Flourishing in scientific careers - Black scientists on encouraging black students to take up science courses

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 9, 1997 by Gary M. Stern

While completing his master's degree in zoology at the University of Maryland College Park in 1984, Dr. David Jett's advisor and several faculty members told him that he was not Ph.D. material.

Discouraged by their disapproval, Jett needed months, helped by the support of a close-knit group of fellow African-American science graduates, to regain his confidence. In 1992, Jett received his Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is now a tenured assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University.

"I wanted to show them that I had the makings of a Ph.D.," says the 38-year-old Jett, who contends that racism by his white professors colored their view of his Ph.D. potential.

Jett's persistence enabled him to join a select group of African American scientists. Though African Americans number 12 percent of the population, only 5.6 percent of American scientists in 1990 were Black, according to Bureau of Census statistics provided by the National Science Foundation. And in 1992, only 3.9 percent of all doctoral degrees in science were granted to African Americans.

Roosevelt Calbert, director of Human Resources Development at the National Science Foundation, attributes the dearth of Black scientists to a variety of factors including: the inadequate science requirements and teaching in most K-12 urban schools attended by most African American students; the lack of financial grants and scholarships bestowed on Black students in science; and the scarcity of mentors who can serve as role models and show African American youngsters how to handle the competitive aspects of science.

Moreover, Calbert attributes the lack of minority male scientists to peer pressure in which Black students interested in science are mocked for "not being macho." He also observed that many African Americans opt to become medical doctors because of the opportunity to earn more money.

"Some problems are financial. Another has to do with mentoring. Too many Black students don't have proper mentoring as undergraduates. And often parents don't offer enough support. Parents play a major role in a student's life who is interested in math or science," says Calbert.

Jett agrees. Succeeding as a Black scientist takes "mentors, finding the right environment that provides a level playing field, and perseverance," he says.

Jett Propelled by Parent, Mentor

While an elementary school student, Jett's mother, a druggist, took him to the, pharmacy where she worked and let him fill prescriptions under her watchful eye. Showing an early bent for science, he started watching nature and science shows in elementary school when other children were watching cartoons. He took biology and chemistry in high school in Silver Spring, Maryland, and his interest in science flourished at Hampton University in Virginia. After earning his master's from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1983, David Jett completed his doctorate in toxicology at the University Maryland School of Medicine in 1992.

Dr. James Abram, who taught biology and zoology at Hampton University, offered Jett a job as lab assistant after the gifted science student earned an "A" in biology. That job helped pay Jett's tuition, easing his financial burden.

Abram taught him "what science was all about and what kind of creativity it took to succeed," says Jett. Mentors play an important role because "science is a very competitive ordeal. You really need someone to guide you, show you the easiest path of resistance, help you evolve, and show you the ropes. On a more personal basis, you need a mentor to keep you going when you're tempted to give up," he explains.

Jett, whose research contributed to the Environmental Protection Agency's ban against certain insecticides, believes that since there are so few African Americans in most Ph.D. programs, Black students have to work much harder than white students to network, form study groups, and learn from the few Blacks who have doctorate degrees. To encourage more Black students to become scientists, he would like to see more high school science courses stress "hands-on, real world problems." He recommended that undergraduate courses for science majors teach what scientists do in their competitive careers, including learning how to write grants, proposals and papers.

Calbert also notes that affirmative action programs have proven successful in attracting Black men to the sciences. "These programs have given students hope and guidance, provided mentors, research and lab experience."

Mtingwa's Science Flair

Attending Henry McNeal Turner High School in Atlanta, Dr. Sekazi Kauze Mtingwa (who changed his name from Michael Von Sawyer while in college) expressed his initial interest in science while working on projects for local science fairs. He spent four years in high school developing one major project concerning whether a closed ecological system with green algae could travel in space. In 1967 at one of the first state Science Fair competitions that included white and Black high school students, Mtingwa's four-year project won first place in biology. That science fair victory and his high grades earned him a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).