Black Engineers Name APL’s McCrary Top Scientist

Victor McCrary, Science and Technology Business Area executive at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., will receive the Scientist of the Year award at the 2011 Black Engineer of the Year national conference in Washington, D.C., Feb. 17–19. Scientist of the Year and Black Engineer of the Year are the top awards presented at the annual conference, which recognizes the technical and scientific accomplishments of African Americans who also show a strong commitment to diversity and mentoring.

Both APL Director Ralph Semmel and Bharat Doshi, head of the Laboratory’s Milton Eishenhower Research Center, strongly endorsed McCrary for the award, pointing to his 25 years of technical achievements and contributions to the scientific community. “Dr. McCrary has made outstanding technical and managerial contributions to vital [science and technology] programs for the government,” Doshi said in his nomination letter. “In addition, he has been actively promoting STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] education among minorities and is a spokesman for this cause nationally.”

In 2000, McCrary was awarded the Commerce Department’s Gold Medal for the development of global standards for electronic books, which paved the commercialization path for today’s e-book readers (like the Kindle and iPad).

Since joining APL as Science and Technology BAE in 2003, McCrary has developed critical programs for the Laboratory’s sponsors by leveraging APL’s science and technology expertise. He oversees a $10 million internal research portfolio and evaluates research and development projects that fit APL’s strategic objectives. He also maintains strategic relationships within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and has fostered relationships with national and international scientific organizations, such as the American Chemical Society, to increase APL’s presence in the global scientific community.

McCrary serves on technical advisory boards for the University of Puerto Rico (NASA Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials), University of Massachusetts (NSF Center for Hierarchal Materials), and Mississippi State University (NSF EPSCOR Center in Computational Chemistry and Biology). He is a Fellow of the African Science Institute; serves as president of the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers; and is a lecturer in the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Masters of Technology Management program. Additionally, he initiated the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education student program at APL; has created research partnerships between the Laboratory and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); and is working with the Navy on a program to increase the participation of HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions on Navy contracts.

McCrary’s work to promote the STEM fields includes serving as a judge for the Mid-Atlantic FIRST robotics competition; chairing the external advisory board of Howard County’s (MD) Neo-Tech Incubator; and addressing high school students.

McCrary earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Catholic University; an executive master’s of science and engineering from the Wharton School of Business and the Graduate School of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania; and a doctorate in physical chemistry from Howard University.