Professor William A. Massey

Edwin S. Wilsey Professor, Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering Princeton University

The three decades of the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s at Bell Laboratories were to Black scientists what the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s was to Black artists. This was a time when Bell Labs had attained a critical mass of Black researchers in the engineering, mathematical and physical sciences. Many of these individuals made significant contributions as scientists. They also acquired major technical leadership roles in the fields of science, business and education. Most important however, was that they leveraged the success in their scientific fields to open up opportunities for the next generation of Black scientists. This will be a discussion of who some of these people are, the significance of their technical research and the lasting impact of their mentorship on the next generation of Black scientists.