STRATEGIES:
An African American scientist shares the elements of his road to success (1960s-1990s)

Ever since I was a teenager I was notably curious about how things worked. I had an insatiable desire to take things apart and restore them to their configuration (at least most of the time). I also read many articles about the core principles of physics that made nature increasingly mysterious, bewildering, and somewhat ominous. My readings of the research field disclosed that this area offered highly prestigious competitive positions that pointed the way to esteemed reputations. Accordingly, I devised a plan to establish a career as a renowned researcher. I have always been committed to push the boundaries of knowledge in my discipline, which is theoretical fluid dynamics, and this resulted in my ability to design rocket engines and advanced aircraft gas turbine engines.

My research was also introduced to the Titan space launch system that launched the Gemini astronauts, the Titan II ICBM, the Titan III and IV space launch vehicles — the largest heavy lift system in the world at that time.

I had to explain to elites in my field the risks associated with my research for engines that exceeded the common practice for pressures and temperatures thought possible without damage.

As with all research, I had to start with an open mind. My research had to be conducted with a variety of methodologies and tools that were acknowledged by the experienced elite researchers. Research must be conducted in a manner that can be replicated and yield consistent results holding always to the same first principles or practice for operational safety.

I made certain my achievements offered exemplars and benchmarks by which my peers and the doubting Thomases gaged my career trajectories and successes. As a frequently cited researcher, I was included in the top 1.0% of most researchers in my technical discipline, and was among five black researchers that had a nationally recognized reputation in my discipline.

I committed myself to manage research programs that resulted in the next generation of technical systems, a goal that gave me valuable insight into the technical conditions or intuition that foster highly cited work and a respected reputation.

I left my research field to accept the sole responsibility for obtaining Congressional funding for the following NASA scientific programs:

• various NASA astrophysics science programs (e.g., the Hubble Space Telescope Program. Gamma ray and X-ray satellite programs)
• many NASA Solar System Exploration Programs
• NASA Earth Science Missions
• NASA Heavy-Lift Space Launch Program.

I believe that the key to my ultimate career growth was enabled by my assignment to NASA’s highly visible collaborative aerospace research programs involving participants such as state governors, state legislators, university researchers, members of Congressional Committees and research laboratories of aerospace corporations.

PERSONAL STRATEGIES

Throughout my career, I found that the following mandate was necessary because of racial bias:  I am a black man and may be one of very few blacks in a top national position, and people will try to make me small; instead, I will enlarge myself to make them small.

I always had the desire to push back the domain of the unknown to unveil some of the of the most dangerous mysteries of nature. I always had a predilection for asking questions such as, “Why and how is that so?” I took both additional university or professional career courses and taught myself to be knowledgeable and conversant in the technical fields in which I had to have knowledge to perform all my anticipated tasks, such as: structural analysis, low cycle fatigue analyses, high-load-carrying stress analyses, material science assessments and limits, heat transfer limits, partial differential equations, and computational fluid dynamics.

GENERAL CAREER STRATEGIES

I consulted with informative individuals about academic and career choices (e.g. college deans, researchers and prominent engineers in my field, as well as members in the hierarchy of professional societies);

I always strove to be equal to or better than my peers (especially classmates and professionals skeptical about my talents who would only recognize my skills once I demonstrated them only often enough to their satisfaction);

I learned that I had to be a very critical thinker—that is, to be able to apply the objective analysis of facts on any given technical issue before formulating opinions or rendering judgments;

I had to understand technical issues and decisions related to them, and develop models that were critical to solving the issues; I had to remain fastidiously open-minded to suspend belief about the obvious (as with most of my peers);

With my research, the risk of failure is always a central organizing principle; I had to understand the difficulties inherent in defining risks or failures so that my research risks were minimized through careful study and design. This meant I had to make careful, well-thought-out judgments about the acceptability or probability of risk in relation to the prospect of benefit to be derived from the research;

I always prepared myself to work in high risk, cutting edge or state-of-the-art research programs that leaders in my profession valued;

I had to be persistent, focused and tenacious about my work, and not be bothered by racism.

EMPLOYMENT ENCUMBRANCES

• I had to endure well beyond the normal scrutiny of my work, as to assumptions, hypotheses, methodologies, findings, conclusions
• Initially, my abilities and knowledge were only recognized once I demonstrated my knowledge and research management skills over and over
• Initially, my opinions and assessments were ignored
• At first, I was assigned minor projects or programs (activities of minor             consequence)
• My requests for the approval of career enhancing courses or projects were initially rejected
• At first, I was given marginal performance ratings that stymied my growth. My response: develop a respected professional reputation external to my employment organizations and cultivate recognition in professional societies and national professional committees

OUTCOMES

Written and medallion awards from President William Clinton, the American Society for Mechanical Engineers, the Aerospace Industries Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Political Science Association, the Science Committees in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

FINAL (RE)FLECTIONS

I have the following perspectives or ways of looking at things:

A viewpoint that prizes coherence (why and how it is so);

I selected areas of theoretical knowledge (disciplines) that were interesting to me and enabled me to discover the hidden principles that were inherent to my designs;

I enjoy the systematic search for reasons that phenomena occur unexpectedly;

I endeavor to unveil the mysteries of various disciplines;

I want to understand the bases or ground for every claim in my discipline;

I enjoy knowledge that rests on a series of intricate distinctions, principles and arguments (and what validates them);

My research springs from the desire to discover the most basic principles of nature;

I have a persistent intellectual curiosity about natural phenomena.

Dr. John Madison is now retired and has mentored elementary school students in the scientific field.