Troy, N.Y. — Sylvester James Gates Jr., director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland at College Park, will deliver the 15th annual Garnet Baltimore Lecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The lecture, titled “Thoughts for a Third Millennial United States,” will be held on Monday, April 18, at 3 p.m. in the auditorium of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Gates is a pioneer in the development of the Superstring/M-theory, which essentially views all matter as vibrating strings. According to Gates, these strings operate in a universe with 11 dimensions – the four familiar ones of time, and three dimensions of space – and seven that are too small to be seen with current experimental techniques.

Gates has served as director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland at College Park since 2002. He joined the University of Maryland as a faculty member in 1984. In 1998, Gates was named the John S. Toll Professor of Physics, becoming the first African-American to hold an endowed chair in physics at a major U.S. research university. Previously, he was a member of the faculty at MIT.

Gates is the first recipient of the American Physical Society’s Edward A. Bouchet Award, given to minority physicists who have made significant contributions to the field. In addition, he is a fellow of a number of scientific societies, and has served as a consultant for U.S. government agencies and corporate organizations. He has written or co-written numerous research papers published in scientific journals, one book, and contributed numerous articles in others. Gates more than 30 years teaching experience. He earned bachelor's degrees in both math and physics in 1973, and a doctorate in physics in 1977 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gates wrote MIT’s first thesis on “supersymmetry” a topic in modern fundamental theoretical physics.

The Garnet Baltimore Lecture Series is sponsored by Rensselaer’s Office of Institute Diversity. The annual series, which focuses on issues of equality and cultural diversity, was established in 1991 in honor of Baltimore, Rensselaer’s first African-American graduate, Class of 1881. A distinguished civil engineer and landscape designer, Baltimore is known locally for the design of Prospect Park in Troy, New York.

Contact: Jessica Otitigbe
Phone: (518) 276-6050
E-mail: otitij@rpi.edu