An african-american physicist – nearly 30 years of experiences,

1974 bell labs summer research program, murray hill, nj

1981 gordon research conferences

Physics phds awarded in the u.s. (1973 - 2004) National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates,compiled by the AIP Statistical Research Center – Rachel Ivie and Roman Czujko

• 37,660 Total Physics PhDs over 32 Years
• 488 Hispanic American PhDs
• 291 African American PhDs

Anthony m. johnson

• Chair, APS Committee on Minorities in Physics
• AT&T Bell Laboratories

"I think it’s critical that the stereotype that minorities can’t do physics be challenged." APS News, Vol. 1, No. 9, pp 12-15, September 1992

Reducing phd production vis-à-vis minorities and women From the OPINION section of the November, 1994 issue ofthe American Physical Society (APS) News, Vol. 3, No. 10, p. 5.

"…several APS Council Members supporting a campaign to reduce PhD production had characterized the recruitment and retention of minorities and women as, under the present circumstances, “immoral.”

In 1981 nearly 1000 physics PhDs were granted to U.S. citizens. Only 4 of these PhDs were granted to African-Americans that year (I was one of them). Similarly abysmal statistics could also be cited for other minority groups and women. Today, more than a decade later, the number of physics PhDs granted to an under-represented minority rarely exceeds 10 nationally….

Earlier this year, I attended the 8th Annual National Conference of Black Physics Students (Georgia Institute of Technology, February 10-13, 1994) and participated in a panel discussion on ‘Life After Graduate School.’After the panel discussion a student from Appalachian State University approached me and said, “this conference has given me the opportunity to see and talk to a black PhD physicist for the very first time. I had heard that they do indeed exist, but I never saw one. Having actually met several at this meeting has now encouraged me to go on for my PhD.”This young man’s situation is so typical of the minority student experience (mine included), that it makes imperative the need to continue aggressive recruitment/retention efforts. Without representation in the physics community, promising, young students have no role models to reflect their own aspirations and abilities."

Physics phds granted in the u.s. class of 2005 – american institute of physics

• 1,244 Physics PhDs
  • Non-U.S. Citizens Represented 60% of all Physics PhDs
• 175 PhDs (14%) granted to Women
• 17 PhDs granted to Hispanic Americans
• 11 PhDs granted to African Americans

2004 physics academic workforce at phd granting departments – american institute of physics

• 185 PhD Granting Physics Departments
• 5400 Full-Time Equivalent Physics Faculty
• 64 African-American Faculty
  • 28 Are At Three Departments –Hampton University, Florida A&M University, and Howard University
• 107 Hispanic Faculty
• Only 30 Other PhD-Granting Physics Dept. Have Any African American Faculty, And Most Of These Have Only One
• 67 PhD Physics Dept. Have At Least One Hispanic Faculty Member