As National Engineer’s Week comes to a close, we would like to feature an engineer whose work paved the way for future generations of Black engineering students. This week, our Black History Month spotlight is on Dr. Arthur J. Bond – Co-founder of the National Society of Black Engineers!
Born in Jackson, Tennessee in 1939, Dr. Bond had always been interested in electrical engineering. His high school principal’s son had taken an interest in the engineering program at Purdue University and invited him on an upcoming campus visit. This experience got Dr. Bond interested in the University himself, and in 1957, he received a National Merit Scholarship from the Pullman Foundation and an additional Merit Scholarship from Purdue that provided him with the money needed to attend. After a year at Purdue, he was forced to drop out due to a softball injury. Once recovered, Dr. Bond joined the army to get additional electronics training and become eligible for benefits that would help him further his education.
During the peak of the civil rights movement in 1966, he returned to Purdue and joined a group of student advocates who wanted to see better from the university. When the National Academy of Engineering made the decision to prioritize increasing minority enrollment in engineering programs, Purdue’s president turned to Dr. Arthur J. Bond to serve on a steering committee working to achieve this goal. While at the university, he was able to establish the school’s first Black Cultural Center and co-founded their Black Society of Engineers (BSE). Seeing success at Purdue, the BSE decided to expand nationally and partner with other engineering schools to form the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).
Dr. Bond graduated with a BS in electrical engineering in 1968. He went on to continue his education, earning his MS in electrical engineering the following year, and his Ph.D in 1974. Upon completing his education, Bond worked at Tuskegee University as head of the Electrical Engineering Department and helped the university regain their accreditation. He then took a job as Dean of Engineering and Technology at Alabama A&M University. While in this position, Dr. Bond assisted the school through a desegregation lawsuit against the State of Alabama and succeeded in securing funds to build an engineering program. The university’s engineering building was named in honor of his contributions to the department.
Dr. Arthur J. Bond passed away in 2012 at the age of 73. His legacy lives on through the NSBE, which has become one of the largest student-run organizations in the country. The group currently has 700+ chapters and over 24,000 members globally. His dedication to creating community amongst black engineers and supporting programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities is still inspiring today as we foster the next generation. This Black History Month and National Engineer’s Week, let us remember the groundbreaking contributions of Dr. Bond, and celebrate the amazing black engineers who have been able to thrive because of the roads he paved.