BATON ROUGE - Dr. Diola Bagayoko, Southern University’s Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Director of the Timbuktu Academy, has received the 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Lifetime Mentor Award.
Bagayoko earned the award because of “his extraordinary effort to significantly increase the number of African-American Ph.D.s in physics and chemistry,” the AAAS selection committee said during a February 20 ceremony at the 2010 AAAS annual meeting in San Diego, Calif.
"Through the creation and later the expansion of the Timbuktu Academy based at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Dr. Bagayoko has created a resource center for encouraging students to pursue Ph.D. degrees across a wide range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and academic levels," the AAAS award selection committee wrote.
The committee also noted that Bagayoko has reached undergraduate students on a “one-on-one basis” through mandatory weekly seminars, and has worked tirelessly to advance education and research in general. He has personally mentored 21 undergraduate students at Southern and all have gone on to receive Ph.D. degrees in physics and chemistry.
Bagayoko received his B.S. degree in physics and chemistry in 1973 from Ecole Normale Superieure in Bamako, Mali. His master's degree in solid state physics was earned in 1978 from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. He received a Ph.D. degree in theoretical solid state physics in 1983 from Louisiana State University.
He became one of the first recipients of the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring in 1996. The Timbuktu Academy also received the presidential award in 2002. From 1984 until 2003, Bagayoko also secured more than $12 million in grants that were used for instructional enhancement, mentoring, research, and related tasks.
Bagayoko has authored over 80 refereed publications dealing with condensed matter theory and more than 50 publications on the topics of teaching, mentoring, and learning. He was the lead author on the proposal and strategic plan that led to the establishment of a doctoral program in science and mathematics education at Southern.
He and colleagues introduced the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) procedure that opened the way, for the first time, to predictive calculations of the electronic and related properties of semiconductors.
The AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement was established by the AAAS Board of Directors in 1991. The award recognizes individuals who have, for more than 25 years, mentored significant numbers of underrepresented students toward the completion of doctoral studies and/or significantly affected the climate of a department, college or institution, or field in such a manner as to significantly increase the diversity of students pursuing and completing doctorates in the sciences.
Also considered are nominees' demonstrated scholarship, activism and community building. The award includes a monetary prize of $5,000, a commemorative plaque, and complimentary registration for the AAAS annual meeting.
Posted By: LaKeeshia Giddens
Monday, February 22nd 2010 at 4:45PM
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