Carolyn Brooks facts for kids

Carolyn Branch Brooks (born July 8, 1946) is an American microbiologist known for her research in how our bodies fight off sickness (immunology), what we eat (nutrition), and how well crops grow (crop productivity). In 2018, she became a special faculty member called "emerita" at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She was an award-winning teacher there for over 30 years.

Early Life and Education

Brooks was born on July 8, 1946, in Richmond, Virginia. Her parents, Shirley Booker Branch and Charles Walker Branch, owned a grocery store. Her grandparents and older sister also helped raise her.

She went to high school on the north side of Richmond. In the 1950s, her family moved to the west side of town. This made getting to school harder because the children had to use public buses. Brooks wanted to keep going to her old school. So, every day she rode the public bus across town.

At that time, there were unfair laws called segregation laws. These laws meant Black people had to sit at the back of the bus. But Carolyn simply got on, paid her fare, and sat behind the driver. She didn't realize she was supposed to sit at the back. When the first Civil Rights protests started in Richmond, she learned that she had been challenging these rules without even knowing it!

As a young student, she attended a special summer school for African American science students. This was held at Virginia Union University in Richmond. There, she was inspired by a guest speaker who talked about medical microbiology. With support from her parents, Brooks had many great teachers. They encouraged her to follow her interest in science.

She was offered scholarships to six different universities. She chose to attend Tuskegee Institute (University) in Alabama to study microbiology. She called herself a "city girl," but at Tuskegee, she found a love for agriculture. This happened especially after learning about George Washington Carver. He was a former slave and the first head of Tuskegee's Agriculture Department. He taught farmers to grow different crops instead of just cotton.

At the end of her second year, she married Henry Brooks. He was studying agricultural education at Tuskegee. While she was an undergraduate student, she had her first two children, both boys. She graduated in 1968. Then, she earned her master's degree from Tuskegee. During this time, she had her third child, a daughter. While earning her PhD in microbiology from Ohio State University, she had her fourth child, another daughter.

Research and Career

Dr. Brooks's doctoral research looked at how special cells called T cells destroy the malaria parasite Plasmodium. Malaria is a serious disease spread by mosquitoes.

After her PhD, she studied what older people need in their diet at Kentucky State University. Through her research, she found a link between tiny amounts of minerals in a person's hair and their diet. This helped doctors find some health problems caused by not eating well.

In 1981, Dr. Brooks started a research and mentoring job at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). This university is in Princess Anne, Maryland. After 13 years at UMES, she became the dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. She also became the research director for the 1890 Land-Grant Programs. In 1997, she became the executive director to the president and chief of staff.

Starting in 2007, she also served as the executive director of the Association of 1890 Research Directors. This group helps administrators who work in agriculture and food sciences. These administrators are from the 19 historically black land-grant universities in the nation. Dr. Brooks strongly believes in these universities. She once said, "My 1890 university colleagues are a close community of dear friends who believe—as I do—in giving back and finding ways to not just sustain, but to enhance the universities’ mission of advancing all."

Dr. Brooks's research at UMES focused on making farms more productive. This included finding ways to make plants stronger against pests. She did this by developing microbial insecticides. She also used different farming methods, like using poultry litter and composting. Her work also looked at how plants and tiny living things (microbes) help each other.

Her microbe research focused on symbiosis. This is when two different living things live together and help each other. For example, she studied how nitrogen-fixing bacteria help the legume family of plants. She also looked at how microbes interact with other crops, like strawberries.

Global Impact

From 1984 to 1985, Dr. Brooks traveled to Togo and Senegal in West Africa. There, she researched ways to make the African groundnut grow better. Her work eventually helped many different food crops in West Africa grow more productively.

She was also part of a team from the USAID and the USDA. She helped set up partnerships with research centers and universities in South Africa. She also officially represented UMES in meetings with universities in Egypt.

Awards and Achievements

• Dr. Brooks helped UMES get over $4 million in outside money. This money supported research and teaching programs.
• In 1988, she received an award at the first White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This award was for professors who were "exemplary achievements as educators, researchers, and role models."
• She received an award from the Maryland Association for Higher Education in 1990.
• In 2013, she received the George Washington Carver Public Service Hall of Fame Award. This was from the Professional Agricultural Workers Conference.
• She was named the Minton Laureate by the American Society of Microbiology.
• She was inducted into the USDA NIFA Hall of Fame.
• She was recognized as one of Maryland’s 100 Top Women.
• She received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Experiment Station Section of the Association of Public Land Grant Universities.