Black History Month at Brookhaven Lab
Speakers, Employee Highlights, and the AAAG Flag Flies High
February 28, 2021
By Stephanie Kossman and Will Safer

For the first time, the African American Advancement Group flag flew at Brookhaven's new employee resource group flag pole.
February is Black History Month, and the African American Advancement Group (AAAG) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory—along with all Lab staff—celebrated African American contributions, influence, and opportunities at Brookhaven and in science overall.
The AAAG hosted a virtual speaker series featuring Darnisha Harrison, president and founder of pharmaceutical company Ennaid Therapeutics, and Errol D. Toulon, Jr., the first African American Sheriff in Suffolk County history.
And for the first time, the AAAG flag flew at the Brookhaven Lab site’s new employee resource group (ERG) flag pole. Brookhaven Lab Police Chief Erton Rudder raised the flag on behalf of the AAAG and the Lab community.

Brookhaven Lab Police Chief Erton Rudder raised the African American Advancement Group (AAAG) flag on behalf of the AAAG and the Lab community.
Throughout the month, the Lab featured Black/African American members of its community on social media, sharing their perspectives on building careers in STEM. Some of those posts are gathered here.
Meet Tony Jones, manager of labor relations at Brookhaven. #BLACKandSTEM #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/X4fft1QmXM
— Brookhaven Lab (@BrookhavenLab) February 23, 2021
Meet Antonia Jones, who works in our Procurement & Property Management department. #BLACKandSTEM #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/aTy3koBxxO
— Brookhaven Lab (@BrookhavenLab) February 15, 2021
Meet Erton Rudder, our Lab's police chief. #BLACKandSTEM #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/58m0BPlFdL
— Brookhaven Lab (@BrookhavenLab) February 9, 2021
Meet Menzel Smith-Jones, a senior administrative assistant at Brookhaven. #BLACKandSTEM #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/MLzj0oeJi1
— Brookhaven Lab (@BrookhavenLab) February 25, 2021
Meet Shirley Kendall, our Inclusion & Diversity manager. #BLACKandSTEM #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/E7aD1Fk2Je
— Brookhaven Lab (@BrookhavenLab) February 26, 2021
Learn about the AAAG and its activities throughout the year on its website.
And each of the Lab’s ERGs is open to every member of the Lab community. To learn more about all the ERGs, visit the Lab’s ID&E website.
Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.
Follow @BrookhavenLab on Twitter or find us on Facebook.
2021-17723 | INT/EXT | Newsroom