Isaac J. Crumbly
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SEG Special Commendation 2021
Isaac J. Crumbly is founder and director of the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program (CDEP) at Fort Valley State University (FVSU) in Fort Valley, Georgia, USA. Students from this program have participated in more than 850 internships with the public and private sectors of the energy industry, gained more than 320,000 hours of hands-on work experience, and earned more than $4.5 million to help finance their education. Since 1992, CDEP has awarded more than $11 million in scholarships to academically talented minority and female students. In addition to grooming and mentoring minority students from 8th grade to college graduation in nontechnical qualities of professional scientists, such as honesty, integrity, and manners, he has advanced geoscience in minority populations, making a significant impact on the community. The Honors and Awards Committee agreed that Crumbly was deserving of the Special Commendation award for his actions in increasing diversity and inclusion in the industry through FVSU’s CDEP
Biography Citation for the Special Commendation Award
Isaac J. Crumbly is recognized with a Special Commendation for his career accomplishments and achievements to broaden inclusion of diverse identities in STEM. Isaac has an academic career that spans seven decades. He earned his BS in horticulture (1957–1961) from Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal University (now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). He proceeded to the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (1961–1963) to complete an MS in horticulture, and earned his doctorate in botany from North Dakota State University (1967–1970). Isaac served on the faculty of Alcorn State University in Mississippi (1963–1965) and Fort Valley State University (FVSU) in Georgia (1965– 1967), historically Black universities in the American South, during the Civil Rights Era. Upon completion of his doctorate at North Dakota State University, he returned to FVSU where he has served for more than 50 additional years. At FVSU, Isaac was professor, program director, dean of Arts and Sciences, and vice president. He is presently associate vice president for Careers and Collaborative Programs at FVSU.
In 1983, recognizing the profound, persistent, and pernicious underrepresentation of diverse identities in STEM and, especially, the geosciences, Isaac founded the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program (CDEP) through an award from the U.S. Department of Energy. CDEP established a Minority Student Summer Energy Internship Program (MSSEIP) with energy companies and governmental agencies for academically talented FVSU students. CDEP students have interned or gained employment with at least 65 different companies, foundations, national laboratories, government agencies, and universities since 1983.
In 1992, Isaac established innovative 3+2 dual degree programs in engineering and health physics with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and in geology and geophysics with the University of Oklahoma. Over the next 20 years, similar dual-degree programs were established with Penn State University, the University of Texas at Austin, Georgia Tech University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Texas-Pan American, the University of Alabama, and Grand Valley State University. These programs permit FVSU students to earn STEM degrees at FVSU in three years, then transfer to partnering institutions to earn more specialized degrees (BS and MS) in two additional years. Degree recipients from CDEP include 158 mathematicians, 56 chemists, and 25 biologists from FVSU. Through the vision and career-long focus of Isaac, FVSU is now among the prime educators of Black mathematicians in America. The dual-degree programs have graduated an additional 124 engineers, 47 geoscientists, and 10 health physicists from partnering institutions for a combined 420 STEM degrees.
Finally, Isaac extended learning opportunities to gifted high school students in grades 9–12 with the summer Math, Science, and Engineering Academy (MSEA). MSEA is a residential, one- to two-week learning experience for high school students at FVSU and partnering institutions. MSEA exposes young scholars to a broad spectrum of STEM opportunities and intensive STEM learning. MSEA scholars also visit offices of government agencies and Fortune 500 corporations to learn about STEM career opportunities in the public and private sectors.
President Ronald Reagan commended CDEP in 1988 as an exemplar for advancing diversity and inclusion in STEM. President Barak Obama was the second U.S. President to recognize Isaac for his vision and action to diversify STEM and conferred a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring in 2009. In 2011, Isaac was selected to President Obama’s Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology’s Undergraduate Working Group on STEM Committee for Higher Education. Isaac’s other awards include the Corporate Lifetime Achievement in Academia Award from the National Society of Black Engineers, the Bromery Award for Advancing Diversity from the Geological Society of America, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Special Award for leadership, Fellow of the Geological Society of America, honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Arkansas, and now, the Special Commendation Award from SEG. Congratulations to my colleague, mentor, and friend, Dr. Isaac J. Crumbly.