For more than 20 years, Brown has worked at local and national levels to reform science education and improve science teaching. Through the National Science Foundation’s “Visiting Women in Science” program, she acted as a mentor and role model for high school students and teachers in Philadelphia. During her career at Merck & Co., Inc., she participated in the company’s black university liaison program, serving as a student and faculty advisor at historically black colleges and universities. She is also active in Project SEED, a national ACS program that encourages economically disadvantaged high school students to pursue careers in chemistry.
Currently, Brown is regional coordinator for the New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative (NJ SSI) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a unique partnership of schools, districts, colleges and universities, science centers and museums, businesses and industry dedicated to strengthening mathematics, science and technology education in New Jersey.
In 1981, Brown appeared in the video “Chemistry: Careers for Women,” produced by the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. She also served on the National Science Foundation’s Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering. In 1990, the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Association for Women in Science named her an “Outstanding Woman in Science.” A year later, she was elected to the Hunter College Hall of Fame.
Brown received her B.A. in chemistry from New York City’s Hunter College in 1956 and her M.S. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1958. She resides in Hillsborough, N.J.
The Regional Award for Contributions to Diversity, given to commemorate the ACS Women Chemists Committee’s 75th anniversary celebration, recognizes individuals who have stimulated or fostered diversity in the chemical workplace.