By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Bill Wiley is continuing to inspire new generations to follow the advice relatives gave him — “stand tall, stay black and speak loudly.”<\/P>
Thursday, a 12-minute video tribute to him was unveiled just before one of the scientists he had encouraged, Wayne Martin, was given the 2010 Community Stewardship Award by the Black History Month Committee at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.<\/P>
The video can be viewed online here<\/A>. <\/P>
![Panel](\"http:\/\/www.columbiabasin.edu\/images\/cr_panel.jpg\") <\/TD><\/TR> |
| Maurice Foxworth, left, Wayne Martin, John Brooks Slaughter and Novella Bridges discuss Thursday the past, present and future of blacks in science, as well as the state of science and math education in the U.S. as part of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory’s Black History Month Celebration.<\/TD><\/TR><\/TBODY><\/TABLE><\/P> Martin hadn’t planned to return to school after he earned a bachelor’s degree and started working at the national lab in Richland. But that was before Wiley, who was director of the lab from 1984 until two years before his death in 1996, took an interest in Martin.<\/P> “He convinced me to do things that I never would have done,” said Martin, who now holds a doctorate in environmental science and acts as mentor to graduate students at the lab.<\/P> The video, created by the National Visionary Leadership Project, will be used nationwide to inspire students, including black students, to consider a career in science.<\/P> Much has changed since Wiley earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1954 at a time when his choice of schools in Mississippi was limited to those that accepted blacks.<\/P> But the need for black scientists to “reach back and grab those behind them” remains as strong as ever, said panelists at a Black History Month celebration Thursday at PNNL.<\/P> “There are thousands of Bill Wileys out there to be developed,” said John Slaughter, the first black director of the National Science Foundation from 1980-82. He now is professor of education and engineering at the University of Southern California.<\/P> Students of all races need to be encouraged to stick with math and science, Martin said. Too few U.S. citizens are entering technical fields, he said.<\/P> The problem stems from high school when it’s easy for students to opt out of challenging science and math classes if they don’t have families who encourage them to take the courses and do the work, he said.<\/P> “If we do not get them early, they are lost to these particular disciplines,” he said.<\/P> The percentage of minority students studying math and science in high school that’s needed to pursue math and science higher education is particularly low, Slaughter said.<\/P> “They opt out because in many cases they are taught by teachers who do not have a minor or major in math or science,” he said.<\/P> Institutions such as national labs can help ensure diversity by recruiting at smaller universities and colleges that have strong programs in specialized scientific areas, Martin said.<\/P> Labs need to be not just innovative, but also increase their rate of innovation, he said.<\/P> “The only way to do that is with people of diverse backgrounds,” he said.<\/P> The panel, led by moderator Rufus Friday, publisher of the Tri-City Herald, also discussed what might amaze Wiley if he could see the changes that had come to the national lab.<\/P> His vision was behind the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, which does molecular research on the environment across a range of scientific disciplines, including chemistry and biology.<\/P> A belief in integration of sciences and disciplines to solve tough problems is common today, panelists said.<\/P> Wiley would have been amazed by new ways to communicate, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, said Novella Bridges, a senior research chemist at the national lab. And he would have enjoyed and made full use of them, panelists agreed.<\/P> Maurice Foxworth, an attorney who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said Wiley would be surprised at his continuing influence.<\/P> Slaughter agreed. But Wiley also would be disappointed in how little progress has been made in the United States to involve all its people in science and technology fields, he said.<\/P> |