A FOCUS ON Physics - black physicists encourage a new generation - Statistical Data Included

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 13, 2001 by Ronald Roach

TOO FEW AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE CHOOSING PHYSICS AS AN AREA OF STUDY, SAY BLACK EDUCATORS

Dr. James Davenport takes a great deal of pride in having taught hundreds of students who have graduated from Virginia State University with bachelor's degrees in physics. Among graduates of the college physics program at VSU are luminaries, such as Dr. Demetrius Venable, the current chair of Howard University's Ph.D.--granting physics program. Davenport, a veteran scientist who taught Venable and many others, sees his stewardship of VSU's physics program as a continuation of the legacy established by early 20th century Black physicists at historically Black schools.

"The most talented Black physicists built careers at schools, such as Virginia State, Howard and Fisk because they faced discrimination at other institutions," he says.

These days, Davenport, who is chair of the VSU physics department, worries that too few young Blacks, regardless of whether they attend historically Black schools or majority White institutions, are choosing physics as an undergraduate major and a career option with the acquisition of a Ph.D.

Historically, the lack of exposure among Black students to rigorous college prep science and mathematics courses in junior and senior high school has long limited the participation of Blacks potentially able to succeed in the discipline. In more recent years, the recruitment efforts by engineering and health science coalitions have contributed to a highly competitive environment for attracting academically prepared Blacks into undergraduate and graduate physics programs, according to observers.

Nationally, the U.S. Department of Education reports that Blacks obtaining degrees in physics in 1997 were represented as follows: associate's degrees, 11.1 percent; bachelor's, 5.1 percent; master's, 4.7 percent; and doctorates, 1.9 percent.

Although a number of African American physicists acknowledge the profession has to do a better job at making Black students aware of opportunities in physics before they get to college, there also exists strong opinions that low Black student enrollment numbers represent the larger reality of a declining interest in physics by American students in general. Some critics of American public education, including Black physicists, decry the lack of quality of K-12 science education in the United States and blame the national scientific leadership for not pushing hard enough for reforms that would improve overall math and science education at the K-12 level and increase undergraduate and graduate school opportunities for U.S. students.

"There has to be more support for American-born students in the sciences," says Dr. Keith H. Jackson, a physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and a former Howard University professor.

HBCUS -- PLAYING A KEY ROLE

After years of coming under the threat of elimination because of low student numbers, the Virginia State University physics program currently appears safe from danger even though enrollment has stabilized at its lowest levels since the 1970s, according to VSU's Davenport. Over the past two decades, the state of Virginia has questioned whether Virginia State's program is justified given that it has enrolled far fewer students in physics than other state schools in Virginia.

Davenport says total enrollment hit a peak in the 1970s and 1980s at roughly 30 students. In recent years, the program has fallen to 12 to 15 majors at a given time, he notes.

Davenport explains that state officials have' declined to close the VSU physics department because he has consistently shown that it is responsible for graduating more than 90 percent of Black students in physics among Virginia's public colleges and universities.

"That's far more than all the other Virginia campuses combined," he says.

Because of the small size of its program, VSU is able to offer its students a considerable amount of attention, Davenport adds. That means the program is able to bring students lacking in math and science proficiency up to high levels of achievement, according to Davenport. He notes that the program has enrolled and graduated students who, prior to college, had never taken a physics course.

Five-Year Trend

Race and Ethnicity Percentage
of Physics Faculty

              1996     2000

African       1.5%     1.8%
American
Asian        10.1%     9.9%
Hispanic      1.4%     2.0%
White        85.3%    84.2%
Other         1.8%     2.0%

SOURCE: AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS: 2000 PHYSICS ACADEMIC WORKFORCE
REPORT -- TABLE 3

Note: Table made from a bar graph.

"We have a very strong mentoring program. We can give our students special attention because of our small numbers," Davenport says.

Typically, most HBCU programs are considered small by large research institution standards. Faculty at several HBCUs report that they have managed to secure significant research support with federal agencies and energy laboratories. For students, that means physics research becomes a critical part of their educational experience.