Event name: My Life in Math and Science, Defying Barriers and Living Diversity in STEM
Event time and place: October 19, 2023, at 4 P.M. in room 1410 in Toll Physics Building
Sabrina and I Before the Lecture!
On October 19, 2023, at 4:00 P.M. in room 1410 in the Toll Physics Building, I attended a lecture by renowned theoretical physicist, Sylvester James Gates Jr. Dr. Gates is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He teaches the PHYS235 course, which focuses on the science and history behind the construction of the atomic bomb. However, this talk focused on his personal story and struggles within the community of academia. His lecture, “Achieving the Dream: My Life in Math and Science, Defying Barriers and Living Diversity in STEM” was part of a larger series: Dean’s Voices of Diversity and Inclusion.
His speech focuses on his childhood and early career in the field of STEM. Dr. Gates was born in Tampa, Florida in 1950 in a benevolent hospital: a hospital that was the result of pooled funds from the local African-American community. This was Gates’s first taste of discrimination as he was not able to be born in a proper hospital as it was segregated. His family then moved to a desegregated army base in Newfoundland, Canada. During this time, Gates saw the movie, Spaceways, which sparked his interest in science. The Gates family then moved back to Florida into a segregated neighborhood. Here, Gates struggled to grapple with the new community he moved into, especially the cultural differences. In high school, he began picking up hobbies such as reading comic books and playing chess. He then became the president of his high school’s chess club and was able to travel to white schools to play. Here he was exposed to the funding differences between his school and white high school. Gates ended up graduating at the top of his class and his father made him apply to MIT.
Gates was accepted at MIT but struggled to fit into the academic community. He was unable to access a lot of the resources that were readily available for white students. He began bowling to cope and actually became a bowling champion. He went on to teach calculus at MIT in 1972 for a short period before attending Harvard for his post-doctoral studies as a junior fellow. During this period, Gates met Stephan Hawking and applied to be an astronaut. After his time at Harvard, Gates went to Cal-Tech as a faculty member of the applied math department and began working with Richard Feynmann. Here, Gates published his thesis on super-symmetry. Later in life, Gates had a stunt in politics. He served on Obama’s council advisors on science and technology. He also served as the Vice President of the Maryland Board of Education.
Gates explains his background in such detail to convince his audience that everyone should have the right to pursue their ambitions. At every step in his education, Gates faced challenges to his passion for physics. From the very beginning, he was told he was inferior and wasn’t given the same opportunities as his white counterparts. Then during his education and career in academia, he constantly faced backlash and doubt. During his time at MIT, he was excluded from white fraternities and was unable to get access to aides such as test banks. Later he faced racism from within the academic community even being told by one professor that he had “never seen a black man talk about the white man’s magic so well. The reason he came to UMD was to find a diverse community that supported him and his passions. Due to his experiences, he has worked overtime to ensure that everyone has the right to pursue their passions. Not only did he serve as an advisor to President Obama, but was also cited in the Supreme Court case regarding affirmative action. While addressing this event in his life, Gates makes a point to explain why he believes in affirmative action. He demonstrated how the African-American community is still at a disadvantage due to the legacy of segregation. Currently, African Americans only hold ⅛ of the wealth and schools are still segregated. Since public schools in the US are funded through taxes and there is such a difference in wealth, schools with predominantly African American students are significantly worse than those with predominantly white students. Gates explains that these disparities are the reason affirmative action is still necessary. He also addresses the counterargument that affirmative action is unfair as other admission factors such as legacy and donations inherently discriminate against African American/ other minority groups. Between his personal testimony and his well-supported arguments, I found myself convinced that affirmative action should remain a pillar in college admissions.
In his pursuit to ensure that all students have the same opportunities to pursue their passions, he also took a stand while serving on the Maryland Board of Education. In 2016, the mayor of Maryland attempted to pass an executive order dictating public schools' start and end dates. He wished to push the start dates until after Labor Day and prevent the school year from extending past June 15, effectively making the school year shorter. This infuriated Dr. Gates, as this move not only attempted to circumvent the political system and prevent the board from giving their opinion on the matter, but he was preventing students from learning. By reducing the school year, the mayor was limiting how much students could participate in STEM activities and pursue their education. In retaliation, Gates resigned from the board publicly, to embarrass Mayor Hogan and convince the public to pressure him to repeal the executive order. While his arguments for affirmative action were concrete, Gates did not provide a lot of statistics or logical backing for his stance about the length of the school year. He also used a logical fallacy while explaining this event. He used various ad hominem arguments against Mayor Hogan, calling him incompetent and insinuating a lack of intelligence. While I agreed with Gates that Hogan used improper methods to try and shorten the school year, I did not find myself convinced that he was attempting to interfere with students’ education.