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Jeannette E. Brown

	Jeannette E. Brown Société de Chimie Industrielle Fellow of the Chemical Heritage Foundation History of Chemistry

When she was six years old, Jeannette Brown remembers being so impressed with her African American physician that she decided on the spot to become a doctor. She asked him how one did so, and he replied, "Study science." When she was a junior in high school, she says a teacher "turned me on to chemistry. Brown graduated from high school in 1952 and entered New York City's Hunter College, where she majored in chemistry. She was one of two African Americans in Hunter's first class in a new chemistry major program. The college was then funded by New York City, and her tuition and books were free. In return for this free education, "we were taught to give back--mentoring others was part of our natural training," Brown says. She has served as a mentor and role model ever since.

After college graduation, Brown went to the University of Minnesota, where in 1958 she received an M.S. in organic chemistry. She believes that she was the first African American woman to receive a degree in chemistry. Her research focus at Minnesota was in organic chemistry, and after graduation she sought a position in the pharmaceutical industry. The year was 1958, and, she says, the drug companies "were beginning to open their doors to African Americans." She became a research chemist at Ciba Pharmaceutical (now Novartis) and worked there for 11 years.

In 1969, Brown moved to Merck & Co. For the next 26 years, until she took early retirement in 1995, she synthesized compounds for testing as potential new drugs.

Brown served on Merck's Black University Liaison Commission and was an adviser to faculty and students at Grambling State University, a historically black university in Louisiana. One of the students she mentored became the dean of science at Grambling. Another earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and an M.D. degree and is a cardiologist in Jackson, Miss. Brown received Merck's Management Award for this work. Her outreach efforts extended beyond the university level. As part of the National Science Foundation Visiting Women in Science Program, Brown visited high schools in Philadelphia, acting as a role model for students and faculty. She also served for six years on NSF's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science & Engineering and was able to influence policy on programs for minorities nationwide.

After retirement, she joined New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, and became director of the Regional Center for the New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative. The center focuses entirely on pre-college minority students and their science and math teachers. She recently retired from NJIT and is now the 2004 Société de Chimie Industrielle (American Section) Fellow of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, studying the history of African American women chemists.

Brown has been active in ACS as a councilor, focusing on diversity in elected governance. She also chaired Project SEED at the national level and remains active in this social action program in the North Jersey Section. In 1990, the Metropolitan N.Y. Chapter of the Association of Women in Science named Brown an "Outstanding Woman in Science." A year later, she was elected to the Hunter College Hall of Fame. In 2002, she received the ACS Women Chemists Committee Regional Award for Contributions to Diversity. In 2004 she was a receipient of the ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences sponsored by The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. In 2006 she received the North Jersey Local Section Harvey Russel Award for support to High School Chemistry teachers.

At NERM2008 Jeannette Brown will be presenting a talk on "The History of African American Women Chemists" as part of our History of Chemistry Symposium