Okay I think we’re g to get started uh I want to welcome everybody to this wonderful event um I’m Christine Chow professor of chemistry um I’m gonna just give a little background about the event why we’re having the event and then we have a number of people that will be
Speaking today so as you can see from the title this is the Betty Washington green lecturership and the ACs National Historic chemical Landmark dedication so I wanted to get a little little background about the lecture ship how it came about and um many of you are aware
Of who Betty Washington green is and you’ll hear a lot more about her today but we really wanted to honor her through this lectur ship and the purpose of it really is to introduce students to experts and so have a a keynote speaker talk about their path their career path
And expertise and it’s really an opportunity for students to get to to meet experts in the field and hear about their their research and and other things that they’re doing so in particular this is really important for all students but also um we really want to focus on like first generation
Students and students from historically marginalized groups who may not be aware of different career paths and that was really the the thought behind this establishing this lecture ship and as you probably know students benefit tremendously from having these interactions with Professionals in uh Academia industry government and other
Career sectors and thinking about career paths that they might not have known about U without having these types of lectures so the inspiration I’m going to embarrass Sabrina she’s really the inspiration behind this because um she’s an Alum she graduated in 94 from Wayne State and she’s an inorganic chemist and
Stem administrator at Lawrence Tech but so Sabrina is also um I’ll call her a chemical historian she talks she writes a lot about really well-known scientists in the field but in particular black scientists and so she had written this article about Betty Washington green I
Think it was around 2020 or 2021 and I read the article and I said this is like the perfect person to establish this lecturership in her name and so that’s how it started and so we started um you know asking for donations for the lecturership and we were able to get um
You know really good support from the community for this lectureship and so I’m not going to talk a lot about uh Dr Washington green because that will be part of the program a little bit later um but many of you are aware that she had a very um you know illustrious
Career at da and so we have a representative from Dow here you’ll hear more about um Dr Washington green a little bit later so I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the donors and we had many generous donors and many are here in the audience today and so so
We really appreciate the support that you’ve all provided uh to allow this lectureship to to take place and um so again very generous donations and a major donor was was Dao chemical and so we really appreciate the support from da and I appreciate all of you for your
Support so I want to thank the organizing committee because these events are not possible without lots of people doing lots of different things and so I want to first um highlight the students because this is a student driven event all of our events are student driven so I’m going to really
Sit down after this and let the students do all the work so um first I’m going to point where’s haow she’s somewhere um there’s ha back there so she’s a graduate student here um she she did something really extraordinary so she actually developed a lesson plan that’s associated with this whole event so
Afterwards hopefully you’ll be able to find the lesson plan she worked with Sabrina on this plan and it really focuses on the contributions of Dr Washington green and also just what do chemists do and thinking about um Dr Washington Green’s uh path as a polymer and you know chemist who develop
Different uh processes and as you know we think about environment and things like that so part of the lesson plan involves thinking about sustainable polymers and how do we make you know polymers that can be recycled or biodegraded and so that’s part of the plan that she helped develop with some
Of the other students um Ray Fula he’s he’s an undergraduate here so he’s going to be introducing our keynote speaker he played a major role in organization and fuad Usman who you’ll see a lot today um he’s a graduate student and he’s also I think you were the previous noash chair
Now how’s the chair of noash so they they play a really important role in you know organizing students um I want to thank I don’t know if leras is here and Elizabeth oh there’s leras thank you uh leras and Elizabeth from Dao who um are really uh helpful in in keeping these
Connections between main State and DOW I want to thank Matt Allen the chair for helping and also hean who some where who helped organize the lunch and he does a lot of things um helping with the program uh Sue White is here she’s uh uh wne State staff and she’s really helped
Us to connect with a lot of different ACS um organizations around the area and Isabelle she’s not here she’s outside but Isabelle did a lot of work helping with the organization and Sabrina obviously uh played a major role in in the the second part which is going to be
The the um dedication so I also want to thank hopefully she’s watching online Dr wetta green Johnson so she’s the daughter of Dr Betty Washington green and she’s not able to join us today which is really unfortunate but um you’ll have we have some remarks from
Her at the end that she she recorded for us so she was really helpful in getting this lectureship going she she helped us reach a lot of different people who knew Dr Washington green and so that was that was an important contribution I want to thank the Wayne State special events
People cam Morris in particular and all of our guys here that are helping with the recording I want to thank the American Chemical Society we have some Representatives here from the ACs want to thank Mary she’s here somewhere she really helped with the design and program and I want to help thank the
Wayne State uh corporate relations Dan is here somewhere and I also want to thank the ACs Detroit Local section for helping with the domination and also the student way State ACS student Affiliates who were involved with you know just organization in general and the no bishe Wayne State chapter so those are the
People I want to thank and I just wanted to kind of finish off by saying this is the second of the lecturership last year we had the um inaugural lecturership we had Clarice Phelps who just gave a phenomenal talk last year and there’s a picture of um Clarice Phelps with with
Um wetta green Johnson the daughter of Betty Washington green and you’ll see some of the people here on the right side I see some of them in the audience today so these are some of our donors and people that really helped get the lecturership going and we appreciate
Your support and then at the bottom you can see a lot of repr representative from da that came last year to the event and then we have a picture of Dorothy Phillips who’s our keynote lecture this year so thank you for coming Dorothy and I’m gonna just leave it here like if you
Have any questions about the lectureship we are still always seeking more support of the lectureship or if you want to provide opportunities to network with students really that’s what these events are all about so we would really appreciate your support either financially or just you know helping us
To connect students with people in the different career sectors because that’s what it’s that’s really what it’s all about so I’m going to stop there and I’m going to pass it off to Rey Haula who’s going to now introduce our keynote speaker and well please thank you go ahead
Perfect welcome everyone it is with immense pleasure that I introduce you to our esteemed speaker today Dr uh Phillips Dr Phillips began her academic Journey at vender belt University where when she received a ba in chemistry followed by a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cincinnati uh starting her career in
1974 at Dow Chemical Company Dr Phillips is accredited with three patents Dr Phillips shortly joined the waters Corporation developing and marketing the waters uh solid phase uh products uh she retired from her uh career at the she retired from her lustrious career as the Director of strategic Marketing in
2013 Dr Phillips has delivered an array of different presentations on a global scale and has contributed to over 70 Publications in the field of Separation science uh throughout her illustrious career Dr Phillips has been recognized for her exemplary contributions to the field of chemistry to name just a few
She has been the recipient of the ACs division of analytical chemistry Ronald F hirs award for distinguish distinguished service in the advancement of analytical chemistry additionally Dr Phillips has received the National Organization for the professional advancement of black chemists and chemical Engineers Percy L Julian award which is Noble’s highest honor and
Finally in addition to many more honors she has received the vanderbelt university class of Trail blaz Trailblazers honor her commitment to the field is further evidenced by her numerous uh roles in ACS and the more recent one her uh election as the 2024 President elect please help me and welcoming the speaker good
Afternoon I I have to say I’m very glad to have this opportunity to um speak with you and both for the lecture as well as for the National Historical chemical Landmark event that will follow I want to take a moment before I go into my talk to speak just a little
Bit about my relationship with Dr G uh green she and I both were in mland Michigan at the same time um William and Betty Green came to Midland as the fifth African-American family in that period of 1960 to 1970 and we arrived in 1974 the Phillips
Family uh like Dr Green I joined di chemical company but we were in different research laboratory so we didn’t see each other a lot actually in the workplace but with many as with many families uh in Midland we both of us my husband and I and she and Bill all
Worked for D chemical but our main interaction was around the family and the community they had three children and we had three children hers were a little older than mine so we didn’t have a lot of interactions get the children together but I want to stress to you
That Dr Green was not only a chemist she was also a mother and and did a wife and mother and both of our families strive to make sure our children were prepared for paths to success outside and once they grew up outside of Midland so some of the organizations that really helped
Us in nurturing and preparing Future Leaders one was the Midland black Coalition and most of the members there at that time were involved African-American families were involved in that organization the other was the sororities and fraternities that were organized Dr was in Delta Sigma Theta
And I was in AFA ality but we had a common interest and That Was preparing our touring for future leadership so we all worked together towards that effort in the area the other organization that was in a way the Professional Organization was that we chartered a chapter established a chapter of noet in
Midland and we were both in that chapter the interesting part was that we were kind of for myself a little bit newer but Dr Green was there and dor Dr Dorman ly Dorman were both there in a more senior role but they wanted to Mentor us
Who were the younger ones in the Dow environment so novet was another way that we all work together so I will again stress the fact that our goal not only to be proficient in our work but with the nerg our children as well and so I um will let will remember that and
I would hoped that we would chat about that but we will at some point so now so I say congratulations to Dr Green and her family for this historical moment so now we turn to my lecture um so this is the agenda’s a lot of points there but I’m going to move
Through this mainly focusing on uh chronologically for the most part I’ll move from my childhood to high school in those formative years the College Years is becoming a Trailblazer and then working in Industry uh followed by that is becoming a leader and then receiving some honors but I will have a family
Tribute and closing as well so I will say to you this is not a sermon because I do like to preach even though I’m not a preacher but I can’t miss this chance to share with you the solid foundation on which I stand so the buard and character in these formative
Years I often start my presentation with this slide I know this is probably would fail as a slide you would show because it has so many people but this is the foundation on which I stand this setting is a typical funeral for an African-American family uh at that
Time so very multigeneration and I’m the little girl with the star by her face okay this was the friend of my grand Uncle my grandmother’s brother the family members here had crossed many roads in their lives for instance the Great Migration from the south to the north for Better Lives take
A note of how well they are dressed the expression of pride on their faces yes all women and little girls even will hats in that era but there is a lesson that I learned from this and as I reflect back on it is the fact that they were
Resilient and so certain life skills come from that factor and that I have attempted to steal and keep with me as I have gone forward take care of each other be kind to your neighbors and this is a very key one no job is beneath you you may rise but no
Job is beneath you and very important to my life path live a faith based life so the resilience comes from putting all this together into one as you go forward these are my parents Robert re Robert and M back Wayfield they had eight children I’m the
Third of the eight we grew up in Nashville Tennessee just as the Civil Rights era was blooming so my childhood built in me more of this tool for resilience meeting the challenges head on as I face them the first road I’ll speak about has having been crossed was one that my dad
Orchestrated he moved the family to a dominantly white neighborhood in 1956 now let me just kind of give you an idea of what that meant we lived in the 17700 block of a street called State Street and he moved us to the 22nd hund block of Murphy Avenue there was one
Major road in between 20th Avenue but that road was like two different worlds and once you in a below east of 20 um 20th Avenue on State Street you had your African-American families but once you crossed that it was a predominant allwhite for the most part families and
So he took that leap and moved us because of his faith-based lives and his point of seeing opportunities for us in the future and it was the beginning of that Civil Rights era one of our neighbors would often call the police on us children just because we were playing
Outside and my father would just walk out have a conversation with the policeman they go away so we persevered and stayed in our home my parents also were very pro-education they wanted us to attain the best education possible because they did not have that opportunity and education above grammar school was often not
Available to African-American families in the rural South preor War II so they wanted to make sure they’re children had that now my father was able to return to school he became a he was called to the ministry and he answered that call and when after he did he returned to the
Seminary which not a lot of the Pastors in that time period did but he again pro-education be prepared for what you’re going to do so in 19560 schools in Nashville were still segregated so even though we moved I had to return back to my high school in the um African-American neighborhood this
Was also a time when we were just beginning to have the sittings in Nashville so things were just going to be starting shortly after that period of time but you see the black school the schools for the African-American children were often spoke up very negatively and and
And rightfully so we didn’t always have the materials to uh the best materials or the best books but one point was really missed the teachers were the gems of those schools they saw potential in US beyond our color our economic level they knew what we could do if we were prepared so
They made every effort to prepare us Mrs L Holland taught chemistry Mr Richard Harris taught physics they work with the National Science found to bring a summer science program to Nashville for the students of color and it was held at Pearl High School I was selected to go
High achievement okay we’ll put it there but I was selected to go and that’s before that summer if you had asked me what did I want to be when I grew up I would say I’m going to go to college and major in history become a lawyer and
Become president of the United States but after that summer my plan was to go to college major in chemistry and minor in MA now going to college is something I’m speaking like it was a given but it was not a given because we had and a family of eight children and with
Grandparents in the home I was in a home of roughly 12 people so there wasn’t a given but Mr Harris Richard Harris made sure I had scholarships not just to select one but either one of the two universities that were available to African-American students at that time and they were tenness University and
Fist University and my older brother had gone to fist University but I chose Tennesse State University I would have work study in addition to all fees and tuitions paid so by my sophomore year there I had achieved close to 4.0 GPA continued high school friendships including a boyfriend
And made new friends and joined my a joined the afcap AF but then that was a time for change and as I reflect on making a decision for that change it meant crossing the road to embrace an opportunity for which there was great risk so when vanderville opened its doors with Rockefeller scholarships
Available to those who were admitted I did I cross Westend Avenue now the only reason to cross West End Avenue before for me would have been to go work in the homes of some of the vanderville professors or other other white families not to study but I cross that road to go
To vanville university and to be part of the integration to be one of the first African-American students on campus resilience and faith an article was written in the vanderville magazine where the author interviewed the first eight African-American students to enrolled in bville University and I was in
That so as I recall that period what the my comments in that article were there were a few of us so it was kind of lonely it was challenging academically and also in some of the attitudes I encountered from faculty as well as students I learned about myself and what I can do
Against obstacles end quote who the time of vanil no matter how difficult was a way to achieve my goal to get a college degree be the best doctor or chemist that I could be and become a leader so I never even thought I would go to vanderville but with the support of my
Family close friends neighbors and faith I was the first African-American woman woman to receive a bachelor’s degree from the school of arts and science it was a milestone when I marched across that stage that courage to cross Westend Avenue led to change and achieving Milestones fortunately my story with Vil
Doesn’t end there but I will hold it and come back to it later so the next step in this education Road road to my education was going to University of Cincinnati for my PhD I was the first student of my professor Dr arbert Bops uh and he his
Wife Liz and I work together closely in the laboratory and I learned from him what it really required to be a research scientist sound reproducible research Publications and presentations to your peers so I think Dr Bops was more than a research advisor but but a mentor so
This so the other picture there was just taken a few weeks ago I had an opportunity to return to the University of Cincinnati and he was able to come in he’s Emeritus and senior age but he was able to come in to the university and we
Took that picture so the first is when I graduated from his lab and the second is just a few weeks ago so I was the first African-American woman to receive a PhD in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1974 however it was very different than
When I was at vanderville and why was it different because my brother was there Robert Wayfield in chemistry and my husband James Phillips was also studying for advanced degrees in chemistry so we were all three in graduate studies at University of Cincinnati at the same time University of Cincinnati lat later
Recognized me as a distinguished alumni a couple of times so I was kind of prepare you that this next picture is not very good it’s not the picture you would normally pick to put on a slide in a lecture but it has tremendous meaning as I said my father returned to
School after uh his call to the ministry and he went to the American Baptist theologic Seminary and he graduated he wore a cap and gown and I was only about 10 years old when he wore that cap and now but I said I will do the same one
Day I will graduate and so fortunately he was with me and able to be with me when I did achieve that goal so I didn’t find this picture until of him till this summer I always had it mentally and this summer and some cleaning last summer I
Found the picture so I have to share it so after graduating from University of Cincinnati I became a chemist in Industry industrial chemist my husband and I joined a the small group of African-American scientist at D chemical in Midland crossing the road from Cincinnati to Midland we were excited to
Begin our careers an advanced degree chemist Dr Dorman and Dr Green were role models for me as I came to Midland and began my work at da Lyn Dorman is the other person I worked in a different part of Dow from them my takeaway from the Dow was the
Opportunity to take a product that have received a patent to efficacy trials as an animal growth promoter so I went out in the field set up the efficacy trials with Dow Chemical as my banner at funding them so I was received but I realized how much I enjoyed interacting with universities
And scientists outside the laboratory and in a different role my years at da were followed by a smooth transition to Waters Corporation I spent almost 30 years at Waters I was hired in waters to address the biotechnology market and by being on their R&D team to make analytical
Columns that gave defi defined Peaks for proteins peptides and nucleic acids most of the chromatography done in those days with those large molecules gave blobs I don’t know how many anybody remember that anybody do any work in that area they gave blobs and you didn’t know what
Was under the peak really so this was our goal to be able to get a much better chromatography for those uh for Peaks and I was H because I had a degree in Biochemistry and I was familiar with the molecules that they would be analyzing so I spent almost 30 years
Mentors and a strong Network among my colleagues enable me to be productive move up the ladder and have a positive impact on the company’s Prof profits just to say a little bit more about the work of waters if you’ve worked in this field of high performance liquid chromatography or mass spectrom
You may be familiar with the products that my Waters team brought to Market to help develop for example I’ll just give a few names if you if it sounds familiar raise your hand but some of them may be so old anybody’s here use them but there was the XL family products Symmetry and
Exterior brand columns the centry guard column and the more and the more current uplc hybrid columns and another product was the Oasis sample cep products I’ll tell about my first international travel which began which came surely after joining Waters I had only been there about five or six years
And I was invited to join a delegation of scientists from universities and Industry to participate in a technology transfer from the Western countries to the east of China so I had published on the work and the organizer on protein purification and the organizer of the conference saw my work and invited me to
Join this delegation but how could I pay for a trip it very expensive weeks in China my r& group did not have the funds to pay for it so I went to human resources to brainstorm with them where I could get the money Waters Corporation at that time
Was a c are of milor so the gentleman in HR suggested I go to the technology officer at Mur and when I approached him he said we have been trying to think of a way to get started in China go help us get started in China
And so I went for three weeks giving lectures most protein purification around China it was an eye opener for me and after that trip I sought more opportunities to share my science internationally so my career Waters moved forward pretty smoothly that was the glitch when they decided to stop
Doing large molecules and go back only to small molecues your typical drug type product and I asked myself should I stay or should I go and I said you know I’m a chemist I’m not just a biochemist I’m a chemist and I can work in this area of
Chemistry so I asked for a project and they gave me the project of a little small guard column to make a guard column I know if some of you know this is the column that goes in front of your big column to keep the trash and the dust getting and
Prolong the life of your larger column so you pay a hundred bucks or something for this small little piece but I asked for a team and I got a team and we G we were able to develop the Sentry guard column which is still so by Waters but
That was one of those moves where do I cross the street and go to another company doing bi separations or do I stay here and lean on my chemistry and I decided to stay the next major point of crossing the road at Waters came with the development of this Oasis solid phase
Extraction family of products this is just the basic chemistry for that family is a co-polymer uh that is used for retention of polers and being able to be wed in a reverse phase retention mode without alcohol so i’ help develop the project and they were looking for a brand
Manager I turned to my son who was at the warden school at University of Pennsylvania so he he need to give his mother advice to get a little bit of return on my investment so I asked him what should I do and he said said well Mom the best
Time to go into marketing is when you know the product I knew this product and so I accepted that role so I crossed that road from being measured on my Publications and my presentations to one where I was going to be measured by numbers that product did well with the
Team that we put together and I always stress that because in Industry you don’t work alone I want to make sure to stress that you always have a team and so in marketing we had a team and we were able to hire a business manager for
Europe a business manager for the US and ex and I took Asia so it was successful and it’s still selling today as a flagship product for Waters Corporation due to that amount of international travel I had retirement parties at Waters office in Shanghai China and in shinagawa Japan in November of
2012 just to speak about mentors because I think I cannot stress enough the important role of mentors in one’s career and especially in industry but I think in regardless of where you land having mentors is important so I had many mentors in my career Waters some of them are actually still supportive
Today but one of those mentors was Dr uo a renowned chromatographer well as a compassionate person when I was in U’s group even though we were in Industry he required one publication at least one publication a year which we we had to step up to which I felt I had to step up
Too he had I moved with him into applied technology so we could develop applications customer like applications for products and so therefore we would travel the world to give some to support the field he would travel to the German speaking countries and he would send me to the english- speaking ones now think
About who traveled the most he had a strong impact on my careed Waters his interest in the future our state of being and my future state of being never Wan even when I became his colleague as a director this picture was taken at the Great Wall in China in 2010
During his trip we gave lectures in China I also was a speaker at a conference in Beijing but he set us out a day for us to do sightseeing and we went to the Great Wall he passed away a few months after that and so I do indeed miss him but
Feel I have to give him recognition for being that Mentor who really carried me forward in my career at Waters so let’s turn to the subject of becoming a leader and I’m going to focus more on the American Chemical Society wonder why I was interviewed once about joining organizations outside of the
Workplace and the interviewer had this statement to to for me to respond to he says you’ve written about the importance of joining external organizations to advance ones overall career development why do you think that’s important how has your association with external organizations helped you and I stress the point the two s
Skills were really developed leadership and networking really strengthening your ability to network and Leadership and I told that I set a goal early on in waters that would be director of R&D of course when I moved to Market I had to switch that a little bit but still the
Directed level and I knew I would need to demonstrate strong leadership skills to achieve this goal so my role as chair of committees and local sections and divisions all rais the level of my leadership ability in addition through my participation in noash ACS alap Al as well as my church The Fist United
Methodist Church I expanded my network greatly so when I had a position open that I needed have a new hire I had some contacts and places to touch I wasn’t starting from the ground Zer I already had some people in mind another responsibility I had at Waters was M was
Organizes the forums as we went into new areas to bring in customers to discuss that area and again I had people to contact from this relationships so I was also able to link Waters to ACS first as a sponsor for project C and then later for a re um loc
Um division analytical division award and then for two national awards so I brought the Two Worlds together and I did achieve my goal as a director in the consumable business this slide shows the rose and I think um kind of have mentioned most of them um that I have I raised from
Working with ACS starting with my local section and going to the division becoming an ACS fell and then the years on the ACs board of directors this year I’ve been serving as Advisory Board chair and then the real reward came the other day and it’s [Applause]
Like and just as a sad note I have to thank all of you in this room who has who supported me I want to give you a snapshot of the 2023 ACS board of directors I put this up because I want you to see the diversity that is now there Way Beyond
What the 35 white Scholars did in 1876 when they organized ACS and even far beyond what acss had when I joined the board in 2014 as I said I was the first African-American woman on the ACs board of directors so that is it today a little changing because this is 2023 and
We’ve just done the 2024 election but do you see the difference in diversity and I came to know firsthand the value diversity played in board deliberations and decisions leading to beneficial outcomes that may not have been arrived without that diversity H this is a this slide I am so happy to
Present as I was reading about those who had gotten a PhD in the time frame of Dr Betty green and Dr tor’s name came up and Dr Hopkins name came up and I knew them both so I wanted to just share a little bit of how I knew these two esteemed
Women I first met Dr Tori as a freshman at tenness State University in chemistry but I passed and I cross again for a long time because she went off to Syracuse to get her PhD and I transferred to vanderville but I would be at the ACs meetings in the area where the division
Of analytical chemistry Symposium were being held and that was this African-American lady with a very nice hat you know very stunning hat and she would walk into the room very proudly into whatever lecture she was attending she would not stop till she got to the front row and then when the speaker finished
Her hand would go up and she wouldn’t ask him one question she would pepper that speaker with questions till she got the answer she was looking for so I said who is this person I have to know who she is and someone said that’s Dr Ruby Tori and I thought oh
Yeah I remember her from back at TSU but I made a point to meet her and we had many conversations after that day and what was very interesting was she was at Tennessee Tech neological University in Cookville Tennessee as a professor in marriages and assistant vice president
For research and she was the advisor to the undergraduate afcap afar chapter my daughter Vicki was at Tennesse Tech as an AKA and she became Dr tor’s little AKA so the world is small and I you know so n to say she was a person that I
Enjoyed talking to in those years my last meeting with Dr Tori was at the 2014 uh Southeast Regional ACS meeting in Nashville and she died in 2017 at 91 years old and she was pretty sharp until that point I have to stress the other person is Dr uh Hopkins Esther H
Hopkins we developed a close relationship in the northeastern section of ACS and in the S Omega chapter of AFAA afti now in this case I met her through her daughter who became an AKA at fist University in Nashville in 2014 the CNN article on diversifying the leadership of ACS I
Made this statement in reference to Dr Hopkins she opened my eyes to side of ACS that I had not paid attention to end quote from that day on she had she was my mentor on the path to serving ACS in leadership roads she told me pick a
Committee pick one of the Committees in the governor and serve diligently those were her words serve diligently so when I was elected to the ACs Board of director she was the first call that I made to let her know I had one and I’m sure she’s smiling in heaven
Now she became an ACS fell in 2015 as her active days in ACS Wayne so these are people that I attribute a lot of my drive my guidance in my path to and just words of encouragement so we have more people to celebrate Saina oh I want to make one last comment so
I’m going to go back because I do want to make one last comment on this the two of them had not had a chance to get together ACS meetings had become large and they didn’t move around a lot they go to where their their technical sessions were and each of them told me
That they had been close friends earlier in ACS so I was able to get them together for lunch I wish I had recorded that lunch because they were both Trailblazers Dr Hopkins and Tori conversations were about becoming recognized as women chemists especially African-American women Chemists in ACS and male dominated settings they were
Pyers of the women chemist committee so I want to make sure to make that point I crossed many world many roads to a world far beyond on the segregated South of the United States to many International places one step at a time through education a successful industrial career and even as a member
Of the ACs board of directors when I represented the board in Saudi Arabia in 2019 I’m G not spend a lot of time on this section I appreciate race mentioning uh these periods of recognition that I did receive but I have to say that recognitions and being honored you
Cannot work with that in mind you work and you do your best and you act actually I was often surprised almost floored sometimes when I was suddenly called and said I was receiving an award because that was I have to say it God’s blessing for the hard work I had done
This one I’m not sure he mentioned this one this is the vanderville University equality weekend in 2017 um they want to recognize contributions to the progress in equality in Nashville and bville communities during the Civil Rights era so I was really proud to receive this recognition but I thought
Of my dad as several honores were his peers and he too had a strong impact on the drive for equality in Nashville as many baptist ministers of his era did and he was my role model the picture here is the fact that the girls basketball team wore our name on the
Back of their Jersey that day with their number and that D Phillips ran up and down that field that courtroom with such agility and scored I mean wow you know oh um this one he did mention the trailblaze award picture hanging in Kirtland Hall at venville University My Hope Is that students of
Color coming to um see you have the parent weekend where you come the week where you come and you in it look at colleges and T the college will see that picture and be inspired to come or be inspired in general so I made a point to take on
Summer vacation time my grandchildren to see that picture and I’m really hoping they also will be inspired these are things you don’t think about happening the artist was Donna woly but you have to put them in the context that they are not for you even though they
Recognize you they are for the Next Generation now this to me was a big one and do I give it priority over others well it was the one I could not imagine anywhere and at all so I have received a call from the chancellor of vanderville University
In uh 2015 that he wanted to have lunch with me from his secretary that he would like to meet me for lunch in Boston and I couldn’t think of what in the world did he want to speak with me about I thought about the fact that he was a
Lawyer and I was on the ACs board maybe there some areas he wanted to touch on so I get a little bit of reading and looking at things what’s going on in ACS policy and what we had and so I joined him for lunch and he told me over lunch that my
Utmost surprise the vanol received an anonymous donation to endow a chair in my name the anonymous donor one wanted vanderville and me to know that I was appreciated that my days at vanderville opened the doors for others we shed tears it was so emotional can you imagine that a little African-American
Girl who grew up in the segregated South would have an endowed chair at a predominant R1 doctoral University I can’t imagine and it happened to me and I still sometimes only can say thank God resilience and person Severance that I stayed the course and finished vanderville so again let’s look outward with this
Award the then provos of vanderville Susan Wy and I began to look at resume CVS of who would be in that chair so I F so she finally caught what I was doing as I scream through these resumes that the person in this chair had to be an africanamerican scientist in and
Stem essentially I finally just said to her they should look like me and have active research in the stem disciplines so all those resumes just went away um but instead the person who did and it was through a noash regional meeting that Dr Robinson and I met at the University of
Pittsburgh and we talked about that coming her coming to vanderville so she was the first that received the honor of coming to vanderville and then also Dr Audrey Bowman was the second one uh Robinson came in 2017 Audrey Dr Bowman in 2018 they came in as chancell faculty
Fellows to be nurtured from a so tened associate professors as they climbed towards full professorship so in 2022 Dr Robinson made professor and then in March of this year was her investure ceremony to hold my chair and we’re just going to clap on that cuz that’s that’s very
Big it’s the intention of giving forward it’s really you got to be intentional and give forward so she is a dynamic profess Prof highly productive research group active in community and Association both ACS and noash she’s immediate P president of noash here I am receiving the Percy L Jan
Award uh in 2022 at the novet national International Conference and the presenters were Dr Robinson as the president Dr legal Jeff L who had receiv received the year before and Simon Shannon the um chair of the board of noish and they give the kind cloth and
These honors are given I present it to to the awarde and the last one I’ll mention is the um one from the analytical division you know you you move out and you and you have WS from schools and from other organizations but the work I’ve done in the division of analytical chemistry uh
This felt very warm to me actually the distinguished service in advancement analytical chemistry award was actually started with the support of waters Corporation um and we worked together from Waters standpoint to bring an award so named and now for it to be named from a dynamic gentleman Roland Hurst and to
Receive it after it carries his name meant very much to me the emotional feeling went very deep about receiving this award Al let’s get back to a little bit as we try to wrap up I don’t know how well I’m doing on time but I want to come back to family
Legacy and my Village I started with the village and I’m coming back to this Village for a long time I could not do this slide I am getting where I can do this slide but I have to give tribute to my husband James Phillips we were married just over 50
Years we celebrated our anniversary on September 2nd of 2017 before his only timely death in 2018 the person who’s often the most strongest and most supporting and understanding Mentor person is is often the one closest to you and you don’t realize it all the time that they’re
Right there beside you that was James we start dating in Sunday school through Junior choir um but we both were good students we were nerds and I think that was the one of the early common bonds we could talk about math contest that they were holding for African-American students of color at
Tennessee and I we would both be there and so it was a friendship that developed and when I was went to vanderville everybody’s friend said you will lose James will no longer be your boyfriend because you’re going to be over at vanderville he was the most important per one of the most important
Persons in my time at vanderville because I could call him and share with him the difficulties of that day and I don’t remember what he said maybe he only listen but I was able to get up and go back in there the next day so he was
Very important for that we both went to the University of Cincinnati for our graduate degrees we as the students were asking me during lunch I have to share that we had we came out of University of Cincinnati with two Advanced degrees and three children um it was a very productive five [Applause] years
He walked with me through as member of the board he attended the board events this is at Pacific cam we traveled one of our grandson played basketball all around in the US and we traveled with brayan often to his basketball games we worked hard at being mentors and role models for our
Children and so we are proud of their achievements as well and I’m still challenged to be that role model for my children this is the gang you know the pandemic gave a a time when we couldn’t all get together I’m nine grandchild we couldn’t get together so
This was taken at my daughter Vicki’s home last Christmas only two are not there one that’s playing Germany playing basketball in Germany and one that lives with his family in Nashville the others were there and the other picture are my three children uh one in the Vicki the
Blue in the computer area Anthony is a Methodist Minister taking back the heritage of ministers in my family following the heritage of me ministers in my family like my father and his uncle and Etc and my daughter Crystal is the PE only people person she’s um accounting with at a shelter for uh
Women and loves it so I’ve talked about a lot of women and women’s roles in my life and people that I have met along the path and I would be remissed not to mention the one woman who has been there for me for all of these years my
Mother she lived to be 94 years old almost 95 and she molded me in ways that is very difficult to express she was that quiet voice that gave me the ability to face challenges at da and Waters and to become a road warrior traveling frequently for business I was in chinal
With Japan which is near Tokyo where water’s office is located and I got up that morning feeling a bit nervous about going to that office and sitting at the table um and I thought okay it’s night in Nashville so my mom’s still up and I called
Her and in her reassuring voice she said Dorothy remember you do not have to be afraid God is everywhere and he will take care of you her words continue to speak to me even today 13 years after her death and so I go on these Journeys with that Assurance from her quiet voice
That God is everywhere these are my siblings you remember the early pity with all the little children in the front well those were my siblings we all still feel the impact of having a dad who was a minister in the Civil Rights area with a strong faith
And a belief that education is the key but above all his actual graduating wearing a cap and gown all eight of his T finished high school now that sounds trivia but for an African-American family in the Inner City all a children finishing High School is an achievement but it went further than
That because three of us have been in the academy my sister Pat taught at fist University she’s the last one opposite side to me my brother Odie a minister and very active in his role and as some of you probably remember Dr Robert Wingfield because he worked at Dow and then he
Came to Ford in Dearborn and worked in Dearborn at Ford Motor Company before returning to Nashville to his Amada fist University where he is now so I said in the beginning there were eight of us um my youngest brother Dwight died in 2020 during the coid pandemic and one sister died in
2022 but we’re all very close we’re there for each other and we value that closeness that we have they are my Village so let me close now after completing a 39-year career in Industry I realized I have been blessed as an African-American girl growing up in the segregated South of the United
States I could not dreamed the life have dreamed of the life I live today I am still striving to live a faith-based life to realize God’s plan for me and to give that Special Touch of support to others along their roads charge to my audience to my colleagues and peers we must take
Advantage of the opportunities to tell our stories and those of Trailblazers like Dr Green to the young people of today share your stories with the young people of today and I also ask that you give students the early career scientists the ability to believe in themselves the drive to be leaders and
The realization of their resources their resources themselves you and the words and Promises of a higher being and to you young people gathered here today believe with all your heart that you are a high achiever work hard even if the road you want to cross poses
Challenges choose to be a leader and you will be a leader now my final word which is a bit of inspiration let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us Hebrews 121 living a faith-based life is not a Sprint it is a marathon keep running thank [Applause]
You thank you for that amazing talk Dr Phillips um I will now open the floor up to our audience for questions keeping with our way State tradition we will take questions first from students yes what strategies or initiatives you believe are important to promote diversity and chemistry wow
Um I can repeat the question for everyone uh what strategies or initiatives you think are crucial for allowing diversity to enter Academia or the industry of chemistry strategies that’s a big word I think you know I I I’ll just take for example during my time on the board we
Really worked at this area of diversity inclusion in the ACs and took a deep dive into that and what has to happen is that there has first got to be this conscious awareness that is needed and it can’t just be you the student it’s got to start from the top and down in
Organizations like ACS we need diversity and we are going to promote and be involved and work at it and that’s the beginning of it and then you start to take those steps with courses like that that are important for microaggression ETC unconscious bias and you form groups that come together to discuss these
Topics so don’t do it by s but you come together and you bring groups of people together people who have been specializing in this area diversity and inclusion you bring organizations and you form Partnerships ACS is partnered with noishe that I’ve mentioned before sacket Aces and you also listen you listen a
Lot it’s a lot of listening but it takes that kind of work and so with ACS bringing those groups together forming round taes of the Committees within ACS and round taes of the outside groups and others who were working in their private industry and government to bring together diversity uh
Discussions so it takes that type of when we came up with an expansion of what acs’s goal was and a goal five that really focus on that to put the work into place so it takes that kind of effort and so it’s not going to to be shortterm it’s going
To be long-term and it’s going to be more and more groups working together to realize this need and just first you have to realize it and you got to drive it from the top and put so ACS now has a whole department with a vice president for diversity Equity inclusion and
Respect but that didn’t come shortly with a short amount of time so I think this this means work but intentional work and use the favorite or best practices of organizations that can help feed in uh to your discussions so I think that’s hopefully that helps a little bit
So I’m just going to say to you it’s not going to happen overnight but it can if we all work at it okay any other questions yes LZ thank you for your talk it truly was inspiring uh you talked a lot about being a woman and being a trail laser in that way
What advice do you have to young female chemists who are looking for mentors in the field looking for mentors yeah I’m going to say you look for mentors and you don’t look for mentors okay I’m I’m GNA say both because often time well I guess in both ways you’re looking for
Mentors take note of people who show interest in you who say will you do you know come up to you and say would you like to go to this conference I I would like to have you present or talk or just how is your work going asking you how is
Your work going someone who shows genuine interest and when you stopped and reflect on it that person is really interested in what I’m doing and how I’m doing so you turn back to them and start to have more conversations and the other is to look for people who you see doing
Things that you feel a positive I noted that he was working with this student and how well that is going you know uh he’s working in the area of interest for me so I’m going to talk to him starting from that standpoint because you can’t have ment specifically for where you’re
Trying to go in your work not all of them is that General so you you look and you seek out people that are doing that but you really try to read how are they doing that so I don’t know if I gave you a good answer because I think it can be
Either way um but you need mentors you get them you need mentors and if I can talk more about that with you if you got some people you’re trying to decide but I think in general that’s the way to think about it uh any other questions from students
Yes I’m not a student oh I was going to say we can open up the floor to everyone else I’m an Alum of Wayne State but not from The Sciences I’m from the Arts and I work in a cultural institution um so my question is in reference to along the
Lines of what uh has been happening how do we Foster uh places that encourage uh students to see uh The Sciences as an option or how do we maybe even Place seeds or things that might Peak the interest of a student what kind of uh direction should we could we go in as
Parents or as institutions you know what I mean I was I was pondering for a moment because I almost would like somebody to answer that for me I mean I have an answer but is there anybody that would like to respond to her question who have been working in
This area and feel they have an answer they would like to contribute to the discussion is there anyone no huh a couple people uh yes either one of you um so I guess maybe as a kid um a lot of times I felt quite discouraged from
Science but my dad would really go out of his way to buy what I call science voice in retrospect it was just science experiments he wanted to do like he we built like a a radio out of a crystal with copper wire and stuff but the reason that that motivated me to
Keep going in science was because I could see it as an option it felt accessible it felt something like you so I think when I look for volunteer opportunities I like it when there’s things that I can show younger students they can do it like a Hands-On activity
Or something they can really see and touch and feel and do because then they’re like oh science is this it’s finding this thing out with my hands with my brain and it makes it much less scary so that’s my small opinion oh yes so I would say my name is Amanda
Bri here at state so if you’re a part of a cultural institution that really wants to bring science to the community you’re in the right place this institution has science running through his blood that’s what that’s you know that’s what we do do a lot of other stuff you’re in the L
Of the but those relationships between the university and your institution can bring science to the people you work with because we know that not everybody can find their way here and having those things that the kids kids parents families can touch and see the connection to what science has to their
Everyday life that’s so incredibly valuable so pick up the telephone and call the president and tell her you got an organization that needs scientific input for Wayne State University they’ll show up okay thank you you for those contributions from the audience and I I think they have addressed it well so I’m
Going to go on to the next question I will next question yes Dr Maddie I when you’re talking about you know your work industry and you’re traveling but then you spoke about having a family and and raising three kids can you talk about your balance between your work and your
Home life with all your accomplishments and you know your Trail blazing that you did but then having a family on the side exp so let me let me straighten it it’s not on the side [Applause] okay uh I I mentioned the fact that we had our family early during grad school
So we were both able to take care of the family uh wasn’t something I felt like if I wasn’t there he couldn’t do it and we also made a real commitment to have one of the things we talked about was having support like house cleaning and babysitters
Etc so we did when we got out of graduate school and had some money to pay somebody uh we did and and so that came allowed us to not have to spend time on the routine things in the home but we could spend time with the children and they could be with either
Parent um if I had to travel he had my husband James had quite a bit of travel at Dow because he was in what was called technical service and development and he travel with to to address the field uh with support technical support and so I
Did a lot of covering and then later when I had to travel the kids our children were actually older when I did most of my travel and the first trip to China my old my youngest daughter was already at the point of starting high school so that also allowed us to get a
Lot done so we worked together we were good partners on it uh on taking care of the family using ourside resources and sort of pacing that in timing to when we were feeling more free to travel and in the end he was able to travel with me to
Many things we started um doing the app uh sending in abstracts for papers internationally every other year so that way we got a chance to travel so by having our family young we were able they were able to get older and we could be free to do things and still be active
In our career so it worked Dr PA yeah um amazing talk uh often times when we think of Trailblazers and Pioneers we we speak about all the challenges and um you know obstacles that are overcome but do you have a favorite moment or a favorite you know positive memory of being a
Trailblazer that you could share rather than just a challenge favorite moment not a challenge well I I think about the University of Cincinnati because you know I I had no idea till I left Cincinnati that I had been the first African-American woman to graduate from
That had no clue and then uh I was the the had of Department of women’s studies that this wanted to recognized me as the first and I and I was like are you sure so yeah and so there was there’s no uh memories other than the fact that I went
There I worked hard my husband and I both and my brother even and we graduated so it was all positive and you saw the picture with my advisor Dr Bob’s um you know I was his first student so we had a lot of fun I mean he was
Demanding but we had a lot of fun yeah so so I don’t quite have that vanderville is this no oh Gary great really nice so how do you feel like for and you mentioned it you didn’t go into like super detail for your family how did you instill kind of the importance of
Education you know to your children because I think you know going back to your question the most important thing is kind of making sure that we make you know this desire to learn and kind of understand it make it seem like it’s something that’s achievable and make it
Feel more of a routine in your life so how did you kind of instill that in your children you know some I don’t know if you’re going to like this answer they knew they had no choice but to go to [Applause] school and you know it was one point uh
My youngest daughter was in a school that had a program where they bought City t to the suburbs to go to school so that essentially most of the African-American children came from Boston and we went up to the school and the teacher the uh one of the teachers
Says oh we’re surprised you’re here you had to come all the way out of Boston and get out for your job I said I said excuse me I said I live down the street and any time my daughter’s not doing what she needs to do in this classroom I’m here in five
Minutes so I mean I think it was our so seriously we went to the teacher conferences we support if they were doing something at school that a parent could attend we went with them to attend those programs and home homework if we knew they had it they did it they got it
Done and the subject of college was always being discussed where you’re going to go to college and what you’re going to major in it was always being discussed in the home so we know when so that was just that plan and fortunately they followed that plan they
All they all went through and did their undergraduate degrees uh my oldest daughter has one Masters my son I think has two um in business and in um School of divinity my older daughter’s in computer science and so yeah it that’s how it was uh any more questions from the
Audience if not I can ask one okay what does it feel like to be the first black woman to be elected president elect of ACS I’m still digesting that but it it feels [Applause] great it feels ecstatic it’s great I feel blessed and highly favored by my heavenly father and I’m looking forward
To the work and Dr here so she knows the work so yeah y well that wrap up our questions I’m very happy to present a small token of our appreciation to Dr Phillips thank you very much for joining us today thank [Applause] you all right thank you very much we’re
Going to um shift gears now we have a little bit um so the next part of the program is the dedication and I know many of you are excited to hear about the ACs National Historic chemical Landmark dedication and I’m GNA turn it over to um
Fad he gonna come down and he’s going to introduce each of our our speakers I’m just going to leave that up there for let me actually pull up m EXC thank you Dr Phillips for wonderful speech and um thank you all for being here today so now um we’ll move to the
Second half of um today’s program that um I’d like to welcome you all to the ACs National Historic chemical land M dedication in honor of Dr bet in Washington grain who was um the first PhD the woman PhD chemist I and I’d like to invite de atw
Professor Dr D who is um the dean of college of liberal Art and Science for w at wi State University thank you good afternoon um it’s been a wonderful afternoon and I’m delighted to welcome you here today to celebrate the dedication of the American Chemical Society newest National Historic chemical
Landmark which commemorates major achievements in the history of chemistry Sciences this event honors the legacy of Dr Betty Washington green a prominent alumni of Wayne State University’s Department of Chemistry a leader in the field of polymer chemistry and most significantly the first African-American woman with a PhD in chemistry to be
Hired at Dow Chemical under the American Chemical society’s National Historic chemical landmarks program contributions to chemistry and Society are recognized the ASC has recognized a number of prominent black women to earn the pH uh I’m sorry number of prominent chemists black chemists with Landmark designation including Marie mayard da
The first black woman to earn a PhD and chemistry in the United States and George Washington Carver the one of the most influential black scientists in the 21st century we are extreme extremely proud to have a graduate of Wayne State University’s Department of Chemistry Dr Betty Washington green be recognized for her important
Achievements we are grateful to the American chemic Chemical Society for selecting Dr Washington green for this honor and to the Detroit and Midland chapters of the ASC for making the nomination finally I want Tok thank the many donors and contributors who made this event possible there’s such incredible support that there are too
Many donors to name but I will name a few uh the Dow Chemical Company Foundation I know there’s a few of you out there uh the Jenkins Family Foundation Neil Hawkins the Delta Sigma Theta sorority um importantly Professor Christy Chow um who is a fantastic creative female chemist uh with a heart and
That’s a theme here um and finally I want to thank Dr Phillips that was one of my favorite chemistry lectures ever um I know you’re going to be a great president because you have the values of take care of family be kind to neighbors no job is beneath you have a
Team mentors and keep the faith we need more presidents like you thank you din um next we have Dr s Collins who is also an illustrous and Le of um our department and um she’s also the executive director of stem at Lawrence Technological University so thank you welcome Dr subina [Applause] Collins all
Right good afternoon everyone it’s a honor and I’m just really uh humbled uh to be here celebrating uh this incredible uh woman in uh a Trailblazer Dr Betty Washington green and so what I really want to do is have a very brief conversation about how we brought her story Into the classroom
Uh at Lawrence Tech and so back in uh January of last year so myself and two of my wonderful colleagues Dr uh Tiffany Steele uh who’s a assistant professor at University of Rochester and Dr Michelle Nelson uh who’s now an associate vice president at bot College we received uh a mini Grant
Uh from the National Science Foundation for the Lewis Stokes program to really explore this idea of using storytelling uh in the classroom and so uh so so we were and basically focusing on a course that I was teaching it’s a social science seminar course uh with the theme
Equity and History of Science and I absolutely love chemistry and I love history um and so this course also is a cre course and so I know many of you are familiar with that course-based undergraduate research experiences where students all students in the class can engage in some uh research
Project now what I’m showing here on this on this slide is really a um a the three pillars of of cre at at Lawrence Tech and this is an illustration from a recent paper uh that was published by my colleagues uh at uh Lawrence Tech um and
It’s focusing on three things one the discovery of uh scholarly practices basically coming up with new questions and you know answers for those questions inclusive collaboration where you’re highlighting the contributions of everybody and especially uh those from historically underrepresented groups and communication of relevance so that’s kind of our framework for for these
Courses but our work is also the storytelling work uh that we do is actually grounded in uh this uh Bale and Roberts uh storytelling project model and the idea is that you are able to create a storytelling Community but to use different types of stories for engagement and so they Define stock
Stories as those kinds of stories that are important to society and mainstream these concealed stories they exist exist alongside the uh stock stories but they’re not as well known uh resistance stories so those celebrate the heroes and Shiro as they go through their challenges with dealing with discrimination and uh racism sexism and
Those kinds of things and then you have these new emerging stories that uh are developed in this new community that could essentially lead to either uh action or change so that’s kind of our framework for the course and so what’s interesting about this class is that there were no science majors in this
Class these were all engineers and Architects so that made it very interesting for me uh to teach the class um and there wasn’t a traditional final exam in the class the students all had to write direct and produce their own five minute narrative film um focused on
Either a stem uh a stem topic and bring in some aspects of Dei and we had two books that were required for reading which I think are brilliant books uh the Alchemy of us by Dr Alysa Ramirez focuses on inclusive stories in science and we actually had her um uh visit with
Us virtually uh during our class and so the students were so excited to have a published author uh talk with them and one of the students said to me oh my god I’ve never met a published author before I mean I know you Dr kollis but this is a published author
Like I’m like okay boy okay so so having her come to class and then also uh uh hidden figures which is also just a brilliant book and I I love the film um so those were the two uh required uh readings for the class and so uh with this class so we actually
Screened four different chemistry films uh one being forgotten genius that celebrates the story of uh uh the awesome uh Dr Percy Juliet 20 whites and one other celebrating uh Dr s Mo Brady and then the story on Dr Betty Washington green which you’ll see a little bit later includes the stories
And Science and then the ball method was celebrates Alice Augusta ball and so um and what we would do after the students would um screen these films they would write a reflection and we’d ask them to either write down the main idea or one question that comes to mind and so we
Would basically look for emerging themes and some of these things were dealing with challenges navigating stem and particularly in Dr Julian’s case uh racism and so we actually watched the uh uh the film and it was just really really uh fascinating regarding The Ball Method about Alice Augusta ball one of
The things that the students kept talking about which they really honed in on is this idea of somebody stealing somebody else’s work and getting credit for it and so to us that demonstrated that the students you know were demonstrating both empathy and sympathy for Alice Augusta Ball but also
Recognizing that we do sometimes have inequities uh within within stem and so one of the things that we did in the in the class is uh I basically the students had a chance to screen this new film that was written directed and produced by my former student Logan danaher about Dr Betty
Washington green and so what’s really nice about the film and I love the film and I think Logan did an amazing job is that you’ll see uh an interview with her daughter Dr wetta Green Johnson uh as well and so the film is actually based
On a a a book chapter that I published in a recent ACS Symposium a series book and I’m just so thankful to all of the contributing authors and so we offer teaching strategies really for broadening an image of a scientist uh within uh the classroom and at the end
Of each chapter are lesson plans uh that Educators can use so General chemistry and organic chemistry organic chemistry I of course think inorganic chemistry is the best discipline ever um which it is and I know the organic chemists are going boo so what you so you can only
Count the number four yeah so so I said it yes I did okay and so in thinking about uh Dr Betty Washington green she was just she was an incredible Trailblazer you know coming from uh Native of Texas earning her undergraduate degree from Tuskegee University which is an HBCU um
Historical back college and university in Alabama and the HBCU are incredibly important institutions of Higher Learning and then coming to Detroit in 1960 and enrolling uh uh in the graduate program here and in 1965 earning her PhD becoming a fifth African-American woman overall to earn a PhD in chemist in
Chemistry and that’s a wonderful historical fact but that’s not why she’s important she’s important because of her incredible scientific contributions just like anyone else and in 1965 she joined da becoming the first uh African-American woman with a PhD in chemistry hired in any industry uh actually um uh in Midland Michigan and
She has many accolades you know published a number of papers and registered patents but this her family Legacy in stem I thought was just really fascinating because you don’t really see a lot of mothers and daughters earning phds in stem uh in stem Fields let alone chemistry and physics so I just think
That’s really incredibly fascinating so we screened the film uh in the class with the students and you know some of the students offered their Reflections and one particular student was really trying to understand why she came uh why she came to Detroit in the first place to enroll at uh uh Wayne
State um because she came from uh the South and you know did her undergraduate work uh in tus at Tuskegee one of the things that I pointed out to the student is that during that during her time African-Americans couldn’t you know they would earn their undergraduate degrees
From HBCU but they had to come up north and pursue uh further education so that was an obstacle for her but she came uh she came up here and I think thing is at that time Wayne State was the leading producer of African-Americans earning phds in chemistry so um that’s one
That’s one of the reasons why she came why she came here and so what we ended up doing after the class was over we uh um put together a manuscript and submitted it to uh the Journal of chemical education in January and it was finally published uh in June and just
Some some key results so one of the things that we uh we identifi of course is that these these films had a positive impact on all of the students in the classroom it made learning so much fun uh the class was very entertaining and critical thinking Thrive because the
Students would learn some knowledge from these films and then they’re coming up with these questions uh which made it really interesting and we had 12 brand new films that were actually screened on the last day of class and so three of the students gave us permission to place
Their uh uh their films on uh the stem Education website at La lawence Tech and so that’s the publication yeah I did talk a little bit about vibr in this article but I I won’t discuss that here today and so uh back in uh fall of uh uh
2022 so and I’m so thankful to Dr Christine chow and and uh Dr Matt Allen and also Dr Mark Jones because we put together a nomination packet and submitted it to uh the ACs National Historic chemical landmarks uh program and it was approved I want to say back
In uh December I think of of last year uh and so that that’s one of the so I’m just so excited that this has actually become uh she’s actually being recognized with a National Historic chemical landmark and if you go to the landmarks page you’ll see uh wonderful
Uh write up about her and as uh uhh Dr CH mentioned so I had an opportunity to work with h uh we put together a lesson plan that’ll hope U hopefully be publish soon for um uh for educators to actually use in the classroom and one of the things that I I
I do want to mention you know what’s important about her uh is that what she did was she invented Improvement processes that led to uh commercial products in the paper and carpet Industries that’s why she’s important her contributions led to led to uh many uh many uh commercial products
What I also want to uh to mention as well is uh uh Dr Betty Jones um who is a historian and uh just a Trailblazer uh in uh in in Midland and one of the things about her is that when I was working on preparing my book chapter I
Was talking to her daughter and I was asking for some potent you know could she uh put me in contact with some some uh some folks that actually knew her mother to really uh put this chapter together and so she put me in contact with Dr Jones and I emailed her and said
Hey I’m writing this book chapter about your friend Dr Betty Washington green can we can we chat and what she ended up doing immediately is sending me this uh email of a list of all of the African-Americans uh chemists that had been hired by Dal and Dal Corning uh
Really from the period of like 1960 to 1989 and so beginning with Dr uh Lyn Dorman and of course Dr Phillips is one of the ones that was uh listed uh listed uh uh in that email and so it’s everything is really coming full circle and what I do want to mention uh
Is that because I want to be able to tell her story and many other stories to as many young people as possible so I was uh recently selected as a a fellow with the Science History Institute uh in Philadelphia so I’m the I’m going to be organizing the uh G C Gordon Kane
Conference um in 2024 where I get a chance to uh explore storytelling as pedagogy basically using these historical biographies in the classroom so we’re inviting uh teachers from the Detroit public schools Southfield Public Schools to ATT Ted list um and I’m interested in learning um learning from
Them and thinking about the best ways to align these stories with the content that that they teach in the classroom and so finally what I’ll say is that Dr Green she’s she’s just a tremendous uh inspiration um she made enormous contributions to society and these nor these narrative films I really do
Believe have academic uh value you can use these kinds of films when you’re teaching and finally what I will say is that I do think uh Dr Betty Washington green was like the shy of her time if you will um making connect because you the thing is it’s important uh for you
Know if you tell a compelling story to a student about somebody that looks like them that has done something in society that may be the Catalyst that they need uh where they can say you know what stem is for me because I can see that they
Did it and so with that I’ll close and thank you so much for [Applause] listening thank you Dr Sabrina Collins next we have thesis Handover ceremony and um to do that I’ll call on um Dr Matthew Allen Professor aned B of chemistry Wednesday University thank [Applause]
You um you can just leave the SL up when you’re done too this is the right one giveway all sorry okay all right well um I thank you to everyone who’s participating in this and it’s really an honor to be able to participate in this myself um and so I
You know I want to just show a couple of slides here to show how Dr Washington Green’s Legacy has been inspiring um beyond the this uh uh lecture series that that we have um and so last year at the inaugural lecture series um some representatives from Dao came
Down and um we I was giving them a tour of the chemistry department and we were having lunch before before the um the talks and Dave Perillo uh from Dao was very impressed that our the undergraduates do so much undergraduate research here and by the diversity of
Our students um and uh he you know he was telling me about these these four pillars of Dao um I think they’re sustainability customer service uh Innovation and diversity or close to the four yeah um and so uh no no notes yes uh and uh yeah and so he said you know I
I would really like to support this and he made a very generous donation um to support an undergraduate research event um and uh Professor Nancy woo on the right um I I asked her to organize this and she did a fantastic job and she had students from you know not just
Chemistry but all over the university present research and we had some folks from Dao come down um and they had gave a keynote talk and um a career panel to to sort of tell the students about different career paths in Dao um and it was just a fantastic event and and
Really it’s a tribute to Dr Washington green and and really inspired from from that and that’s what I wanted to share from this and um you know here’s some pictures from the event that was happened uh in September you can see some Dow folks um in the bottom and
There was uh some of the the gift we use for awards for the students and so you can see some of the award winners from the posters there um and to to really thank da for that um I’d like to call up Tim stemler to to help me with this um
It’s heavy and then uh yes so this is uh Dr Washington Green’s thesis or a copy of it um and if you get a chance to to look through it um if you’re born after certain date you might not appreciate that this is like typewriter and stencils um very
Impressive uh and so we are going to um invite Dr alveta Williams who’s in charge of the pillar of diversity at Dao and we’d like to give her this as as a symbol of our appreciation um to [Applause] Da I know who’s taking the picture the guy with the legit
Camera all right and uh all right FL back to you thanks everybody thank you very much Dr um next we have um Dr Angela Wilson 2023 immediate past president of American Chemical Society and Anna distinguished professor of Michigan State [Applause] University well you know I was already I
Really appreciate the the opportunity to celebrate with you today and I was so delighted um I’ve been really looking forward to this event it’s always a wonderful spe you know Wonderful opportunity to celebrate any chemical Landmark but particularly to have one in the state of Michigan is just really a
Delight and then icing on the cake to have Dorothy Phillips be our newly elected ACS president so I want to give her a hand again I’m just so excited so I am so delighted to be here and to join you as we celebrate yet another one of the newest uh National
Historic chemical landmarks this one’s particularly special not only because it’s in Michigan it’s the 100th one yes so it’s definitely one that I think everyone will remember as the immediate past president of the American Chemical Society I often speak with students the public and policy makers about the signific ific contributions that
Chemistry has made to our world and to our lives science is a subject that always can seem so uh so intimidating to so many people but one way we can make a difference as a you know as an earlier speaker mentioned these stories the stories are so incredibly important and
To be able to share the stories of scientists the scientists who’ve come before us really and those who’ve made such major Innovations really can have such an incredible impact on all of us there are many scientists in inovations that we can uh consider for example laer helped frame the principles of modern
Chemistry despite these significant contributions however his life did take a rather negative uh turn um he has life did actually involve significant drama as he was beheaded during the French Revolution or consider the role of chemist in the development of combination therapies for HIV a breakthrough treatment that has saved
Millions of of lives or here in Michigan because I like to talk about Michigan ones it happens to be at my own institution Michigan State University the discovery of Cy platinum and carop platinum two of the most common treatments for cancer indeed we have so much going on across Michigan of course
Those of us who are champions of science can only reach so many people directly so other channels are needed to convey the importance of Science and Engineering in our lives one very important channel is via the national ACS National Historic chemical landmarks program which celebrates major advances
In the chemical sciences that have shown a significant benefit to society and the chemical profession since the program was launched in 1992 ACS has designated 99 landmarks worldwide some of these previous designations have honored the invention of products such as polari instant photography Scotch tape Tide detergent and nylon and a contribution
Of such notable figures in history as Joseph Priestley the Discover of oxygen Rachel Carson an environmentalist and the author of Silent Spring whose work inspired the formation of the US Environmental Protection Agency and a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides spawning greater attention towards environmental impact and Thomas
Edison who is actually a chemist a landmark in his honor is located near here at the Henry Ford Museum green witch village where one of the Laboratories has been preserved through today’s National Historic chemical Landmark designation We Salute Betty Washington green who is a Pioneer in her
Own right as we’ve already heard she was the fifth black woman to earn a PhD in chemistry in the US her doctorate was awarded here at way State University in 1965 that same year when Dr Washington green began her career as a research scientist at the Dow Chemical Company of
Of Midland she became the first female black American PhD chemist as you’ve heard hired at the chem hired in the chemical industry her tenure at da opened the doors for researchers other researchers of color honoring her re honoring her achievements is particularly meaningful as we consider the challenges that she must have
Encountered at that point of our history and I’m just amazed that she was able to get an undergraduate degree in 1955 in the state of Alabama because I went to high school in Alabama and I can tell you that in the 1980s it was not the most welcoming of environments and so I
Cannot even imagine how it was in the 1950s one of the core values of the American Chemical Society is diversity Equity inclusion and respect recognizing and celebrating the great successes and innovations that arise from people of all backgrounds perspectives experiences and ideas ACS is a big supporter of building diverse pipelines of future
Generations of scientists Engineers as an example our project seed program provides opportunities for economically disadvantaged Junior and senior high school students to participate in summer research in academic and Industrial Labs we also have the ACs Scholars Program which provides schol scholarships to undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups who plan to
Pursue chemistry related careers an acs’s bridge program is an effort to increase the numbers of chemical scientist phds of Ed to Su students from underrepresented populations as an aside I encourage you to reach out to ACS if you are interested in any of these opportunities or know of any students
Who would be great candidates for this program and of course right here at Wayne State there are numerous programs designed to embrace diversity of course today’s program honoring Betty uh Washington green the endowed U me me ow endowed Memorial lecture series which which is a part of today’s celebration
Betty Washington green stands out as an aspirational role models to every one of us Paving the way towards much needed diversity Across The Sciences across the country and across the globe it is a real privilege to be able to join you today in further recognizing the inspiring achievements and influential
Career of Dr Washington green through the National Historic chemical landmarks designation in closing I note again that this is the H 100th Landmark that ACS has designated it is a special delight that Dr Washington green is receiving the first Centurion award recognition congratulations on this honor for Wayne
State University for da and for Dr Betty Washington green so thank you so [Applause] much for so um well finally I would like to introduce Dr Ava Williams again she is the director of the director of the office of inclusion and the hi hi director for talent at da she’s also the
Person who created the th best impos which I’m also a beneficiary so thank you very much Williams well good day everyone I’m gonna try that again good day everybody listen I know we are nearing the end of the program and I am not a preacher nor am I a preacher’s kid like
Dr Phillips but I’ve been to a lot of church and I know that when you are at the end blessed are the short winded for they shall be invited back and so thank you for the brief introduction um on behalf of team da I am so incredibly honored to be here
Today I’ve been a lot of places this week and when they talked to me about this week the fact that I would land in Detroit for this moment in history this moment in time I said I would not I would not miss it this is for me uh not
Just a professional privilege it is a it is a personal honor uh my good friend Dr Collins used the word inspiration uh but the other word that we’ve been using all after afternoon is that Dr Betty Washington green was a Pioneer and I think when we think about that word we
Use it a lot and it might be strange to some because if you think about the word pioneer uh perhaps a different image may come to mind than the one you’ve been seeing all afternoon uh perhaps you think about early settlers in some like covered old school wagon crossing the American
Frontier but for me as a as a black woman as a black woman who happens to hold a PhD as a black woman who happens to hold a PHD in physical chemistry as a black woman who happens to hold a PHD in physical chemistry who has enjoyed a 21-year career at da when
I think of the word pioneer I think of Dr Betty Washington green she broke ground in the field of chemistry uh she pioneered new lines of research as the first black female chemist at Dow and one of the first in our industry she pioneered new territory for women for African-Americans for
Marginalized groups in our company and in stem Fields she pioneered uh through the power of her mind yes but also through her determination and through her resolve and of course through her passion for Science and for for Innovation uh you’ve heard her story here this afternoon uh this passion and
Dedication carried her through the 1950s and the 1960s and let’s be honest if we can think back to then and Dr Phillips talked to us a little bit about this today for black woman in science at that time it couldn’t have been the easiest time to succeed and it certainly could
Couldn’t have been the easiest time to to start she was an alumni of this great institution Wayne State uh University earning her PHD in physical chemistry in in 1965 uh 10 years before I ever came to this earth uh the very same year she published her doctoral dissertation and
She joined da in the research laboratory in Midland Michigan her work spoke for itself she was promoted she was promoted again she published her work um along the way uh she stayed with Dal for 25 years she contributed to chemistry impacted our culture uh and changed our
Company and frankly I would say changed our world uh before she retired in 1990 and I was thinking about this as I wrote These remarks on the way down from Midland this morning in 1990 I was actually taking my first chemistry class as a sophomore in high school and so I
Am I am well aware that in in many ways I am an extension of Dr Betty Washington Green’s Legacy 40 years before I ever stepped foot on a dow campus she was there demonstrating that people who looked like me could not only get a PhD in chemistry but could Pioneer a
Successful career in research and in IND industry because of her and others like Dorothy Washington Dorothy Phillips here today who broke ground before me I was able to enjoy the first decade of my career in research and development at da and that was before I made what some would call
The Quantum Leap over into the business of of people and now I get the opportunity every single day uh to build on that Legacy through the work of inclusion diversity and Equity at da now there’s this famous photo um that when you think of Dr Betty Washington green
It is it is sort of always floating around I don’t think it’s on the screen but I think it’s on the cover of your program it was on the cover of Dr Collins’s uh talk um we saw it there where she is sitting at the instrument she’s got both hands resting on the
Instrument um and when we think of her we always think about that photo seen it all over but for me when I look at that photo I see I see her eyes looking out and for some that may look like just you know a pose that she’s making and
Perhaps that’s true but not only is she looking out at us to to me she has this look of curiosity this sort of questioning look on her face um I’ve looked at the photo many times myself and you know when I see it I think okay alvita you know this sister is looking
Back at you in time and she’s saying what are you doing what are you doing what are you doing about your life uh what are you doing about your work what are you doing to advance others every time I walk past or I enter into the Betty Washington
Green conference room uh at Dallas Global headquarters and I was just there for a meeting last week um I get reminded I get reminded of the weight of responsibility the the awesome opportunity and frankly the obligation that I have in my own small way uh to
Carry the torch and without fail when I walk past that conference room or enter it I see that Curiosity the questioning that comes through in that picture the questions flow in my head what intentional actions are you taking what what difference are you you making what Legacy are you leaving and so I
Challenge you all the same as you look at the cover of your programs today as you listened to the talks I challenge you to do the same remember that this what we’re doing here today is not just some plaque on a wall uh this is not just even the ACs National chemical
Landmark it is deep appreciation deep admiration deep respect for a Pioneer a Pioneer who built Bridges and knocked down walls for us all to be here today it is a reminder for me and hopefully a reminder for you of the obligation that we all have the obligation that each of
Us has to make our workplaces and to make our world better for those that come behind us thank [Applause] you so uh I apologize I have to ask you to stand up again um so I’d like to invite Dr Angelo Wilson and um Dr da Philips and everyone
Who spoken today for the unveiling um ceremony thank you and din out well too sorry I used to pull it yep yep yep yep yep how just move it in yeah just let’s just move it in front that’s [Applause] it’s actually going to be one the entrance in the entrance [Applause] get all right thank you very much um all right so we just have one final thing uh we have so we’ll leave that up so you can come down and take a look at it um
I’m gonna play a short video I think our system was just turned off sh all right I’m just gonna actually there’s just a picture of of um Dr Green Johnson I’m just going to play her remarks for you because the try I it’s a movie it does okay great okay so let’s
See so we have remarks by WETA and then we’ll have the the film good afternoon good afternoon welcome to the second installment of the Betty Washington green doubt Le beautiful Campus of way State University I was most fortunate to attend the inaugural lecture in 2022 and
So wish that I could be with you today however I want you to know I’m grateful to everyone who made this Lector ship a reality to Dr Chow who had the advantage to recognize the significance of my mother’s work and then invested her own time and treasure to make that
Significance known more broadly to Dr Sabrina Collins at ltu kemist and historian who researched the details of Mother’s work at Dow and sends me wonderful updates of how that knowledge impacts ongoing chemistry processes and new recognitions to D chemico where my parents spent the bulk of their career
As scientists and any other sponsors of this lectureship to the Department of Chemistry at Wayne State University and of course the administration and I cannot forget those who took the time to attend this afternoon you who took the time to celebrate now I knew that I have been
Blessed with a remarkable mom who loved us fiercely she cared about her extended family she was a tough teacher excellent cook sress Gardener as early as five or six years old we knew when the half and half was coagulated and that blood was a colloid she loved her elephant Jal and
Her artha Franklin and her bethoven Symphonies and now so do I but what I did not know as a mere computational physicist were the weighty contributions that mother the Carlo chemist made to the chemical community and understanding that her patents translated to novel useful and widely applied techniques in
Particle siiz character I ization he took CA starting at wing state to recognize and then megaphone these achievements and because of this my family has been gifted but yet another layer to the complexity that is my brilliant courageous strong strongly opinionated and generous mother you are the wonderful astute kind and caring
Village who built this lecture ship you collectively are the griot as it were that tells my mother the stored achievements to the next generation of chemists especially all the wonderful Wayne State University chemistry majors and graduate students in attendance right now so thank you for honoring my mom and enjoy the
Meeting all right thank you very much Dr Johnson okay we’re going to turn it over now and the last thing is the film so this was um a film created by um Sabrina
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