The Intellectual Pioneer Breaks the Glass Ceiling

Berman “BJ” Watts Jr. earned his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1973, becoming the first Black person to earn a degree from the School. His graduation came eight years after Georgia Tech integrated without a court order, and the same year, Maynard Jackson became Atlanta’s first African American mayor.

Watts graduated from Atlanta’s Luther Judson Price High School in 1968. His yearbook’s senior superlatives listed him as Most Intellectual. Watts was also a member of the Junior Engineering Technical Society. While AE could not reach Mr. Watts, perhaps his father’s work at the Federal Aviation Administration sparked his interest in aerospace engineering. Watts later went on to work in the U.S. Army, where his name appears on a report titled Light Helicopter Family Trade-Off Analysis out of Fort Monroe, Virginia.

Answering the Call and Accepting the Challenge

It wasn’t until 1961 that the School of Aerospace Engineering established a Ph.D. program. Thirty years later, Air Force Captain Bryan Fortson became the first Black person to earn his doctorate. 

Fortson was born in Atlanta, but his family moved to Washington, D.C., when he was only nine months old.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in materials engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the U.S. Air Force. He went on to earn a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and another in management science from the University of Dayton.

While serving his country, Fortson received a call from the head of the Air Force Materials Lab, who said he was on the shortlist for a scholarship that would enable him to pursue a doctorate. Fortson asked how long he had to decide, and the leader said he’d hold the phone.

“Only one of the four finalists would receive the award, so I agreed on the spot, believing that someone else would receive it anyway,” Fortson recalled.

Not long after, Fortson received the call that he was selected for the scholarship. Once he read the fine print, he realized it was for aerospace engineering. He was allowed to select the institution but needed to find one that worked well with his materials and mechanical engineering background. 

“I had to find a great aerospace program that matched my background and where I could possibly finish in three years. Georgia Tech was a perfect fit."

His research focused on the mechanical behavior of composite materials, specifically modeling crack lap shear specimens, and studying the behavior of that material during testing.

While at Georgia Tech, he worked with people from Turkey, China, and Egypt but never encountered a Black classmate. His greatest connections came in the classroom. As a commuter student focused on his studies, he couldn’t socialize much. However, he was grateful to his advisor, Professor Erian Armanios, whose mentorship made all the difference in his success.

“It was a privilege to work under him,” Fortson said.

After he completed his doctoral degree, he continued in the U.S. Air Force in executive and management positions, and he never went back to bench science. He served in the Air Force for 22 years and retired as a lieutenant colonel.  

Currently, he is the director of the Project Management Office at the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and resides in Columbus, Ohio.