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American physicist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Willetta Greene-Johnson (born 1957) is a senior lecturer in the physics and chemistry departments at Loyola University Chicago.[2] She was one of the first African-American women to complete a Ph.D. degree in theoretical physics.[3] Greene-Johnson is also a Grammy award winning musician for her song "Saved" (2004).
Willetta Greene-Johnson | |
---|---|
Born | |
Alma mater | University of Chicago Stanford University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Phase interactions |
Institutions | Loyola University Chicago |
Thesis | The effects of the exchange mode dynamics on vibrational phase relaxation at surfaces |
Willetta Greene-Johnson was born in Delaware in 1957 and raised in Michigan, surrounded by music and science.[3][4] Greene's parents were both scientists—her mother, Bettye Washington Greene, was one of the first African-American women to receive a PhD in chemistry and her father, William Miller Greene, was an engineer and former captain in the U.S. Airforce who was trained just a decade after the Tuskegee Airmen.[4][5] Greene-Johnson's parents exposed her to a wide range of music, including Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand and The Beatles.[5] One of her earliest memories about her attraction toward orchestral and gospel music started with a performance of Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven).[5]
Greene-Johnson's parents encouraged her to pursue a career in science.[4][5] She began her undergraduate career as a pre-med major but later studied physics at Stanford University, graduating in 1979 with distinction.[1][6] In 1979 she joined the AT&T Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP).[7] As part of the program, she spent a summer working at AT&T's labs.[8] She then pursued her doctoral degree and was one of the first African-American women to complete a PhD in theoretical physics, which she earned in 1988 at the University of Chicago.[2] Her doctoral research focused on the dynamics of vibrational phase relaxation at surfaces.[9]
After her PhD, Greene-Johnson became a Ford Fellow in the department of physics at Loyola University Chicago, where she worked on surface optico-physical interactions.[10][11] She joined the faculty of Loyola University Chicago in 1992.[12] She has been Master Teacher of chemistry and physics since 2005.[13] She teaches courses in general chemistry, college physics, quantum mechanics and biophysics.[12] She was a keynote speaker at the 2014 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.[14][15]
Her 2004 song, "Saved", is featured on a Grammy Award winning Brooklyn Tabernacle CD project.[1] The song reflects on the meaning of life.[4] It was translated into four languages and distributed worldwide.[16] In 2010, she was named as a Woman of Excellence for her achievements in music.[5] She plays with the Chicago Sinfonietta and has conducted in their annual Martin Luther King concert.[17] As a professor at Loyola University Chicago, Greene-Johnson uses the summer to balance researching physics topics as well as composing and recording music.[5] She has performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.[18] Throughout her career, she has preached and written about biblical topics and founded StrategicMusic, Inc. in 2003.[19][20]
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