Born in Hattiesburg,Mississippi and raised in the Jim Crow era South,Massey became fascinated by mathematics as a youth. After attending Morehouse,an historically black college (HBCU),he pursued advanced study in physics earning his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in the 1960s. He went on to post-graduate research at ANL near Chicago and joined the physics faculty at the University of Illinois,where African-American students sought his support and guidance in the 1960s struggle for civil rights. Massey decided to seek a better balance between research and activism as a physics professor at Brown University and was then invited back to head the ANL in the late 1970s. While he rose to become provost at the University of California in the 1990s,he decided to move when Morehouse asked him to come back to lead it in its mission as an HBCU. Following his retirement from Morehouse,and return to Chicago,he was called upon to head the Art Institute's school. He has served on multiple corporate and educational institution boards,and was asked to chair the board of Bank of America through a corporate transition in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. While attending a board meeting for the University of Chicago in the 2010s,he was recruited to take on the Giant Magellan Telescope project.[4]
Born on April 5,1938,in Hattiesburg,Mississippi,[5] Massey displayed a gift for mathematics as a child,and by the middle of high school his academic achievements had earned him a Ford Foundation fellowship to Morehouse College in Atlanta,Georgia. There,he began studying theoretical physics,which he chose in part because it gave him the chance to rise above the discrimination he had witnessed as a youth in the segregated South of the 1940s and 1950s. Massey graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958.[6]
Mentors played an important role in Massey's academic life. Initially,he lacked direction at Morehouse until receiving the guidance of Sabinus H. Christensen,a white physics instructor teaching at the traditionally black college for men. Christensen's tutorials and support helped Massey earn a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics. Later,he continued his studies in physics under Eugene Feenberg as a doctoral student at Washington University in St. Louis,Missouri.[7]
While finishing his doctoral studies,Massey began working in 1966 as a member of the research staff at Argonne National Laboratory,which is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of Chicago. Massey's work at Argonne focused on the study of the many-body theory of liquids and solids,which attempts to explain the properties of systems of interacting particles in various states. He also continued his own research,applying correlated basic functions to both liquid and solid helium. Two years later,Massey accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Illinois.[8]
Career
Academics and early advocacy
While continuing to pursue his own research,Massey's tenure at the University of Illinois was also defined by his commitment to achieving racial and social equality as well as to improving access to science and technology education. On his first night on campus,264 black students who had protested racial discrimination at the university were arrested. This incident led him to become advisor to the Black Students Association and first chairman of the Black Faculty and Staff Association. In his teaching,meanwhile,Massey found that many of his black students lacked the preparation in mathematics and the sciences necessary for success at the college level. This led to his interest in and commitment to the improvement of science teaching in high schools.
In 1970,Massey was offered an associate professorship at Brown University,which he accepted and would soon after complete some of his most significant academic research to date,collaborating with Humphrey Maris on the study of changes in sound waves in superfluid helium. By 1975,he had been appointed a full professor and dean of the college.[9][10]
Also at Brown,Massey continued his efforts to support diversity in the sciences,developing and directing the Inner City Teachers of Science (INCTOS) program,through which Brown undergraduates studying to become science teachers served as mentors and tutors in urban high school science classes. The impact of this program earned Massey the distinguished service citation of the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1975.
In 1979,Massey's demonstrated success as a researcher and administrator at Brown led to his return to Argonne National Laboratory,this time as its director,in addition to which he was also appointed professor of physics at the University of Chicago.[11]
Argonne National Laboratory
At Argonne,Massey assumed control of an annual budget of more than $250 million and a staff of almost four thousand. But he also assumed control of a nebulous public relations image. National laboratories at the time were highly suspect:their work was not being translated to industry. To the outside world,the laboratories lacked clear missions;on the inside,scientists and technicians lacked morale.
To address these issues,Massey reorganized the governance of the laboratory in the early 1980s,instituting what D. Allen Bromley,President George H. W. Bush's assistant for science and technology,referred to as "participatory democracy" among its scientists. At the same time,Massey responded to the lack of outside connections by helping form the Argonne National Laboratory-University of Chicago Development Corporation (ARCH),an organization that expedited the transfer of technologies created in the laboratory to industry and the marketplace. Other initiatives Massey undertook at Argonne include generating support for its nuclear energy programs in a time of drastic cutbacks and providing support and leadership for the funding of major research facilities at the laboratory,including the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS),the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II),and the initial funding for the Advanced Photon Source (APS).
While at Argonne and the University of Chicago,Massey also continued his work as an advocate on behalf of science education and awareness. In 1982,he headed the Chicago Mayoral Task Force on High-Technology Development and was the founding chair of the Chicago High-Tech Association. He also served on the Illinois Governor's Commission on Science and Technology and was highly visible on two educational fronts,helping to organize the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy,one of the nation's first residential high schools devoted to science and math education,and serving as a trustee for the Academy for Mathematics and Science Teachers,which trained almost 17,000 Chicago public school teachers in those fields.[12]
In this role,Massey embarked on a number of critical initiatives,including efforts to deepen the connection between academia and industry and the establishment of the Directorate for Social,Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Commission on the Future of NSF.[14] He also remained a strong proponent of basic research and science education,focusing on providing grants to university research centers and individuals and on upgrading pre-college science education,with an emphasis on attracting more women and minority groups to careers in science.
In February 2016,it was announced that scientists at the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) had observed gravitational waves for the first time ever,confirming Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity. Dr. France Cordova,current director of the NSF,credited Massey's role in securing both approval and funding for the project nearly 25 years before.[15] Massey was honored by LIGO scientist Kip Thorne,with an invitation to the Nobel Prize in Physics ceremony.[16]
Other domestic and international science policy
In concert with his roles at Argonne and the University of Chicago,in 1987 Massey was named president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,after having served as a board member for a number of years. As president,he led an organization listing over 140,000 members and 285 scientific societies. In this position,Massey—the first African American ever to hold that post—was able to shine a light on the problems of science education on a national level.[17]
Under Massey's leadership,the AAAS aimed to improve science education in grades K- 12 by sponsoring Project 2061,which attempted to structure curricula that would emphasize major scientific concepts. In doing so,Massey and the AAAS hoped to address the loss of the United States' economic competitiveness in the world market beginning in the mid-1980s and to better prepare the nation to respond to the health and environmental crises that were afflicting the world at the time. Generally,Massey's aim at the AAAS was to instigate a shift in the national dialogue,in which science and technology had historically been emphasized only ever during times of war.
In addition to his experience at the AAAS,Massey has been involved as a member or chair of many other major scientific organizations,societies,and commissions. He was vice president of the American Physical Society;chair of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB);and a member of the President's Council of Advisors of Science and Technology (PCAST) in two presidential administrations. Massey has also served as a member of the National Science Board,as well as on the Board of Trustees of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Marine Biological Laboratory.[18]
Massey's service to the scientific community extends beyond domestic borders and is global in scope. He has served on the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for International Programs;was a member of the President's advisory board for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology;co-chaired the planning efforts on cooperative programs between the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the AAAS;co-chaired the AAAS project to strengthen Scientific and Technical Engineering Infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa;and was a founding member of the African Academy of Sciences,an organization designed to promote the advancement of scientific research and science education in sub-Saharan Africa.
Massey was also founding chairman of the National Society of Black Physicists,an organization established to promote the professional development of black physicists and enhance the number of African Americans entering the field of physics,and an advisor for the formation of the Society of Black Physics Graduate Students.
Return to academia
Following the completion of his tenure at the NSF,in 1993 Massey became provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of California system,the nation's largest and perhaps most prestigious. In this role,he held the number two position in the state's university system,overseeing academic concerns at all of its nine campuses and its three national laboratories:Lawrence Berkeley,Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos.
In 1995,he assumed the presidency of his alma mater,Morehouse College. As president of Morehouse,Massey created a vision that would take the college into the new century,which involved reinvigorating its campus,refreshing its core curriculum,and reigniting its fundraising efforts. Massey retired from Morehouse in 2007. From 2007 to 2010,he chaired the board for the Salzburg Global Seminar.[19]
Massey has received forty-one honorary degrees during his career.
He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Citation of the American Association of Physics Teachers for his exceptional contributions to the teaching of physics,and was a member of the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st century,a commission established by Senator Glenn to recommend methods for improving science and math teaching in the United States.
In 1987,Massey was awarded the Order of Lincoln,the State of Illinois' highest honor.[23] In 1992,Massey received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member and Nobel Prize laureate Leon Lederman.[24] In 1999,the Georgia State Senate passed resolution SR 113 "recognizing and commending Dr. Walter E. Massey,President of Morehouse College."[9]
In May 2016,Massey received Illinois Humanities' Public Humanities Award,which "recognizes individuals and organizations that have helped transform lives and have strengthened communities through the humanities."[25] In 2012,he received the Chicago Historical Society,Making History–Enrico Fermi Award in science and technology.[26]
Argonne National Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center in Lemont,Illinois,United States. Founded in 1946,the laboratory is owned by the United States Department of Energy and administered by UChicago Argonne LLC of the University of Chicago. The facility is the largest national laboratory in the Midwest.
Michael S. Turner is an American theoretical cosmologist who coined the term dark energy in 1998. He is the Rauner Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Chicago,having previously served as the Bruce V. &Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor,and as the assistant director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences for the US National Science Foundation.
Arden Lee Bement Jr. is an American engineer and scientist and has served in executive positions in government,industry and academia.
Cornelius Francis "Neal" Lane,is an American physicist and senior fellow in science and technology policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and Malcolm Gillis University Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy Emeritus at Rice University in Houston,Texas.
The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a council,chartered in each administration with a broad mandate to advise the president of the United States on science and technology. The current PCAST was established by Executive Order 13226 on September 30,2001,by George W. Bush,was re-chartered by Barack Obama's April 21,2010,Executive Order 13539,by Donald Trump's October 22,2019,Executive Order 13895,and by Joe Biden's February 1,2021,Executive Order 14007.
Louis John Lanzerotti is an American physicist. He is a Distinguished Research Professor of physics in the Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark,New Jersey.
Kennedy J. Reed was an American theoretical atomic physicist in the Theory Group in the Physics &Advanced Technologies Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and a founder of the National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC),a group of about 30 universities that provides physics fellowships for women and minorities.
John M. "Jack" Carpenter was an American nuclear engineer known as the originator of the technique for utilizing accelerator-induced intense pulses of neutrons for research and developing the first spallation slow neutron source based on a proton synchrotron,the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS). He died on 10 March 2020.
Lawrence B. Schook was the vice president for research at the University of Illinois. He oversaw the $1 billion research portfolio across all three campuses. A scholar in comparative genomics and the exploitation of genomic diversity to understand traits and disease,Dr. Schook focuses his research on genetic resistance to disease,regenerative medicine,and using genomics to create animal models for biomedical research. He led the international pig genome-sequencing project,which produced a draft of the pig genome allowing researchers to offer insights into diseases that afflict pigs and humans.
Homer Alfred Neal was an American particle physicist and a distinguished professor at the University of Michigan. Neal was president of the American Physical Society in 2016. He was also a board member of Ford Motor Company,a council member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture,and a director of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. Neal was the interim President of the University of Michigan in 1996. Neal's research group works as part of the ATLAS experiment hosted at CERN in Geneva.
Laura H. Greene is the Marie Krafft Professor of Physics at Florida State University and chief scientist at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. She was previously a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In September 2021,she was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
Timothy Laurence Killeen is a British and American geophysicist,space physicist,professor,and university administrator. Killeen took office as the president of the University of Illinois system in 2015. He has been the principal investigator on research projects for NASA and the National Science Foundation. Killeen has authored more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as more than 300 other publications and papers. He has served on various White House committees and task forces and is a past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics.
Norman Hilberry was an American physicist,best known as the director of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1956 to 1961. In December 1942 he was the man who stood ready with an axe to cut the scram line during the start up of Chicago Pile-1,the world's first nuclear reactor to achieve criticality.
Rick Stevens is a professor of computer science at the University of Chicago and associate laboratory director for Computing,Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) at Argonne National Laboratory.
Deborah J. Jackson is an American physicist and Program Manager at the National Science Foundation,and a Fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists. She was the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. She is an expert on "electromagnetic phenomena" with a research and development career that spans the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum from materials studies using hard x-ray wavelengths,to nonlinear optics and spectroscopy in the near-infrared,to the fielding of radio frequency instrumentation on deep space missions such as Cassini and Mars Observer.
G. Peter Lepage is a Canadian American theoretical physicist and an academic administrator. He was the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University from 2003 to 2013.
Elizabeth J. (Betsy) Beise is a Professor of Physics and Associate Provost at the University of Maryland,College Park. She works on quantum chromodynamics,nucleon structure and fundamental symmetries.
Willie S. Rockward is a physics professor and has served as the chair of the department of physics and engineering physics at Morgan State University since August 2018. His research interests include Micro/Nano Optics Lithography,Extreme Ultraviolet Interferometry,Metamaterials,Terahertz imaging,Nanostructure Characterization,and Crossed Phase Optics. From 2018 to 2020 he was the president of the National Society of Black Physicists.
James L. Skinner is an American theoretical chemist. He is the Joseph O. and Elizabeth S. Hirschfelder Professor Emeritus at the University Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Welch Foundation. Most recently,Skinner was the Crown Family Professor of Molecular Engineering,professor of chemistry,director of the Water Research Initiative and deputy dean for faculty affairs of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. Skinner is recognized for his contributions to the fields of theoretical chemistry,nonequilibrium statistical mechanics,linear and nonlinear spectroscopy of liquids,amorphous and crystalline solids,surfaces,proteins,and supercritical fluids. Skinner is the co-author of over 230 peer-reviewed research articles.
Dr. Santanu Chaudhuri is a researcher and the director of Manufacturing Science and Engineering,Argonne National Laboratory.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
