UM Math and Physics Professors Earn AAAS Awards for Mentoring and Public Outreach

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Two distinguished University of Maryland professors are being honored this week at by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for their work mentoring students and promoting interest in math and science.

Mathematics professor Raymond L. Johnson received the 2006 AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement for his diligent efforts to help underrepresented students earn doctoral degrees in the sciences. Physicist S. James Gates, Jr. won the AAAS 2006 Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award for his outstanding contributions to the popularization of science. Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

Johnson, one of the University of Maryland's first African American professors, has devoted his career to increasing participation in the mathematical sciences, particularly by African Americans. A former chair of Maryland's mathematics department, he has mentored 23 students who have received PhDs in mathematics, 22 of them African Americans. Eight of the African Americans are women.

Gates, the John S. Toll Professor of Physics at Maryland, is an engaging and an enthusiastic guide, both to student and public audiences, into the often bewildering world of particle physics and string theory. A leading string theorist, he has published widely in the scientific literature. However, he also has displayed a wonderful ability to explain difficult concepts of physics in clear language during many public presentations, ranging from PBS documentaries such as "The Elegant Universe" to the first Isaac Asimov Memorial Panel Debate on a "Theory of Everything in 2001."

A Love of Math and Mentoring

In nominating Johnson for the AAAS award, Patrick Fitzpatrick, the chair of the mathematics department at Maryland, noted that "the institutional success of our Department in educating underrepresented minorities has been based on the leadership of Ray Johnson."

Johnson also has been an influential voice nationally in efforts to foster greater opportunities for African Americans in mathematics. He has served on the Board of Governors of the two leading mathematical research institutes in the United States, the Mathematical Association of America and the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications. Johnson has helped organize conferences to promote more participation in mathematics research by African Americans and other minorities. He was a founding member of the Conference for African American Researchers in Mathematical Sciences.

In a letter of support for Johnson's nomination, Monica Jackson, a postdoctoral student at Emory University, wrote that his "interest in minority students has not been to provide us with an 'extra hand' or special consideration - just a level playing field with every other graduate student in the department. It is that level playing field that made all the difference in my success at the University of Maryland." Jackson received a PhD from Maryland in applied mathematics and scientific computation in 2003.

Kimberly Weems, one of three African American women to receive PhDs in math from Maryland in the same year, noted that the achievement received considerable media attention. "However, humble Dr. Johnson remained in the background, never mentioning the important role he played in our success." She describes him as "committed and compassionate" in his efforts to mentor promising students.

The AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement honors members of the Association who have mentored and guided significant numbers of underrepresented students toward a Ph.D. degree in the sciences, as well as scholarship, activism and community-building on behalf of underrepresented groups, including women of all racial or ethnic groups; African-American, Native-American, and Hispanic men; and people with disabilities. This award often recognizes individuals with 25 or more years of success in mentoring students. The recipient receives $5,000 and a commemorative plaque.

An Acclaimed Scientist and Teacher

Professor Jim Gates

Among his students, Gates also is known as an inspiring teacher and role model. Gates has received many awards for his work as an educator, including selection by the University of Maryland as a "Distinguished Scholar-Teacher;" by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation as a "Teacher as Scholar;" and by Washington Academy of Sciences as its College Science Teacher of the Year in 1999. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recently cited him as one of only four African American professors to receive a perfect score from their students on RateMyProfessors.com, an irreverent Internet site that enables college students to post comments about their teachers.

When Gates was named the first Toll Professor at Maryland, he became the first African American to hold an endowed chair in physics at a major research university in the United States. He received his B.S. degree in mathematics and physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 and his Ph.D. degree in elementary particle physics and quantum field theory in 1977, also from MIT. Gates also has held appointments at MIT, Harvard, the California Institute of Technology and Howard University. He has served as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Educational Testing Service and Time-Life Books. He has appeared in four scientific documentaries on PBS, including "The Elegant Universe." In 2005, he spoke at numerous national and international events celebrating the World Year of Physics and Einstein's remarkable output of path-breaking papers in 1905.

Gates has been featured in several profiles, including a 2001 cover story of the magazine, Black Issues in Higher Education. Gates is a past president of the National Society of Black Physicists and a member of the Board of Directors of the Quality Education for Minorities Network.

The AAAS award cites Gates for "sustained and career-long contributions to public understanding of physics through a wide variety of media, including special emphasis on communicating science to underserved communities."