The vanilla-colored table tents perched atop the dining hall tables do not dispense information on the fat content or sodium intake of your food. Rather, they feature black scientists such as Jan Ernst Matzeliger, George Washington Carver and Mae Jemison--the second installment of black scientists to be featured this month on the table tents created by the Harvard Society of Black Scientists and Engineers (HSBSE) in celebration of February's Black History Month.

Matzeliger was a black inventor who invented a machine to mass-manufacture shoes in 1883; Carver invented hundreds of food products, including peanut butter; and Jemison became the first woman of color to go into space in 1992.

According to HSBSE President Charrise M. Barron '98, the organization's goal is to increase awareness in the Harvard community of the achievements black people have made in the fields of science and engineering throughout history.

HSBSE printed up more than 1,000 table tents for the eight undergraduate houses that would accept them. Barron said Eliot, Kirkland, Quincy, Lowell and Annenberg did not accept bulletins of any sort on their dining hall tables.

New table tents are created weekly so three new scientists can be profiled each week. Last week, when the table tents first went up, they featured Madame C. J. Walker, a hair-care product inventor who became a self-made millionaire; Edward A. Bouchet, the first African-American to receive a doctorate from an American university with his physics Ph.D. from Yale; and Granvile T. Woods, who invented the steam boiler furnace and an automatic air brake used to stop trains.

"The month of February is a perfect time to illustrate some of the successes of black people in the sciences," Barron said. "We wanted to set up table tents in order to educate the Harvard community concerning themajor accomplishments that black people have madein the sciences, as well as [to educate] otherblack people who might not realize that we havemade such positive impacts on modern society."

The number of black science concentrators atHarvard is a fraction of the black student body,which itself makes up only 8 percent of the totalundergraduate population.

Despite the relatively small black sciencepopulation, however, HSBSE has assisted inincreasing the visibility of black scienceconcentrators on campus.

Barron says HSBSE serves as an organization inwhich black science and engineering concentratorscan be visible and active. "The purpose of HSBSEis to help black students in the sciences atHarvard to succeed academically andprofessionally," she says. "The organizationallows students with similar interests to meeteach other, lend advice about classes and jobs andto serve as an influence to younger blackstudents."

The membership of HSBSE includes concentratorsin various science fields, ranging fromneurobiology to electrical engineering. Many ofthe students said that black role models in thesciences greatly influenced their decisions toconcentrate in a scientific field at college.

"In high school, I did a summer program at NASAand worked with a black female electricalengineer," says Chaundra C. King '99, the onlyblack female electrical engineering concentratorin her year. "It looked like a good career forme."

"I saw her as a role model," King says. "Shewas the only black person in her group, and I wasable to relate to her."

Jaime A. Williams '01 agrees that it isimportant to have role models with whom one canidentify. Williams, a mechanical engineeringconcentrator, says he considers the time he spentwith his best friend's father, an electricalengineer who is black, to have made "the biggestimpact" on his decision to study engineering atHarvard.

"I was around my best friend's father a lot,"Williams says. "I became interested in computers,and I've always liked science. Now I am very eagerto jump into my engineering classes."

LaTanya N. James '99, a cognitive neuroscienceconcentrator, said she has been interested inscience for as long as she can remember. "Sciencehas always been an area of interest to me, andI've wanted to continue studying it," she says.

Although James says he is passionate aboutscience, she is not a member of HSBSE. HSBSE VicePresident Oni J. Blackstock '99 said that althoughHSBSE is open to all black science concentrators,the majority of black students in the sciences donot belong to the organization.

Blackstock, a pre-med computer sciencesconcentrator, says she believes this might bebecause most students associate the organizationwith only physical and engineering sciences ratherthan science as a whole, including the morepopular biological sciences.

A Small Community

HSBSE's table tents are raising awareness ofblack scientists throughout the general Harvardcommunity, but the students interviewed for thisarticle still expressed concern about Harvard'ssmall black science community.

Brian M. Lawrence, a fourth-year Ph.D.candidate in the chemistry department of theGraduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS),understands the experience of being the only blackperson in a department. He has lived it for thepast four years.

"Being the only black person, I feel like I donot have a community in my department," he says."And often, faculty tend to latch on to peoplethat remind them of themselves."

Although Lawrence says he feels alone in hisdepartment at times, he gives significant creditto his advisor, Emery Professor of OrganicChemistry Elias J. Corey, for his continuingencouragement. "E.J. Corey has been a supportiveadvisor and I've learned a lot from him," Lawrencesays. "This is what I came here to do."

Nicky Sheats, a Ph.D. candidate in the Earthand Planetary Sciences Department of GSAS, is oneof only two black graduate students in hisdepartment. He says he "really feels the lack ofminority students" in his department.

"I took all my science classes at City Collegeof New York, which was majority minorities, and Ialways had a friend to work with," Sheats says."Here at Harvard, there are very few minorities.It would be nice to talk to other black studentsabout their experiences studying here."

Although Sheats says he feels comfortable inhis department, due in part to the support fromhis advisor, who is also a minority member, Sheatsalso said that other students are sometimesshocked to see him at Harvard.

"People are surprised to see me here,especially when I attend conferences," he says."Other students have more doubts about me becauseI am a black person."

Black students say this perception can pushthem to work harder.

"Being a black woman in the engineeringsciences makes me more determined to stick withit," King says. "I have an obligation to myselfand to other black people to do well."

Barron also says she feels pressure to be moresuccessful in her studies because of such societalmisconceptions. "I have to be more responsible andwork harder because as a black student, I feellike people who have not had much exposure toblack students think I represent the blackcommunity," she says. "So I make sure that I set ahigh standard."

Although students expressed concern about thefuture of black people in the Harvard sciences,most remain extremely optimistic.

Many say that the way to increase the blackscience population is to raise the number and thevisibility of black role models in the sciences.Harvard students say they see themselves playingsuch roles.

"It is my job to educate the other blackstudents coming behind me," Barron says. "I don'twant them to have to go through the same strugglesas I did. I want them to know somebody is makingit easier for them and that I care about theirsuccess."

Lawrence adds, "I hope that there are studentsout there that actually care about what I'm doingand want to pursue a career in science. My adviceto them is to stick with it. All it takes is hardwork, and if you want something bad enough, you'lldo what it takes to get it."CrimsonMatthew P. MillerON HIS OWN: BRIAN M. LAWRENCE says helaments the lack of black graduate students inchemistry.