CURRENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN MATH AND SCIENCE

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CURRENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN MATH
AND SCIENCE

• LAUSD DISTRICT 8
• Mattie Adams and Dr. Felicia Clark

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• Current Advances in Math and Science
• Since much African-American history focuses on
  deceased members of our community, we thought it
  important to spend some time sharing current
  history makers in the area of math and science
• Although the list is no where close to
  exhaustive, it gives you an idea of some of the
  advances African-Americans are currently making

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Dr. David Blackwell The Master

• Earned Ph.D. at age 22 in 1941
• Famous Statistician who furthered
• Game theory
• 1965 he became the first African American
  named to the National Academy of Sciences (he is
  still the only Black mathematician to be so
  honored)

Resides in Berkeley
Classic Book Theory of Games and Statistical
Decisions (1979)
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Dr. Sylvester James Gates
Formulated model by introducing the superpartners
"pionin" for the nuclear force (1996) Currently
affiliated with The University of Maryland

• Significance of work Dr. Sylvester Gates' study
  of the mathematical laws that govern hypothetical
  forms of energy and matter have paved the way for
  21st century exploration of the universe at tiny
  scales never before previously accessible.

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• Dr. Arlie O. PettersFurthering Einsteins theory
• First African-American to Receive The
  Blackwell-Tapia Prize For Minority Mathematical
  Scientists (2002)

Book Singularity Theory and Gravitational
Lensing (2000) Mathematical Astronomy light
deflection in weak gravitational
fields Significance of work Using reflective
light to measure the size of galaxies
U.S. A. Citizen Born in Belize
                 B.A./M.A. (Mathematics and
Physics) Hunter College 1986              
Ph.D. (Mathematics) Massachusetts Institute of
Technology 1991.
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Benjamin Carson, MD

• Current Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at
  Johns Hopkins since 1984

• CONTRIBUTIONS
• Written over 90 neurosurgical publications
• Author of 3 best selling books, Gifted Hands,
  Think Big,
• and The Big Picture
• Has successfully separated several sets of
  Siamese twins

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Dr. Alexa I. Canady
Chief of neurosurgery- Childrens Hospital of
Michigan (Retired June 2001)
1st Female African-American Brain Surgeon in the
US
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Dr. Katherine Adebola Okikiolu US Resident -
Nigerian
1st African-American to win the Sloan Research
Fellowship (the most prestigious award in US for
early Scientists/Engineers) In 2001, 1St
African-American Woman to be published in The
Annals of Mathematics (founded in 1884)
Focus Characterizing subsets of rectifiable
curves in Euclidean n-space (works with inner
city African-American Students to teach advanced
Geometry with new paradigm)
Her father, the Nigerian George Okikiolu, has
written more mathematics papers than any other
Black mathematician. She is married to
mathematician Hans Lindblad.
Affiliations Cambridge University University of
California at Los Angeles (1991)University of
San Diego
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Dr. Trachette Jackson
Contributions - Mathematical Models of Cancerous
Tumor Growth (tumor biology)
Born 1972

• Graduated From U of Washington 1998 Professor at
  University of Michigan since 2003
• Significance of Work
• Tumor initiation and progression ability to
  monitor/predict growth of prostate tumor using
  mathematical formulas

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STATE OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY

• BY THE NUMBERS.
• 44,000 physicians and surgeons
• 79,400 postsecondary teachers
• 45,200 lawyers
• 49,300 chief executives
• 26 of employed African-Americans work in
  management, professional, and related occupations
  
• 74 of the employed African-Americans work in
  labor, service, non-management track positions

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More Numbers (2005 data)

• 2.4 millionNumber of black military veterans in
  the United States. More military veterans are
  black than any other minority group
• 80 Among blacks age 25 and older had at least a
  high school diploma. In states such as Colorado,
  the proportion was 90.
• 17Had a bachelors degree or more (by age 25).
  In many states, the rate was higher. 26 of
  blacks this age in Colorado, for instance, had
  this level of education

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More Numbers

• 2.3 millionNumber of black college students in
  2004. This was an increase of roughly 1 million
  from 15 years earlier
• 88.6 billionRevenues for black-owned businesses
  in 2002, up 24from 1997. The number of
  black-owned businesses totaled 1.2 million in
  2002, up by 45 since 1997. Black-owned firms
  accounted for 5 of all nonfarm businesses in the
  United States.
• 24.9Poverty rate in 2005 for those reporting
  black as their only race. This rate was down from
  31.3 in 1985

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More Numbers. (pop quiz)
61.4 million

• The projected single-race black population of the
  United States as of July 1, 2050. On that date,
  according to the projection, blacks would
  constitute 15 of the nations total population.

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Nationally, the percentage of black households
who lived in owner-occupied homes. The rate was
higher in certain states, such as Mississippi,
where it reached 56.
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A new generation has risen up and done what's
needed to be done For that is our unyielding
faith - that in the face of impossible odds,
people who love their country can change it.
- Barak Obama Seantor and Presidential
Candidate February 10, 2007
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Resources

• Black History Month Template http//office.micros
  oft.com/en-us/templates/TC101030761033.aspx?AxInst
  alled1c0
• Biographies of Mathematicians of the African
  Diaspora http//www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/madgreate
  st.html
• Game Theory http//www.gametheory.net/books/detai
  l.php?asin0486638316
• Statistical Data http//www.infoplease.com/spot/b
  hmcensus1.html
• Quote from Speech http//www.barackobama.com