Johnny L. Houston, Ph.D. January 2008

Dr. Johnny L. Houston is, by formal training and professional career, an accomplished mathematical scientist. Currently he is a Senior Research Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science and Director of the internationally recognized Computational Science and Scientific Visualization [CSSV] Center at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) in NC (USA), having received degrees in Mathematics from Morehouse College (BA, 1964), Clark Atlanta University (MS, 1966), and Purdue University (Ph.D., 1974). Previously he served as Executive Secretary of the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM, 1975-2000), Board of Governors of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA, 1992-95), as well as on boards, committees, and/or positions with the American Mathematical Society (AMS), Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), Mathematical Science Research Institute (MSRI), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Health (NIH), Argonne National Lab (ANL), Lawrence-Livermore National Lab (LLNL), Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), NASA Langley Research Center, Purdue University, and NC State University. He has served as Callaway Professor of Computer Science at Fort Valley State University (FVSU), Chair of Mathematics and Computer Science at Clark Atlanta University, Professor of Mathematics at Savannah State University and other positions in academia, including Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. He has published many refereed papers and books in mathematics, mathematics education, computer science and science and he has made scores of scholarly presentations on five (5) different continents, including being an invited speaker and session chair at the World Congress of Mathematicians in Bejing, China (2002), the same year and day that Dr. John Nash (“A Beautiful Mind”) from Princeton University was invited to speak. Moreover, he has received many awards and recognitions, including being selected for inclusion in the World Directory of Mathematicians, Who’s Who in Technology, American Men and Women of Science, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the Southwest, and Who’s Who Among Black Americans as well as receiving awards for scholarly activities and distinguished teaching. He has supervised research for scores of students, including serving as M.S. Degree Thesis chair and serving on Dissertation Committees. Over the years, he has supervised many national Institutes and Workshops in Mathematics and Computer Science for students and faculty as well as conducted funded research for many programs. Dr. Houston is also a distinguished Computational Scientist and an accomplished Computer Scientist.

Although he his highly recognized in his primary profession, he is also highly acclaimed in other areas: an expert and scholar in international affairs, African studies, and African American studies, a communicator in several languages, a world traveler and cosmopolitan, and a writer of textbooks for African Schools. It is for the latter that he has had influence and impact on the largest number of people form heads of states, top educational officials (including Secretaries of States, Ministers of Education, University officials; educators at all levels) and hundreds of thousands of teachers and students. In particular, he has been Program Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ECSU - Senegal 2005-2008 Textbooks and Learning Materials (TLM) Program, which is a component of President George W. Bush’s Africa Education Initiative (AEI). The ECSU-Senegal 2005-2008 TLM Program has designed, developed, printed in French, and distributed approximately a million primary and middle school textbooks for the West African country of Senegal between October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2007. Dr. Houston was Editor-in-Chief and co-author of all these books. First Lady Laura Bush of the United States of America wrote a Foreword for four (4) of these books and she went to Senegal to present 300,000 of these books. In 2007, the Africa Bureau - USAID, headed by Dr. Sarah Moten, developed and distributed, internationally, a video on President Bush’s Africa Education Initiative (AEI) in which Dr. Houston and the ECSU – Senegal Team were the only Textbooks and Learning Material Program (TLMP) featured; there are six such Programs.

Dr. Houston is the youngest son of Mrs. Catherine Houston Vinson in Atlanta Georgia. Dr. Houston married Virginia Lawrence of Macon, GA. They have two daughters: Dr. Mave T. Houston, a User Experienced Researcher with Price-Waterhouse-Cooper’s Center for Advanced Research in San Jose, CA and Kaiulani M. Houston, a senior chemistry major at Hampton University.