Hakeem Oluseyi

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Hakeem Oluseyi
Hakeem Oluseyi 4140177 (cropped).jpg
Born
James Edward Plummer Jr.

(1967-03-13) March 13, 1967 (age 58)
Education Tougaloo College (BS)
Stanford University (MS, PhD)
Scientific career
Fields Physics, astrophysics, cosmology, electrical engineering, science education
Institutions
Thesis Development of a Global Model of the Sun's Atmosphere with a Focus on the Solar Transition Region  (2000)
Doctoral advisor Arthur B. C. Walker Jr.

Hakeem Muata Oluseyi [1] (born James Edward Plummer Jr.; [2] March 13, 1967) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, educator, science communicator, author, actor, veteran, and humanitarian.

Contents

Early life and education

Hakeem Oluseyi was born James Edward Plummer Jr. [1] [3] on March 13, 1967. [4] [5] After his parents divorced when he was four years old, he and his mother moved to a different state along the southern border of the US every year. He lived in some of the country's toughest neighborhoods including the 9th Ward of New Orleans; Watts, Los Angeles, California; Inglewood, California; South Park, Houston, Texas; and Third Ward, Houston, Texas before settling in rural Mississippi a month before Oluseyi turned 13 years old. He completed middle school and high school in the East Jasper School District graduating as his high school's valedictorian in 1985. Oluseyi served in the U.S. Navy from 1984 to 1986. He credits the Navy with teaching him algebra. [1]

After leaving the Navy with an honorable discharge due to a skin condition from which he had suffered since he was a child, Oluseyi enrolled in Tougaloo College where he earned Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and mathematics. In 1991, he became a graduate student at Stanford University. He earned an M.S. degree in physics in 1995. [1]

Oluseyi considered dropping out of Stanford due to the culture shock he experienced coming from Mississippi, where he had attended an all-black high school followed by an HBCU. Compared with his previous schooling, where "everybody's in the same economic position," Oluseyi recalled that at Stanford, "how you dressed, how you talked, all these sort of things mattered. [. . .] It was really very difficult at first." Oluseyi eventually found a mentor in solar physicist Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., who helped him adjust to the environment, and completed his schooling at Stanford. [1]

In recognition of how much his life had changed since his troubled childhood, he changed his name to Hakeem ("wise" in Arabic) Muata ("he who speaks the truth" in Swahili) Oluseyi ("God has done this" in Yoruba) in 1996. [1]

Oluseyi earned his Ph.D. degree in physics from Stanford in 1999. [1] [6] Walker continued to mentor Oluseyi, who instructed him in experimental space research. Under Walker's tutelage, Oluseyi helped to design, build, calibrate, and launch the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA), which pioneered normal incidence extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray imaging of the Sun's transition region and corona.

Oluseyi is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

Career

From 1999 to 2001 he worked on semiconductor research at Applied Materials. From 2001 to 2004 he was a research fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working on the Dark Energy Camera and Vera C. Rubin Observatory. [7]

From 2007 to 2019, he was on the faculty of the Florida Institute of Technology in the departments of Physics and Space Sciences. His academic rank was distinguished research professor. [6] From 2016 to 2019 he was stationed at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC where he was the Space Sciences education manager for NASA's Science Mission Directorate via the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program. [6] [8] Oluseyi was named a Visiting Robinson Professor at George Mason University in 2021, a distinction by which the university recognizes outstanding faculty. [9]

In 2021, he published an autobiography titled: A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars co-authored with Joshua Horwitz. [7] As of 2022, Oluseyi is the president of the National Society of Black Physicists. [10] Since 2024 Oluseyi is CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. [11]

His best known scientific contributions are research on the transfer of mass and energy through the Sun's atmosphere; the development of space-borne observatories for studying astrophysical plasmas and dark energy; and the development of technologies in ultraviolet optics, [12] [13] [14] [15] detectors, [16] [17] [18] [19] computer chips, [20] [21] [22] [23] and ion propulsion. [24]

In 2021, Oluseyi carried out an investigation into the role that former NASA administrator James Webb played in the Lavender Scare of the 1950s and 1960s, after a number of scientists and journalists had raised concerns about the naming of NASA's new space telescope after him. Contrary to the claims of Webb's critics, Oluseyi found there was no evidence that Webb was implicated. [25] His finding was later confirmed by a full report carried out by NASA itself. [26]

Oluseyi appears as a commentator and scientific authority on Science Channel television shows including How the Universe Works , Outrageous Acts of Science , Curiosity , NASA's Unexplained Files, Space's Deepest Secrets, and Strip the Cosmos ,. [27] He also appeared as a 'bakineering' (baking and engineering) judge on Netflix's Baking Impossible . [28] [29] He appeared on the National Geographic Channel show Evacuate Earth. [30] Oluseyi appeared in the ABC special Truth and Lies: Hubris on the High Seas, which examined the Titan submersible implosion. [31]

He contributed science articles to the news media, including The Washington Post . [32] He lent his voice and scientific expertise to the award-winning science education video game ExoTrex: A Space Science Adventure Game in collaboration with Dig-It! Games. [33]

He co-authored the children's popular science book Discovery Spaceopedia: The Complete Guide to Everything Space. [34]

Family

Oluseyi met his wife, Jessica, at Tougaloo College. They have a daughter and a son. Oluseyi has a son from an earlier relationship. [35]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jones, Maya (11 October 2016). "Astrophysicist and HBCU grad Hakeem Oluseyi is making waves". Andscape . Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  2. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (5 October 2012). "Rise of a gangsta nerd: Fellows Friday with Hakeem Oluseyi". TED Blog. Interviewed by Karen Frances Eng. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  3. ↑ Venkatraman, Vijaysree (9 June 2021). "Quantum Life review: One man's journey from the streets to the stars". New Scientist . Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  4. ↑ Hakeem Oluseyi [@hakeemoluseyi] (13 March 2017). "Maybe y'all didn't notice that today's my birthday. C'mon! A guy only turns 23 once (each year)!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem; Horwitz, Joshua (15 June 2021). A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars. Random House Publishing Group. p. 8. ISBN   978-1-9848-1910-9.
  6. 1 2 3 "Faculty and Staff Profiles". Florida Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  7. 1 2 Oluseyi, Hakeem; Horwitz, Joshua (15 June 2021). A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars. Ballantine Books. ISBN   978-1984819093.
  8. ↑ Hakeem Oluseyi on LinkedIn.
  9. ↑ "George Mason University: Astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi Named Visiting Robinson Professor". Patch. 26 August 2021.
  10. ↑ "How Naming the James Webb Telescope Turned Into a Fight Over Homophobia". New York Times. 19 December 2022.
  11. ↑ "ASP welcomes Hakeem Oluseyi as Chief Executive Officer". 17 October 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  12. ↑ Walker, Arthur (1 February 1994). Hoover, Richard B. (ed.). "Astronomical observations with normal incidence multilayer optics III: selection of multilayer bandpasses". Proc. SPIE. Multilayer and Grazing Incidence X-Ray/EUV Optics II. 2011: 450. Bibcode:1994SPIE.2011..450W. doi:10.1117/12.167216. S2CID   122946720.
  13. ↑ Walker, Arthur (11 November 1994). Hoover, Richard B.; Walker, Jr., Arthur B. C. (eds.). "Astronomical observations with normal incidence multilayer optics IV: selection of spectral lines". Proc. SPIE. Advances in Multilayer and Grazing Incidence X-Ray/EUV/FUV Optics. 2279: 343. Bibcode:1994SPIE.2279..343W. doi:10.1117/12.193153. S2CID   119856407.
  14. ↑ Kankelborg, Charles (20 June 1995). "Calibration of multilayer mirrors for the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array II". In Hoover, Richard B; Walker, Arthur B. C Jr. (eds.). X-Ray and Extreme Ultraviolet Optics. Vol. 2515. pp. 436–444. doi:10.1117/12.212609. S2CID   122012916 . Retrieved 24 December 2016.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  15. ↑ Plummer, James (20 June 1995). "Design and performance of thin foil XUV filters for the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array II". In Hoover, Richard B; Walker, Arthur B. C Jr. (eds.). X-Ray and Extreme Ultraviolet Optics. Vol. 2515. pp. 565–575. doi:10.1117/12.212623. S2CID   121896732 . Retrieved 24 December 2016.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (21 October 2005). Meynart, Roland; Neeck, Steven P; Shimoda, Haruhisa (eds.). "Advanced broadband imager for EUV and FUV studies with exquisite precision". Proc. SPIE. Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites IX. 5978: 387. Bibcode:2005SPIE.5978..387O. doi:10.1117/12.646707. S2CID   122251142.
  17. ↑ Nikzad, Shouleh (18 December 2000). Fineschi, Silvano; Korendyke, Clarence M.; Siegmund, Oswald H. W.; Woodgate, Bruce E. (eds.). "Ultrastable and uniform EUV and UV detectors". Proc. SPIE. Instrumentation for UV/EUV Astronomy and Solar Missions. 4139: 250. Bibcode:2000SPIE.4139..250N. doi:10.1117/12.410541. S2CID   111005411.
  18. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (4 November 2004). Meynart, Roland; Neeck, Steven P; Shimoda, Haruhisa (eds.). "Characterization and deployment of large-format fully depleted back-illuminated p-channel CCDs for precision astronomy". Proc. SPIE. Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites VIII. 5570: 515. Bibcode:2004SPIE.5570..515O. doi:10.1117/12.566976. S2CID   121428999.
  19. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (7 June 2004). Blouke, Morley M; Sampat, Nitin; Motta, Ricardo J (eds.). "LBNL four-side buttable CCD package development". Proc. SPIE. Sensors and Camera Systems for Scientific, Industrial, and Digital Photography Applications V. 5301: 87. Bibcode:2004SPIE.5301...87O. doi:10.1117/12.531954. S2CID   137323221.
  20. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (5 August 2003). "Method and apparatus employing optical emission spectroscopy to detect a fault in process conditions of a semiconductor processing system". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 24 December 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  21. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (14 October 2003). "Monitoring of film characteristics during plasma-based semi-conductor processing using optical emission spectroscopy". United States Patent and Trademark Office.[ permanent dead link ]
  22. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (23 August 2005). "High selectivity and residue free process for metal on thin dielectric gate etch application". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 24 December 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  23. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (13 September 2005). "System, method and medium for modeling, monitoring and/or controlling plasma based semiconductor manufacturing processes". uspto.gov. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 24 December 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  24. ↑ Chesny, David (29 June 2015). "The Magnetic Reconnection Rocket: Advanced Ion Propulsion Inspired by Solar Particle Acceleration". 100 Year Starship 2014 Public Symposium Conference Proceedings. ISBN   978-0990384014.
  25. ↑ "Was NASA's historic leader James Webb a bigot?". medium.com. Medium. 25 December 2022.
  26. ↑ "NASA Shares James Webb History Report". nasa.gov. NASA. 18 November 2022.
  27. ↑ "Hakeem Oluseyi". IMDb.com. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  28. ↑ "Baking Impossible Judges: Andrew Smyth, Joanne Chang & Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi!". Blurred Reality. 7 October 2021.
  29. ↑ "Baking Impossible". Netflix web site. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  30. ↑ "Evacuate Earth". Plex. 2 December 2012.
  31. ↑ Anderson, John, 'Fatal Dive to the Titanic: Truth and Lies' Review: Hubris on the High Seas , retrieved 10 February 2024
  32. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (19 June 2021). "Intelligent life probably exists on distant planets — even if we can't make contact, astrophysicist says". The Washington Post . Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  33. ↑ "Ready for a Scientific Space Adventure?". Dig-It! Games. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
  34. ↑ Discovery Spaceopedia: The Complete Guide to Everything Space. Discovery Channel. 13 October 2015. ISBN   978-1618934079.
  35. ↑ Oluseyi, Hakeem (2021). A quantum life : my unlikely journey from the street to the stars. New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 202, 279, 343. ISBN   978-1-9848-1910-9. OCLC   1256670197.
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