When thirty-year-old Dr. Damian Rouson completed his Ph.D. last
April, the Stanford University graduate took a job at Failure Analysis
Associates, a prestigious Silicon Valley engineering firm.
The youngest of his mother’s five children, Rouson was recruited to
Stanford from Howard University. He is not only the first engineer in
the family, but the first of his siblings to complete a doctoral
degree. His father also had a Ph.D. Rouson’s ebullient personality,
athletic gait, and infectious smile defy the traditional stereotype of
techno-geeks.
Dr. John Eaton, a mechanical engineering scholar whose experimental
research is in the field of thermal dynamics, was Rouson’s advisor at
Stanford. Eaton had hoped his student would pursue a career in academe.
Instead, Rouson has opted to start his career in industry.
“I still think I’ll teach eventually, perhaps at Howard
[University],” Rouson says. “But for now, I’m more interested in the
business side of things.”
During his nearly two decades at Stanford, Eaton has shepherded
thirty graduate students to the completion of their doctoral degrees.
Five of these have been students of color, but Rouson is the first
African American.
“We get very few [Black and Latino students] who say, `I want a Ph.D.,”‘ the professor says.
Eaton is extremely selective about the doctoral students he
mentors. He prefers those who express an interest in academic careers
and estimates that roughly half of the doctoral students he has worked
with have gone on to faculty or scholarly research jobs.
