Contact: Maya Matthews Minter
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FAIRFAX, Va. — Diverse: Issues In Higher Education is pleased to announce the presentation of this year’s Dr. John Hope Franklin Award to Dr. Sylvester James (Jim) Gates, Jr.
Gates is a groundbreaking theoretical physicist who works at the boundary of physics and mathematics. He earned two bachelor of science degrees (in physics and mathematics) and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His doctoral thesis was the first at MIT to investigate the subject of supersymmetry and he has continued with over two hundred publications in the field.
In 1984, he co-authored Superspace: One Thousand and One Lessons in Supersymmetry, the first comprehensive book on supersymmetry, and joined the University of Maryland (UMD) faculty as an associate professor. Four years later, he became the first African American to hold an endowed chair in physics at a major U.S. research university. He is renowned for his technical work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory and he continues to actively research the domain.
At UMD he serves as University System Regents Professor, the John S. Toll Professor of Physics, and a College Park Professor. He holds the Clark Leadership Chair in Science, and he is a professor of Public Policy. His award-winning and distinguished career as a professor, spans over five decades and he has made an indelible mark on physics and math education in the U.S.
Among his numerous appointments and awards, President Barack Obama awarded Gates the National Medal of Science, the highest award given to scientists in the U.S. He also served on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He served on the Maryland State Board of Education from 2009-2016, and the National Commission on Forensic Science from 2013-2016.
Gates served on the presidential line of the American Physical Society (APS) from 2019-2022, APS General Councilor (1997–2001) and was the first recipient of the APS Bouchet Award in 1994. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Math. He is also a member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Forensic Science Standards Board and the American Philosophical Society. Past advisory positions include service on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee on Physics, and the Department of Energy’s High Energy Physics Advisory Panel among others. He is a past president and fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists, as well as a fellow of the APS, the AAAS, the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom, and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study in South Africa.
The year 2025 marks the fifty-fourth consecutive year of Gates’ university-level teaching at institutions as diverse as Caltech, Howard University, Gustavus Adophus College, MIT, Brown University, and UMD. His teaching awards include the American Association of Physics Teacher’s Oersted Medal, Howard University’s 21st Century Initiative Award, MIT's Martin Luther King Award, and the Washington Academy’s College Science Teacher of the Year award just to name a few. From 1991–1993, he served as the chair of the Howard University Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Award Presentation:
The presentation of the award medallion will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, in National Harbor, Maryland at 6 p.m. EST, on Sunday, March 30, 2025, during the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education (AABHE) annual meeting, to register click here. Gates will also be featured in the April 3, 2025 print issue of Diverse.
About this Award:
The Dr. John Hope Franklin Award was created in 2004 to pay tribute to Dr. Franklin, historian, writer, educator, and humanitarian who made significant contributions to shaping the perspective of American history in the 20th century.
With the late Dr. Franklin’s permission, Diverse created the award to institutionalize and celebrate his scholarly contributions to the nation on an ongoing basis. The individuals and organizations chosen are those whose contributions to higher education are consistent with the highest standards of excellence.
Past recipients have included, among others, the late Dr. Clifton Wharton, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the late Dr. Maya Angelou, Dr. Arturo Madrid, Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson and Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole.
For over four decades, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education has been America’s premier source of timely news, provocative commentary, insightful interviews, and in-depth special reports on diversity in higher education. Savvy individuals who appreciate the crucial and ever-changing role higher education plays in the lives of student and professionals, and their families and communities, make reading Diverse an enduring habit.
