Percy A. Pierre

Percy Anthony Pierre (born January 3, 1939) is an American electrical engineer. He is recognized as the first African-American Ph.D. in electrical engineering, the first African-American appointed assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for Research and Development, and the first African-American appointed acting Secretary of the Army. Pierre was a principal architect of the national minority engineering effort. He currently is vice president emeritus and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University.

Pierre was born on January 3, 1939, to Rosa Villavaso and Percy John Pierre in Welcome, St. James Parish, Louisiana. In 1957, Pierre graduated from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. He credits the priests at St. Augustine with instilling in him two overriding missions in life: to excel intellectually in engineering and to use his career to make a difference in the lives of other African-Americans.

Pierre earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The Johns Hopkins University in 1967. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan from 1967-68. Pierre attended the University of Notre Dame) on scholarship, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1961 and 1963 respectively and has been honored at Notre Dame for his distinguished public service.

Pierre's career spans more than four decades and includes tenure as:

As assistant secretary of the U.S. Army, Pierre managed a $12 billion annual budget for research and development that included the completion of the development and initial production of the Abrams tank in 1979, and the Patriot missile system and Apache helicopter in 1980.

In 1973, Pierre co-chaired the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Symposium, which officially launched the national minority engineering effort. He worked with NAE to implement the recommendations of the symposium. In a parallel effort, Pierre served as the program officer for minority engineering at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation where he helped establish numerous minority engineering organizations to increase the financial support and mentoring opportunities available for minority engineering students. These include the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME); National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM); Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA); and Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering (SECME).

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