Betty Wright Harris
Personal Information
Born: 1940
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: Black
Education
Southern University & A&M College BS Chemistry 1961; Clark Atlanta University MS Chemistry 1963; University of New Mexico PhD Chemistry 1973
Professional Life
Field of Study: Chemistry
Institution/Corporation: Los Alamos National Laboratory; Solar Turbine Inc
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Women in Science & Engineering; American Association for the Advancement of Science; New Mexico Business & Professional Women s Organization (past President), American Chemical Society
Awards & Achievements
Awards: New Mexico Governor s Trailblazer Award; Recognized as Distinguished African-American Scientist, National Academy of Sciences; 1999, Governor s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Woman
Achievements: expert on explosives, environmental remediation & hazardous waste treatment; worked with the Girl Scouts to develope a badge based on chemistry
1986, patented a simple, sensitive spot test to ascertain the presence of potentially explosive materials
Began college at age 16
Taught college level chemistry & math for 10 years before working at Los Alamos Labs
At Los Alamos established a summer program for promising high school girls to encourage them to become scientists
Created a chemistry badge for Girl Scouts
After retiring from Los Alamos in 2002, she worked for the US Dept of Energy Office of Classification as a document reviewer to determine which documents should remain classified & which could be released to the public
Holds 1 patent