The Inaugural

Howard J. Foster Physics & Mathematics Education

Symposium Presented by

4SIGHT, INC.

in Collaboration with McNair Junior High School and ColstonConsultants, LLC

Howard Jerry Foster, PhD

Founder and Chairman of the Department of Physics and Mathematics

Alabama A&M University

June 19, 2015

Ronald E. McNair, Jr. High School

3221 Mastin Lake Rd. NE

Huntsville, Alabama 35810

Origins of Physics at Alabama A&M University (1965-1973)

Dr. Howard J. Foster was born on Sept. 22, 1926, in Gadsden, Alabama. He was a 7th

grade

dropout; but after serving in the armed forces, Dr. Foster returned to the seventh grade at the age

of 23. He attended college at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated magna

cum laude and earned the MS degree in physics. In 1964 he received a PhD in physics from

Catholic University of America with a special citation for academic performance.

Before AAMU, Foster held a position as solid state physicist in the Institute for Material

Research at the US National Bureau of Standards. He also held consulting and part time

professional positions with NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission, and a visiting

professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Fosters past work activity included teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels in physics and mathematics; consulting in environmental sciences; work in atomic energy; environmental

control (space program); missile vibration shielding; prospecting for mineral resources from

outer space; defense against sophisticated missile attack (Safeguard); laboratory director for

high-temperature studies of missile nose-cone materials and nuclear fuels; electron microscopy

and diffraction; thin films and crystal growth, and theoretical and experimental studies of Fermi

surfaces in metals. Fosters recent work activity included quantum theoretical and experimental studies of Fermi surfaces and electronic properties of metals; work in crystal growth and

purification of metals and alloys; and, consulting in some of these areas. Foster also served on

the advisory board of the Danforth Foundation, as Trustee for the Roxbury Medical-Technical

Institute of Boston, Massachusetts, and as a member of the American Physical Societys Committee on Minorities in Physics.

Howard J. Foster and his wife Margaret Drake Foster of Nashville had 4 children: Jeanne

(Jacobs) of Miami, FL; Gary of Nashville, TN; Kathy (Johnson) of Washington, D.C.; and Tracy

(Webb) of Houston TX.

The first students to obtain a degree in mathematics and a minor in physics (class of 1968) were

Nancy Fields, James Jennings, Joseph Jones, Ralph Redrick, and Leon Weaver. The first student

to graduate with a major in physics was Michael Hartwell in 1971.

SYMPOSIUM AGENDA

9:00 Welcome, Occasion and Greetings

Cydale C. Smith, CEO 4SIGHT, INC.

Michael Hartwell, Retired, Associate Director Missiles, AMCOM;

9:30-10:30 The Need for K-5 Physics Curriculum in Title I Schools-Why isnt it

the Standard? How does it contribute to successful conceptual

learning?

Mohan Aggarwal, PhD Chair, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, Alabama

A&M University

Barbara Anthony, EdD Retired, AAMU; and Ed. Specialist NASA Contractor (ASRI)

Eugene Collins, PhD Professor of Physics, Director, Center for Research Excellence in

Science and Technology (CPCOM), Rhodes Scholar, Fisk University

Samaiyah Farid Research Scientist, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Jeanne Foster Jacobs, PhD President, Miami-Dade Community College

Ray Greene Director of Youth Services, City of Huntsville

Don Gregory, PhD Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of Alabama in

Huntsville; UAH Science Olympiad

Carl Holden, PhD Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin

10:30-10:45 BREAK

10:45-11:15 Student Interactive Session: Ronald E. Mickens, PhD,

Distinguished Professor of Physics, Clark-Atlanta University

11:15-12:15 LUNCH

12:15-12:45 Speaker: Stephen McGuire, PhD

Stephen C. McGuire is professor of physics at Southern

University and A&M College and a Fellow of the American

Physical Society (APS). He received his B.S. in physics with

high honors from Southern University, M.S. in nuclear physics

from the University of Rochester and Ph.D. in nuclear science

from Cornell University. After receiving his doctorate, he spent

four years as a staff scientist at the Oak Ridge National

Laboratory, where he was responsible for the production of and

characterization of transuranic isotopes in the laboratory's high-

flux isotope reactor (HFIR) and developed national strategies for

disposal of high-level commercial nuclear waste. Upon joining

the physics department at Alabama A&M University in 1982 he

began research with the High Energy Particle Astrophysics

Laboratory of the Marshall Space Flight Center. In 1987 he was

honored with NASA's Office of Technology Utilization

Research Citation Award for his work on the interactions of charged-particle cosmic rays with

emulsions and semiconductor electronics. In 1989 he was appointed to the Cornell faculty where

his research interests expanded to include novel uses of neutrons and x-rays for the study of

microelectronic materials and devices and thin film intermetallic structures. In 1999 he returned

to Southern University, a major producer of undergraduate minority physics majors, as chair of

the department of physics, a position he held until 2009.

His research interests are in the nondestructive compositional and structural studies of solid state

materials and his teaching interests emphasize the integration of research and technology in the

development of effective science teaching and learning strategies. His current research focus is

the investigation of optical materials for use in high power laser applications.

Additional distinctions include having been a four-year Southern University Academic

Scholarship recipient in Physics, a Crown Zellerbach Foundation Fellow in Physics at The

University of California, Los Angeles, a John McMullen Graduate Fellow in Nuclear Science at

Cornell University, and a Martin Luther King, Jr., Visiting Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy at

Wayne State University (1997). He is a past-president of the National Society of Black

Physicists (1987-1989). In 2004 he was named Outstanding Research Investigator at Southern

University and A&M College, the highest research honor awarded by the campus chancellor, and

in 2005 he was named the Faculty Researcher of the Year in its College of Sciences.

He is a member of the APS Divisions of Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics and the Topical

Group on Gravity. From 1988-1989 he served as chair of the APS Committee of Minorities

(COM) in Physics. He has also served as an APS-sponsored minority speaker and as a member

of the advisory board of its Insurance Trust.

12:45-1:15 Resolution: Richard Showers, Sr., District 1 City Councilman, Huntsville

Special Recognition of Family, Peers, and Students

1:15-2:00 Visiting Universities

2:00-3:15 Student Presentations

3:15-4:15 The Impact of Science on the Communitys Education System-How

can Science Education Improve Historically Underrepresented

Communities and Cultivate Indigenous Leaders?

Sylvia Bozeman, PhD Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Spelman College

Regina Colston ColstonConsultants, LLC, CEO

David Ernst, PhD Professor of Nuclear Physics, Vanderbilt University

George Grayson, PhD Retired, Chair, Department of Biology, Alabama A&M University

William Jackson, PhD Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, UC Davis

James Jennings Retired, Associate Administrator, NASA Headquarters

Ralph Redrick Retired, U.S. Army Missile Command

Lewis Wooten Director of Mission Operations Laboratory, NASA-MSFC

4:15 Closing Remarks