Margaret Ellen Tolbert: Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Before Margaret Ellen Tolbert, Ph.D., broke multiple racial barriers in the field of science, she first had to pull herself out of poverty.

In her new book, “Resilience in the Face of Adversity,” she discusses her journey as an orphan in segregated Virginia to becoming the second African-American to graduate from Brown University with doctorate in biochemistry. During her career, Tolbert became the first African-American to serve in directorial roles at both the New Brunswick and Argonne National Laboratories. She was also one of six African Americans to serve as a senior advisor at the National Science Foundation.