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For Immediate Release

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

(BPRW) CONFERENCE OF BLACK PHYSICISTS CELEBRATES 30TH YEAR OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK PHYSICISTS

(BLACK PR WIRE) (BOSTON) – (February 21, 2007) The 2007 Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists begins on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at the Boston Sheraton Hotel and John B. Hynes Convention Center.

This year’s conference, themed Global Competitiveness Through Diversity, celebrates the 30th anniversary of the National Society of Black Physicists.

The Joint Annual Conferences of the National Society of Black Physicists and National Society of Hispanic Physicists brings together over 500 African American and Hispanic American physics students and professionals. This conference has a cutting-edge scientific program as well as a student professional development program that includes mentor-protégé match-making and a recruiting fair.

The scientific program includes over 120 oral and poster presentations. The presenters include students and faculty from Harvard, MIT, Florida A&M, Fisk University, CUNY, Hampton, Jackson State, University of Texas –Brownsville/Texas Southernmost College and many others.

The “Science Ambassadors” of the both the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists will be appearing at two Boston area Boys and Girls Clubs as part of the conference’s K-12 science education and outreach program.

“We are very excited about our 30th anniversary”, says Dr. Quinton Williams, President of the National Society of Black Physicists and chair of the physics department at Jackson State University.

“NSBP has evolved from a few dozen people, to now hundreds of members. There are new Ph.D. programs at Florida A&M University, Hampton University, a joint Ph.D. program between Fisk and Vanderbilt, as well as the long established programs at Howard and Alabama A&M.” Together these programs are poised to increase the production of African American Ph.D. physicists from less than 10 per year to greater than 25. With the current growth in the number African Americans earning a baccalaureate degree in physics, the number of Ph.D.’s may go even higher still.”

The very first African American to earn the Ph.D. degree in the United States was Edward Allen Bouchet in 1877 at Yale University. He went on to teach at the secondary level at Quaker school for African American youth. His graduate education was funded by one of the school’s trustees in what we would call today ‘scholarship for service.’

Founded in 1977 at Morgan State University, the mission of the National Society of Black Physicists is and mission of the National Society of Black Physicists is to promote the professional well-being of African American physicists within the international scientific community and within society at large.

The organization seeks to develop and support efforts to increase opportunities for African Americans in physics and to increase their numbers and visibility of their scientific work. It also seeks to develop activities and programs that highlight and enhance the benefits of the scientific contributions that African American physicists provide for the international community. The society seeks to raise the general knowledge and appreciation of physics in the African American community.

The Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists is supported by the National Science Foundation, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Dow Corning.

Contact Information

National Society of Black Physicists
Lawrence Norris
703-536-4207-Office
703-599-8609-Cell
lnorris@nsbp.org
Sheryl Brannon
202-403-3713-Cell
Conference.info@nsbp.org

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