put in charge of a postal directory service unit. In January 1945, she was made the commanding officer of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which was made up of African-American women serving overseas during World War II. The battalion deployed overseas during WWII, tasked with clearing a massive backlog of undelivered mail to boost the morale of U.S. soldiers. By the completion of the war, Lieutenant Colonel Adams was the highest ranking African-American woman in the military. After the war, she returned back to school, receiving her master's degree in psychology from the Ohio State University in 1946. Adams devoted much of her post-war life to being an educator at a number of institutions and community service with various organizations.

Adame Earley has received numerous honors. A monument honoring her was dedicated at Fort Lee (as it was then called), Virginia on November 30, 2018. The base has since been renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of Earley and Lieutenant General Arthur J. Gregg in 2023, the first-ever U.S. military base bearing the names of African Americans. The Dayton VA women’s clinic has been renamed in honor of Charity Adams Earley. Dayton Public Schools also named one of their schools the "Charity Adams Earley Girls Academy" in her honor. Additionally, the exploits of Adams and her troops were immortalized in the 2024 film The Six Triple Eight showing the experience of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during their service in Europe.

In 1949, Adams married Stanley A. Earley Jr. and had two children. Adams died at age 83 on January 13, 2002, in Dayton

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charity_Adams_Earley
• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wwii-movie-shares-story-of-dayton-s-charity-adams-earley/ar-AA1y9etD?ocid=BingNewsSerp
• https://www.wdtn.com/as-seen-on-2-news/va-womens-clinic-renamed-to-honor-wwii-veteran-charity-adams-earley/?ipid=promo-link-block2

Originally from Rockford, Illinois., Dr. Treadwell earned his bachelor’s degree in math and physics from Central State University in 1969. He earned a master's in nuclear physics from Stony Brook University followed by his doctorate in experimental high-energy physics from Cornell University in 1978.

His best discovery was made while completing his thesis experiment for his Ph.D. at Cornell University where he identified a fine meson, a subatomic particle residing in the nucleus of an atom. In an interview in 2011 with the FAMUAN, Treadwell remarked,  “I discovered a fine meson, which is a sub-atomic particle that resides in the nucleus of the atom, I was so excited. Cornell said it was worth a Ph.D. So, I got my degree.” [1]

After completing his Ph.D., Treadwell taught at Chicago State University for eight years where he helped to establish the physics program. In 1995, he studied particle physics at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Genève. In 1997, he and his family moved to Tallahassee and Treadwell became a physics professor at Florida A & M University (FAMU) where he would remain for the next 14 years until his death in 2015. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in FAMU's production of 30 percent of the nation's Black doctorate recipients in physics. 

As part of the Choice Experiment, a collaboration with Harvard University, he built an X-ray machine designed to look for lead deposits in the bones. Elliott A. Treadwell has filed for at least two U.S. patents: Glycerol-Chlorine Matrix in 1991 and Threshold Cerenkov Detector with Radial Segmentation in 2010. His contribution to research spans over 296 research papers and several affiliations such as Fermilab and D0 collaboration.

Beyond academia, Treadwell enjoyed spending time with his family, relaxing and watching TV. He was fond of jazz music and played the soprano and tenor saxophone, drawing inspirations from icons like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker.

Treadwell was a scientist, a dedicated educator, and a musician which reflected his deep commitment to intellectual and creative endeavor.

Reference

1. https://www.thefamuanonline.com/2011/04/10/physics-professor-produces-patents/

2. https://inspirehep.net/authors/985703

Giles credits his first exposure to computers through access to the School of Education's IBM 1620 in 1963 or 1964.  He went on to earn his bachelor's degree in Physics at the University of Chicago in 1970, followed by the completion of M.S. and Ph.D. degree in 1973 and 1975 respectively from Stanford University.  Giles holds the distinction of being the first African American to earn his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from that school.  His research interests encompass advanced computing architectures, distributed and parallel computing, and advanced scientific computing. 

He was a research associate at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics before becoming an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1979 to 1985, at which point he joined the Boston University faculty as an associate professor, and was promoted to full professor in 1999. 

In 2002 Giles was the chair of the Supercomputing Conference in Baltimore, becoming the first African American to assume this prestigious position. In 2004, he continued to break barriers by becoming the first faculty member to serve on the Boston University board of trustees. 
Beyond his academic and administrative roles, Dr. Giles is the founder and executive director for the Institution of African American E-Culture, a foundation committed to addressing the problem of the digital divide, or the lack of access to information technology by minority groups and other underserved communities in the United States 

Giles was also a team leader in the National Science Foundation's National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) Education, Outreach and Training group, through which students and teachers learned to use advanced computing systems for understanding, modeling and solving problems.  As of 2010, he is the chair of the United States Department of Energy's Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee. 
In 2000 Giles won the A. Nico Habermann Award offered by the Computing Research Association for "outstanding contributions aimed at increasing the numbers and/or successes of underrepresented groups in the computing research community". In 2004 he was listed by the Career Communications Group as one of the "50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science".

As of January 2024, Dr. Roscoe Giles was serving as the deputy director of Boston University's Center for Computational Science and a professor of computer and electrical engineering at Boston University College of Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Department of Physics.