A professor’s journey from Cameroon to New York City culminates in a prestigious White House prize

If you’re familiar with New York University (NYU) history, you know that it shares something of a legacy with the City University of New York (CUNY), and in particular Bronx Community College (BCC). BCC, part of the City University of New York School System, sits on a hill overlooking the Harlem River, in the very spot that was once home to NYU’s undergraduate arts and science programs and its School of Engineering.

Tandon School of Engineering at NYU and CUNY have shared something, however, besides that architecturally significant campus: since 2015 Eugene Mananga has been both a CUNY (BCC and Graduate Center) professor of physics and a valuable professor of physics in Tandon’s Department of Applied Physics, where he teaches a variety of physics courses each semester. Dr. Mananga is also a Professor in the doctoral programs of physics and of chemistry at the CUNY’s Graduate Center, a Fellow at KAVLI Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California Santa Barbara, and a Visiting Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He has received several highly selective fellowships in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Visiting Faculty Program at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory.

Mananga recently became one of 24 honorees tapped by outgoing President Joseph Biden to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), the nation’s highest laurels for educators.

“Dr. Mananga’s dedication to mentoring and his impressive journey in science and education make him a valued member of the Department of Applied Physics,” said Department Chair John Di Bartolo. “His commitment to guiding students and fostering their success is truly commendable.”

“I am honored and overjoyed to be recognized with this highest national award bestowed by the White House,” Mananga said upon hearing the news. “It is a reminder of the impact that we as mentors and professors can create and I’m excited to continue this journey alongside such inspiring people.”

Many count Eugene as just such an inspiration. Dr. Mananga, who is the youngest child in a family of eight children, grew up in the Central African nation of Cameroon. His mother had been forced to abandon formal academics after third grade (the highest level of education then offered to girls there), and his father did not go beyond elementary school. The two married when the mother was just 16.

Despite their own lack of degrees, his parents enthusiastically encouraged his interest in education and learning, and Dr. Mananga obtained the highest grades in mathematics in the country of Cameroon in the exams BEPC and high school degree. Eugene earned a bachelor’s degree, maitrise, and diploma of advanced studies (DEA) in physics from the University of Yaoundé (Cameroon). (He was ranked the top student in his DEA cohort, becoming one of the youngest students in Africa ever to earn a DEA in physics.)

Although he was offered a chance to embark on doctoral programs at both Ecole Centrale de France and the University of Paris, he set his sights on the U.S. In 1999 he arrived in New York City to study at City College of New York and the Graduate Center of CUNY, where he earned an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in physics (in 2002, 2004, and 2005, respectively) before embarking on a postdoctoral career that took him to the U.S. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the Atomic Energy Commission of France (CEA-Saclay), Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, among other prestigious places. His research has focused on condensed matter physics, materials science, computational chemistry, and, to a lesser extent, nuclear medicine, and his most recent projects have involved controlling the spin dynamics in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and using computational methods based on density functional theory (DFT) to characterize materials systems in zeolites, catalysts, fuel cells, batteries, and energy storage — areas of deep importance to sustainability.

Ceremonies are nice, and the prize money is certainly welcome, but you don’t go into a career like this expecting glory or riches. The reward is watching your students develop and seeing all that they accomplish.”
— Eugene Mananga

He takes pride in encouraging students who might never before have considered a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career, much the way his family encouraged him. When he won a Distinguished Mentor Award from the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), he wore a button bearing a photo of his late mother to the ceremony, to honor her role in his accomplishments. He’s looking forward to the PAESMEM ceremony and to sharing the occasion with members of his family.