Venable, Demetrius, 1947-
Oral history interview with Demetrius Venable, 2021 May 12.
Interview with Demetrius Venable, Professor Emeritus at Howard University. Venable discusses the administrative distinctions between physics and astronomy at Howard, and he surveys some of the most interest projects currently in train at NASA. He recounts his upbringing in segregated small-town Virginia, the educational limitations this imposed, and his service in ROTC at Virginia State University. He discusses a formative intensive summer program at Columbia, and he describes the opportunities that led to his graduate admission at American University to work with Richard Kay on the effectiveness of circular polarization versus linear polarization in excited states in solid material. Venable describes his postdoctoral research at IBM, then taking a faculty position at St. Pauls College, before taking a longer-term position at Hampton Institute. He discusses his early involvement with NASAs remote sensing program, he describes his tenure as director of the dual degree engineering program and the collaborative opportunities he was able to pursue with Jefferson Lab. Venable recounts his increasing administrative responsibilities leading to becoming Provost at Hampton, and he discusses the growth of the NASA-supported Center for Optical Physics. He explains his decision to move to Howard, where he could be more fully involved in research for CSTEA and the LiDAR system, and his partnership with NOAA on climate modeling. Venable conveys his enjoyment at receiving NASAs Distinguished Public Service Medal, and he provides historical perspective on current and past calls to make STEM more diverse and inclusive. At the end of the interview, Venable explains his deep interest in physics education, and he expresses optimism in the long-term strength of Howards physics program.
American physicist, professor, university administrator, and public administrator. Ph.D. physics, American University, 1974. B.S. physics, Virginia State University, 1970. Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Howard University. Recipient of NASAs Distinguished Public Service Medal and the American Association of Physics Teachers' Distinguished Service Citation.
Baker, Oliver Keith
Hayner, Lucy J.
Venable, Demetrius, 1947-
American University (Washington, D.C.)
Columbia University
Hampton Institute
Howard University
International Business Machines Corporation
National Society of Black Physicists
Research Center for Optical Physics
St. Paul's College.
Virginia State College
United States. Air Force. Office of Scientific Research
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
African American physicists
HBCUs (Historically black colleges and universities)
Optical radar
Polarization (Nuclear physics)
Polarized targets (Nuclear physics)
Remote sensing
NASA. Distinguished Public Service Medal
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Davenport, James C.
Han, Kwang
Kay, Richard B.
Poole, Lamont
Taboada, John
Whitney, Donald
Zierler, David, 1979-, interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA