Husband and wife team featured at Science Museum's Family Day

By Jae Bryson
Staff Writer

Philip and Dale Emeagwali will be speaking at the Science Museum.

The Science Museum of Minnesota will hold its third annual African Americans in Science -- A Special Event for Families Day this saturday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The day will introduce youthful visitors to African American contributions to science.

Among the activities available for children aged 6 through 12 (and an accompanying adult) are:
*designing a roller coaster with an interactive computer program
*a live owl show with Science Museum presenter Jesse Wiley
*a game show with the topic African American scientistss
*hands-on math, science and physics activities
An added bonus is the inclusion of real scientists, who will perform experiments and demonstrate some of their technical expertise.

Microbiologist Dale Brown Emeagwali and her husband Philip, a research scientist, have returned as presenters for the event. Both recall being introduced to the field by their parents.

The pair are award-winning scientists who have won accolades from their colleagues for their work.

Philip Emeagwali won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, awarded by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, for research in massively parallel computing.

"Philip Emeagwali, who took on an enormously difficult problem ... solved it alone (and) has won computation's top prize, captured in the past only by seasoned research teams," read an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "If his program can squeeze out a few more percentage points, it will help decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil."

In 1991, he was hailed as `Scientist of the Year' by the National Society of Black Engineers and `Computer Scientist of the Year' by the National Technical Association in 1993.

Dale Brown Emeagwali is listed in Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and American Men and Women of Science. Her Ph.D. in Microbiology was earned at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she demonstrated, for the first time, the existence of specific isozymes in bacteria. Currently, Emeagwali is involved in cancer research.

She encourages children not to be intimidated by science.

"Plants and trees, soap bubbles and toys -- simple, everyday things are science," she added.

Admission to African Americans in Science -- A Special Event for Families Day is $2 per person. Call (612) 221-4563 to pre-register by telephone (using Visa, Discover or Mastercard) or register and pay on the day of the event at the Science Museum box office. The event is co-sponsored by the Minneapolis chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc.