Last year, NOVA profiled mathematician and cosmologist Arlie Petters, who, like Neil Turok, is bringing high quality math and science education to those who previously had no such opportunities.

Originally from a rural town in Belize, Dr. Petters grew up to become a leading figure in the field of gravitational lensing, the study of how light is “bent” by space and time.  The first African-American tenured faculty member in the Mathematics and Science department at Duke University, his is not just a story of achievement in science but of dedication to his own dreams and to those of his country of birth.

Dr. Petters immigrated to the US while in high school.  It was at this time that he turned his interest in the stars into an academic passion.  Now he is woking to help others children in Belize much like himself do the same.  In 2005, Dr. Petters opened the Petters Research Institute to train Belizean children in math and science.  The institute fosters national development through entrepreneurship in these fields. His vision for the country is to create economic growth through high-technology industries that draw on Belizean intellectual capital.  He has also worked on the math and science curriculum for the whole country which has expanded his reach even beyond the Institute.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 10:35 am and is filed under Neil Turok's Wish Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.