Service | Hbcu Research And Federal Government

Career

1973 - 1975

After graduating from Howard in 1973, Shepard was hired by the Celanese Corporation to head the X-ray Diffraction and Atomic Absorption laboratory. Two weeks on the job, the laboratory was inspected by the North Carolina Radiation Protection Board and deemed to be seriously out of compliance with the state radiation standards and the federal radiation requirements governed by the Occupation Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). He was given 60 days to fix the scattered radiation problem or the laboratory would be shutdown.

With no time to waste wondering if the laboratory was known to be contaminated prior to his arrival, he moved quickly to resolve the issue in a cost-effective manner before the 60-day deadline.

1975 1990

The newly formed U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was established in 1974, and Shepard was hired in 1975 in the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety & Safeguards (NMSS). After two years in NMSS, he was promoted in the Office of Nuclear Research (ONR) where he continued to move up.

After becoming a program manager in 1980 in the Nuclear Safeguards group, he became a peer reviewer for NRC and for other federal agencies that were engaged in university research collaborations. In his reviewer capacity, he noticed the absence of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as participants in the well-funded, federal government-university research partnership, and provided definitive data showing the role some HBCUs could play in conducting high-quality research for the federal government.

In 1984, Shepard requested, and was granted, the opportunity under the government's Intergovernmental Personnel Assistant (IPA) Program, to join Howard's Chemistry Department as a Visiting Scientist to create and test his conceptual framework for improving the research infrastructure at HBCUs using partnerships and collaborations.

While at Howard, he was awarded a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish a collaboration with Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria. He created a new focus in the department by conducting research in food chemistry looking at unknown plants as potential food sources. His effort successfully demonstrated that not only could HBCU research infrastructures be strengthened through collaborations with each other, but also from global collaborative interactions.

In 1988, he returned to the NRC and became known as the "Scientist Dedicated to HBCU Advancement in Federal Research," and played a critical role in launching a government-university partnership that strengthened underrepresented and underutilized institutions in science and engineering fields.

1990 - 2024

In 1990, Shepard resigned from the NRC and founded the Science and Engineering Alliance, Inc. (known as SEA), a nonprofit research consortium of four HBCUs: Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL); Jackson State University (Jackson, MS); Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, TX); Southern University and A&M College (Baton Rouge, LA); and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA). The primary goal of SEA was to help with strengthening the research infrastructure at HBCUs to prepare them for broader participation in federally funded research initiatives.

Based on his advocacy on behalf of HBCUs, in 1993 the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemist and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) asked that he share his thoughts on the future of HBCUs in the 21st century. His article became the cover story for the April 1993 issue of NOBCChE News.

Over its 24-year span under Shepard's leadership, according to the 2009 report of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions for the years 1990 - 2009, the SEA institutions collectively secured over $1 billion in federal funds to support ongoing and new initiatives, among which was enhancement of the research infrastructure.

After leading SEA for nearly a quarter of a century and having successfully fulfilled its core mission to broaden participation and increase the use of HBCUs in federally funded research, Shepard and the Board of Directors officially dissolved SEA in 2013.

2013 to Present

In 2013, he established The Shepard Institute (TSI), LLC to continue his advocacy for HBCUs and published his first book, his autobiography, “Fulfilling My Destiny, Step by Step.” The inspiration, motivation, and continued inquiry about his journey, led him to write his second book in 2017 titled, “Fulfilling Your Destiny, Step by Step.”

In 2019, 40 years after the collaboration he started with OAU in 1988, Dr. Michael O. Ologunde, the student from OAU who studied in Shepard's laboratory at Howard, became the first Indigenous President of the university in Nigeria in which he served.

In 2020, the National Science and Engineering Alliance (NSEA) was formed as the successor organization to continue the work and legacy of SEA.

A final point on Shepard's career. In 2021, a renovation was done on one of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarter buildings on Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland. In honor of his extensive work both inside and outside of the NRC, a Mural of Shepard was placed on a wall in the entryway to the newly renovated multipurpose/ cafeteria space.