Alumni Profile: The Right Formula

Who would have thought that a girl from the heart of the Delta - West Helena, Arkansas - could get a physics degree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, become a distinguished physicist and work for NASA?

Ruth Jones, PhD, is a UAPB alumna currently working as the Branch Chief of the Industrial Safety at the NASA Safety Center in Huntsville, Alabama. She is a 1994 UAPB graduate and one of the University’s first female physics graduates, a notoriety gained without fanfare, but with dedication, persistence and hard work.

Jones attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1990 with the intent of “just getting an education.” She was a recent graduate of West Helena High School and she wanted a bachelor’s degree. Mathematics came easy to her, so she decided to become an accounting major. In keeping with her curriculum, she enrolled in College Algebra and excelled in it. Her combination of mathematics skills and intelligence caught the attention of her professor, Dr. Miah Muhammad Adel, who told her she should do more with her abilities.

Dr. Adel recommended Jones major in physics and become a physicist. The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field had yet to become a popular buzzword, and Jones immediately rejected the idea and continued her studies in accounting because “being a physicist was not a part of her plan.”