Illinois Public Media amplifies #BlackScienceMatters videos

1/3/2017 WILL Press Room

The series of eight short films examines the severe underrepresentation of African-Americans in the sciences.

Written by WILL Press Room

A series of eight short films under the umbrella of #BlackScienceMatters will reach a wider audience beginning this month. Produced by students of the College of Media at University of Illinois under the leadership of journalism professor Charles "Stretch" Ledford, the project examines the larger pervasive national issue of the severe underrepresentation of African-Americans in the sciences through the lens of individuals’ experiences within University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign community.

“This is not just a cultural or sociological problem, it is a problem that qualitatively negatively impacts the level scientific research and advancement in the United States,” said Ledford.

Viewers first saw the videos, which were debuted one at a time, on Illinois Public Media’s Facebook page back in September  2016. Now the series is available on WILL-TV as interstitial video, via Illinois Public Media's online video portal, via over-the-top devices (e.g. AppleTV, Roku, etc) using the PBS app, and on Illinois Public Media’s website.

Three of the eight stories in the series have ECE ILLINOIS connections.

Booted, Then Back: Poor grades forced University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign undergraduate Temitayo Ade-Oshifogun out of the College of Engineering. The mentorship of a college dean led to Ade-Oshifogun earning all As at another university and re-enrolling in electrical engineering at Illinois.

 

A Black Female PhD: Still a Novelty in 2015: In May 2015, Yemaya Bordain became the first black woman to earn a PhD in electrical and computer engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bordain, now an engineer at Intel, describes her experience as the only black woman in her department.

 

I Quit: Jeremy Clayborn was an ECE ILLINOIS student. When experience on a summer internship caused him to realize that he is "not an engineer" he quit school to pursue his dream - a career in music.


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This story was published January 3, 2017.