ReUNION Narrative: LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE, Lesson 2

(c) 2013 ReUNION: Education-Arts-Heritage

ReUNION Narrative: LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE, Jan. 16-March 5, Lesson 2

Throughout human history, controlling light had proven elusive until Thomas Edison retained Lewis Latimer.  When Latimer created a durable and easily manufacturable carbon filament, he was awarded a patent for the "Incandescent Electric Light Bulb with Carbon Filament."   Light from those bulbs spread in random directions at varying frequencies.

By the time Dr. Robert Lawrence Thornton received his doctorate from Stanford in 1983, scientists had learned how to focus light to generate a beam of waves at the same frequency, known as a laser.

Like Latimer, Thornton made an exponential improvement by discovering how to generate more than one laser from a single semiconductor chip.

Success Secrets, Blackmoney, Jazz Management define diversity dividend

SAN JOSE -- When the new editor of the San Jose Business Journal walked into a breakfast at the San Jose Athletic Club in 1987, he was surprised that four of the dozen technology business leaders welcoming him were African-American.

"They were pretty shocked that I was black too," recalls the author of Success Secrets of Black Executives (ASPIRE SAN FRANCISCO), first  African-American to edit a business newspaper.

John William Templeton soon organized a group called the Black Executive Forum, where one could only gain admittance with budget authority in excess of $10 million.  More than 200 eventually showed up for the monthly meetings.

Logicore's Bouldin: education the most powerful weapon

HUNTSVILLE -- Logicore announced its latest partnership with Lockheed Martin – Global Training & Logistics (LM – GTL) in a contract win with the Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education (MPT&E) Information Technology Support Services (ITSS) section of the Navy Personnel Command (NPC) Business Operations Department. With this partnership, LogiCore will support document production operations, maintain personnel records, manage image creation and evaluation processes, and coordinate image selection review boards.

Saving the African-American Child in Chicago Oct. 11-13

CHICAGO -- "Saving the African-American Child: a National Black Education Agenda Working Summit" is the product of a grass-roots collaboration to make education work for black youth.   

Thirteen action groups have been formed from volunteers in more than 30 states to create a black parents union, to identify effective culturally-responsive practices, developing a certification process for African-centered schools, and creating shadow school boards to monitor public education.

Patents at Play

What types of sciences are involved in the 104 patents of Dr. Lonnie Johnson:

How do the SpelBots and ARTSI students make robots dance?

Since 2005, Dr. Andrew B. Williams' Spelbots have been competing with the best robotics students around the world to program robots for tasks such as playing soccer or dancing.

Students from the ARTSI campuses had a competition to have robots place a round object in a square box.

How can one make a robot dance?

The King Behind a Half-Century of Freedom Fighters

SAN FRANCISCO -- The ingredient of the civil rights struggle usually overlooked by historians is the financing of activism.