Percy A. Pierre

Pierre was born on January 3, 1939, to Rosa Villavaso and Percy John Pierre in Welcome, St. James Parish, Louisiana. In 1957, Pierre graduated from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. He credits the priests at St. Augustine with instilling in him two overriding missions in life: to excel intellectually in engineering and to use his career to make a difference in the lives of other African-Americans.[3][4]

Pierre earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The Johns Hopkins University in 1967. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan from 1967-68. Pierre attended the University of Notre Dame[5] on scholarship, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1961 and 1963 respectively and has been honored at Notre Dame for his distinguished public service.

Pierre's career spans more than four decades and includes tenure as:

• Dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences (CEACS) at Howard University in Washington, D.C., 1971–77;
• Program officer for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation,1973–75;[6]
• Assistant secretary of the U. S. Army for Research, Development and Acquisition, 1977–81; Pierre was the first African-American to hold that position or similar positions in the armed services.
• Acting secretary of the U. S. Army, January 1981;
• President of Prairie View A&M University,1983–89;
• Vice president of research and graduate studies at Michigan State University, 1990–95;
• Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University, 1990–present.

As assistant secretary of the U.S. Army, Pierre managed a $12 billion annual budget for research and development that included the completion of the development and initial production of the Abrams tank in 1979, and the Patriot missile system and Apache helicopter in 1980.

In 1973, Pierre co-chaired the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Symposium, which officially launched the national minority engineering effort.[7][8] He worked with NAE to implement the recommendations of the symposium. In a parallel effort, Pierre served as the program officer for minority engineering at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation where he helped establish numerous minority engineering organizations to increase the financial support and mentoring opportunities available for minority engineering students. These include the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME); National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM); Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA); and Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering (SECME).

In 2009, Pierre was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer.[9]

Pierre is married to Olga A. Markham. They have two grown daughters, Kristin and Allison Pierre.

• First African-American Ph.D.
• NACME 30th Anniversary Gala 2004
• Percy Pierre biography from MSU College of Engineering
• Percy A. Pierre, President of Prairie View A&M University
• Distinguished Public Service Award from University of Notre Dame
• Leadership at College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences (CEACS),Howard University
• U.S. Army Research, Development and Acquisitions