Two of my recent Louisiana Weekly pieces. Click on the headlines to read the full articles:

1) Dillard University announces addition of medical physics program:

Ranked as a top producer of African Americans with bachelor’s degrees in physics (says the American Institute of Physics, 2012) and among the top 50 colleges whose graduates earn doctorates in the sciences (National Science Foundation, 2013), Dillard University will now offer its own Medical Physics concentration, under the school’s physics and pre-engineering program.

“To my knowledge, Dillard is the only private four-year college in the state to offer a concentration in medical physics,” says Dillard physics professor Dr. Abdalla Darwish.

2) Wells Fargo funds skilled learning initiative for African-American males

On Wednesday, December 10, Mayor Mitch Landrieu joined representatives of Wells Fargo banks at the New Orleans East Hospital to accept a $500,000 workforce grant on behalf of the City of New Orleans.

The money will go to help unemployed and underemployed locals find training and jobs in two specific industries: infrastructure and healthcare.

“The mayor’s economic strategy is being piloted in two sectors: infrastructure and healthcare,” says Ashleigh Gardere, executive director of the Network for Economic Opportunity. “Our investor, Wells Fargo, wanted to emphasize those longterm career pathways and bring more African-American males into those sectors.”