Dr. Ayanna MacCalla Howard

February 28, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Dr. Ayanna MacCalla Howard was born on January 24, 1972, to Johnetta and Eric Conway MacCalla in Providence, Rhode Island. Howard’s parents owned a business called Automated Switching and Controls while managing to stay involved in her education. She attended Brown University, where she earned a B.S. in Engineering and served as the President of the National Society of Black Engineers. She then went on to earn her M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. Since her high school years, Howard has actively worked on science projects, gaining experience in Computer Programming and Artificial Intelligence.

Throughout her graduate studies, Howard worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Califonia to develop navigation methods for robots in Mars explorations. In addition to this work. Dr. Howard was involved in educational outreach programs while earning an M.B.A. She then pursued a career in academia and established her own laboratory, the Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Laboratory at Georgie Institute of Technology with a focus on enhancing the autonomy of robot functionality. In addition, she founded Zyrbotics, where she currently works to design robots to work with children with disabilities.

She has been appointed to serve as the chair of the Georgia Institute of Technology robotics graduate program. She continues to advocate for African American communities in education, with a particular focus on math and sciences, Howard dreams of a future where robots will make a difference in the lives of people. She has already contributed to this world, publishing more than 100 peer-reviewed academic papers and has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards. As an educator, researcher, and innovator, Howard’s continued work and interest in changing the world with research, innovation, and wisdom definitely make her a Black STEAMer on the rise.

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STEAMtrix, LLC

“The fight for the future is now!”

Black History

Ms. Selma Hortense Burke

February 27, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Ms. Selma Hortense Burke was born on December 31, 1900 in Mooresville, North Carolina to Neil and Mary Cofield Burke. Growing up she attended a one-room segregated school house, often playing with riverbed clay to pass her time. Burke’s early interest in sculpting was supported by her maternal grandmother who was a painter at the time. She began her Bachelor’s at Winston-Salem State University, but went on to graduate from the St. Agnes Training School for Nurses.

Burke went on to move to Harlem working as a private nurse. While in Harlem she soon became involved with the Harlem Renaissance cultural movement, working closely with Claude McKay. Later, she went on to teach for the Harlem Community Arts Center which was run by a fellow sculptor, Augusta Savage. She then worked for the Works Progress Administration on the New Deal Federal Art Project, where she created a bust of Booker T. Washington. Due to her work, Burke traveled the world on different fellowships to study Sculpture and create some significant works, one of which was “Frau Keller” (1937).

After traveling, Burke earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. She went on to found both the Selma Burke School of Sculpture in New York City and then the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a sculptor, Burke created portraits of famous African-American figures, lesser known subjects, and expressionalistic works working in a wide variety of media (brass, alabaster and limestone). Burke holds a number of honors to her credit, because of her contributions to arts and education, notably a lifetime achievement award from President Jimmy Carter and the Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_Burke
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/selma-burke

Black History

Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark

February 23, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark was born on April 18, 1917, in Hot Springs, Arkansas to Harold H. and Katy Florence Phipps. Clark began her undergraduate career as a math major and Physics minor, but after realizing the employment opportunities of the time and her passion for children’s development, she switched to Psychology. She went on to obtain both her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts degrees in Psychology from Howard University. She completef her Master’s thesis on how African-American preschool children develop consciousness, which later translated into the famous doll experiments during her Ph.D. that exposed internalized racism and the negative effects of segregation for African American children.

Clark earned a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Columbia University, making herself the first African American woman to do so and second African American (her husband Kenneth Bancroft was the first). After receiving her doctorate, she accepted a counseling position at the Riverdale Home for Children in New York, laying the foundation for her extensive work in developmental psychology. As a social psychologist alongside her husband, she opened, the Northside Center for Child Development, a full-time agency that offered psychological and casework services to Harlem families. In addition, she remained active in the community serving on projects, advisory boards and Boards of Directors of educational and philanthropic institutions.

Dr. Mamie Clark served as the director of the Center from the day it was founded to the day she retired. Clark was known for her ingenuity and her dream, even after she passed on August 11, 1983. It is evident that her contributions to the field of psychology and the social movements of the time live on as she was a major pioneer in understanding the psychology behind race relations. Although there is still more work to be done, Dr. Mamie Clark was a trailblazer and continues to inspire the next generation of Black STEAMers.

If you or someone you know is eligible apply for the Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund! http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/clark-fund.aspx

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Black History

Dr. Mark E. Dean

February 22, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Mark Dean was born on March 2, 1957, in Jefferson City, Tennessee to James and Barbara Dean. He is credited with helping to launch the personal computer age because of his work in making the machines more accessible and powerful.As a child, Dean showed a love for building things even constructing a tractor from scratch with the help of his father, a supervisor at the Tennessee Valley Authority. Dean also excelled in extracurriculars, standing out as a gifted athlete. In 1979, he graduated at the top of his class at the University of Tennessee, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.

After college, Dean landed a job at IBM, a company he would become associated with for the duration of his career. As an engineer, Dean proved to be a rising star at the company. He worked closely with a colleague, Dennis Moeller, to develop the new Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) systems bus, a new system that allowed peripheral devices like disk drives, printers, and monitors to be plugged directly into computers. Dean’s research at IBM helped change the accessibility and power of the personal computer, leading to the development of the color PC monitor. In 1999, Dean led a team of engineers at IBM’s Austin, Texas, lab to create the first gigahertz chip—a revolutionary piece of technology that is able to do a billion calculations a second. As a result of his work, Dean holds three of the company’s original nine patents and has more 20 patents associated with his name.

Mark Dean continued to further his education and earned his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University in 1982. Then, 10 years later, he completed his doctorate in the same field from Stanford University. Dean has been recognized for his work, notably his 1996 honor as an IBM fellow, making himself the first African-American ever to receive the award. A year later, he was honored with the Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 2001, he was tapped to be a member of the National Academy of Engineers. Mark Dean has been quoted stating “A lot of kids growing up today aren’t told that you can be whatever you want to be…There may be obstacles, but there are no limits.” These words and his life of continued success help to inspire the next generation of Black STEAMers.

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Black History

Mr. Ryan Kyle Coogler

February 20, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Mr. Ryan Kyle Coogler was born on May 23, 1986, in Oakland California to Joselyn Thomas and Ira Coogler. He started college at Saint Mary’s College of California on a football scholarship intending to major in Chemistry. His English professor, Rosemary Graham is credited with encouraging his pursuit of a career in screenwriting. Unfortunately, the Saint Mary football program was canceled leading him to transfer and earn a scholarship to play for Sacramento State. There, he had a successful football career, majored in finance, and took all the film classes he could. After graduating, he went on to attend USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he directed four short films. Of these films, three were nominated for a number of awards, two of which were won.

Coogler’s first feature-length film was called Fruitvale Station, originally Fruitvale, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, winning the top audience and grand jury awards, just one of the many it later received. He also is credited as a co-writer and director of Creed in 2015 and most recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film, Black Panther. The film is a commercial and critical success. In addition to his films, Coogler has executively produced the ESPN 30 for 30 film, The Day the Series Stopped. He is currently working on both a graphic and young adult novel. He also has an upcoming film, Wrong Answer. His career has already been extremely successful as he holds the title of winner and has been nominated for a number of prestigious film awards.

As an American film director and screenwriter, Mr. Coogler has been named as 30 people under 30 who are changing the world. He is definitely a director on the rise and is in the middle of making history. Black Panther accumulated $242 million domestically and $184.6 million internationally in its opening weekend. The firm has broken box office records, outranked all other superhero movies on Rotten Tomatoes and scored an A+ grade from audience polled by CinemaScore. At such a young age, Mr. Coogler has already shown himself to be one of the biggest up and coming directors in Hollywood and Black STEAMer continuously on the rise.

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Black History

Dr. David Harold Blackwell

February 19, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Dr. David Harold Blackwell was born in Centralia, Illinois on April 24, 1919. He started his college career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the age of 16. Over the next four years, he earned his Bachelor of Arts, Masters of Arts, and Ph.D. all in Mathematics by the age of 22. During his graduate studies, he was awarded competitive fellowships, one of which typically allowed former recipients an honorary faculty appointment at Princeton, which was objected due to his race. Even with the obstacles, he faced Dr. Blackwell went on to complete a lifetime’s worth of work by the time he was 40.

Blackwell taught at a number of Universities and finally settled at Howard University, where he later became the head of the department. Academically he wrote a textbook. published over 80 papers, and presented lectures across the world. He is well known for the Rao-Blackwell Theorem, Blackwell channel, Blackwell approachability theory, and a number of others. Due to his work, he was able to accept a teaching position in the statistic department at the University of California Berkeley, was elected president of the Institute of Mathematics, granted a full professorship, serve as Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Science, chair of the Statistic Department, served abroad at UC Study Center for the United Kingdom and Ireland, and president of the International Association for Statics in the physical sciences.

Notably, he was the first African-American elected member of the National Academy of Science, making him one of the most famous and greatest African American Mathematicians. Additionally, he was the first tenured member of the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. He won the von Neumann Theory Prize. There are awards in recognition of his work as a distinguished mathematical scientist who inspired a number of underrepresented youth in the professional mathematical sciences. Before he retired, he was appointed the W.W. Rouse Ball Lecturer at Cambridge University, England. Until then, he was a mathematician and the chair of the University of California Berkeley’s Department of Statistics until he retired. Dr. Blackwell passed on July 8, 2010, in Berkeley California at the age of 91, but his legacy as a Black STEAMer remains.

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Black History

Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb

February 16, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 17, 1924, to Frank V. Plummer and Carriebel Cole Plummer. With initial intentions to become a physical education teacher like her mother, her sophomore year of high school was pivotal in directing her interest in Biology. Cobb attended the University of Michigan, but due to their segregated housing for African-American students, she transferred to Talladega College in Alabama, where she received her B.A. in Biology. Due to her race, she was initially denied New York University graduate fellowship, but after an impressing the faculty during an interview she was admitted and earned both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Cell Physiology. Her dissertation examined the relationship between melanin and skin damage, effects of hormones, UV, and chemotherapy agents on cell division. She was the first scientist to publish data on the ability of a compound to cause a reduction of normal and damaged cells.

As a result of her work she became an independent investigator at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory during her graduate studies and received a number of prestigious fellowships. After receiving her Ph.D., she became a teaching fellow in NYU’s biology department, taught anatomy and histology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She then became a faculty member at NYU, later becoming the head of a biology laboratory at Sarah Lawerence College, allowing undergraduate research participation in the National Science Foundation. She went on to Connecticut College, where she advocated for more African Ameican students and teachers, creating a Black Scholarship program, post-baccalaureate pre-medical program. Finally, she then became the dean and professor of Biological Sciences of Douglass Residential College at Rutgers University. Her research career was extremely successful, as she received a number of funding and collaboration opportunities in the U.S and in Italy.

Cobb retired from her appointment as President of California State University at the age of 66. During her presidency, she obtained the financial resources to construct a number of notable buildings on campus. After retirement, she was named a Trustee Professor and became a principal investigator for two programs that helped middle and high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds pursue engineering and science. In addition, she was a member of a number of other advocacy and community outreach boards that helped underrepresented individuals be supported in gaining equitable access to higher education. Although Cobb passed January 1, 2017, in Maplewood, New Jersey, her policies and programs complement a legacy of excellence in science and empowering future generations of Black STEAMers.

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Black History

Dr. James Edward Maceo West

February 15, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Dr. James Edward Maceo West was born in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia on February 10, 1931, to Samuel Edward and Matilda West. He began working at the age of 12 with his cousin to add electrical wiring into rural Virginian homes. Initially, he attended Hampton University in Virginia with interest in medical school. During that time he was drafted and served in the military. His experience led to his becoming a pacifist, transferring to Temple University in Philadelphia, where he received his B.S. in Physics.

Mr. West then went on to work full-time for Bell Laboratories, leading to his beginning his Ph.D. studies, which he later received an honorary doctorate in support of his efforts. As a second-year graduate student, West alongside his colleague created a foil electret microphone, which did not need a battery. This microphone later replaced the carbon microphone and revolutionized communications technology. In addition to his human hearing research and inventions in hearing aids and space technology, West co-founded the Association of Black Laboratories Employees (ABLE) at Bell Labs. Throughout his career he advocated for greater diversity in science and technology fields, even creating the Corporate Research Fellowship Program (CRFP), Summer Research Program, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Ingenuity

Project.

Although West retired from his distinguished career with Lucent Technologies as a Bell Laboratories Fellow, he has continued to conduct research. He has joined the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, where he serves a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The technological inventions and contributions that West has made in the field have caused him recognition. He was the fourth African American selected to join the National Inventors Hall of Fame, due to his invention of the electret microphone, he received the U.S. National Medal of Technology and holds 47 U.S. patents, over 200 foreign patents for the design of microphones and techniques for creating polymer foil-electrets, and is the author of over 100 academic papers. Dr. West has received a number of other honors and awards including him being a Black STEAMer.

Jim West. Portrait of the American acoustic engineer James Edward West (born 1931) in his laboratory at Bell Labs, USA. West joined Bell Labs after graduating in 1957. Together with another Bell Labs engineer, Gerhard Sessler, he invented the foil electret microphone in 1962. This allows the conversion of sound waves into electrical signals with high fidelity. In 2001, about 90% of microphones used this technology. West has received numerous awards for his work on acoustics, including the Acoustical Society of America’s Silver Medal (1995). Photographed in 1999.

If you or someone you know is eligible, apply for the Ingenuity Project! http://www.ingenuityproject.org/programs/how-to-apply-applications-currently-closed/

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Black History

Mr. Howard P. Grant

February 14, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Mr. Howard P. Grant was born in Houston, Texas on July 28, 1925. He began studying engineering at UCLA, and ultimately transferred to the University of California, Berkeley. There he completed his engineering degree, becoming the first African American student graduate from the Berkeley College of Engineering. Additionally, he became the first known African American member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, at the time actively breaking down racial barriers.

As a licensed career engineer, Grant became the first African American Civil Engineer for the city and county of San Francisco and the second in the state of California. He began his career at the San Francisco water department, in addition to his position as President and Treasurer of the California Society of Professional Engineers, which later became the Northern California Council of Black Professional Engineers (NCCBPE), an organization that serves to encourage African American youth to consider careers in engineering. NCCBPE has developed scholarship programs in support of their involvement with higher education in California.

Mr. Grant was not only dedicated to his career as a civil engineer but also in helping others advance in engineering by mentoring a number of minority students. He has served as a founding member of the Engineering Societies Committee for Manpower Training and has served as a board member for a number of other organizations and scholarship committees. Grant passed on November 22, 1997, but has since been renowned as an “engineering icon”, and today because of his success and passion he is also a Black STEAMer.

If you or someone you know is eligible, apply for scholarships through the Northern California Scholarships Foundation! http://www.ncsfscholarships.org/Home/ApplicationProcess

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Black History

Mr. Gregory Oliver Hines

February 13, 2018 mele2b@yahoo.com Leave a comment

Mr. Gregory Oliver Hines was born on February 14, 1946, in New York City to Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines. As a child, Hines began to tap dance and studied under a number of veteran tap dancers, so it was no surprise that he would later launch a successful Broadway, television and film career. Alongside his brother, he began making nightclub appearances as “The Hines Kids”, later known as “The Hines Brothers”, going on to incorporate their father as a drummer becoming, “Hines, Hines, and Dad”.

Hines then went on to become the lead vocalist o Severance, a rock band, where he received an opportunity to reach number one on the Billboard R&B charts singing a duet with Luther Vandross. In the film world, Hines has been seen on the big screen in a number of films and television series, even starring in his own, “The Gregory Hines Show” on CBS. He then went on to debut on Broadway, earning a number of Tony Award Nominations and going on to win two others. Mr. Hine went on to create and host his own show “Gregory Hines’ Tap Dance in America”, hosting tap dance professionals and led to an opportunity to co-host the Tony Awards ceremony twice.

During his career, Hones advocated for tap dance as an art form in America, going as far to create National Tap Dance Day. He served on the board of directors for and as a member of a number of tap dance organizations. He has taught and influenced dance artists, as he has credited dance to be the main influencer of his life leading to the list of awards and nominations he has accumulated throughout his professional career. On August 9, 2003, Hines passed in Los Angeles California., but his legacy as a Black STEAMer lives on in his art.

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Harlem Film Institute

Dr. Ayanna MacCalla Howard

Ms. Selma Hortense Burke

Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark

Dr. Mark E. Dean

Mr. Ryan Kyle Coogler

Dr. David Harold Blackwell

Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb

Dr. James Edward Maceo West

Mr. Howard P. Grant

Mr. Gregory Oliver Hines

Just make more Black films