Physical chemist Dr. Jalaal Hayes grew up in Philadelphia, as a Black teenage boy growing up in the inner city he became drawn to illicit activities in his neighborhood, but before he went down a criminal path, his father helped him to understand the benefits of academia, and from that point forward he's been paving a way through STEAM education for himself and others.
By Shayler Richmond
“If you’re on the block it’s a different type of education than when you’re learning in school, so I was asking like many other inner-city kids; how is this going to make me money?” recalled Dr. Jalaal Hayes.