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

Barbara Anthony, EdD

Eugene Collins, PhD
Samaiyah Farid
Jeanne Foster Jacobs, PhD
Ray Greene
Don Gregory, PhD
Carl Holden, PhD

Chair, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, Alabama

A&M University
Retired, AAMU; and Ed. Specialist NASA Contractor (ASRI)
Professor of Physics, Director, Center for Research Excellence in
Science and Technology (CPCOM), Rhodes Scholar, Fisk University
Research Scientist, University of Alabama in Huntsville
President, Miami-Dade Community College
Director of Youth Services, City of Huntsville
Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of Alabama in
Huntsville; UAH Science Olympiad
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 highflux 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

Regina Colston
David Ernst, PhD
George Grayson, PhD
William Jackson, PhD
James Jennings
Ralph Redrick
Lewis Wooten

Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Spelman College

ColstonConsultants, LLC, CEO
Professor of Nuclear Physics, Vanderbilt University
Retired, Chair, Department of Biology, Alabama A&M University
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, UC Davis
Retired, Associate Administrator, NASA Headquarters
Retired, U.S. Army Missile Command
Director of Mission Operations Laboratory, NASA-MSFC

4:15

Closing Remarks