Frederick Moore ’96 says he faced a crossroads after finishing his Ph.D. in human reproductive genetics at UC San Francisco eight years ago: “At the end of my life, if I had research published in 200 publications, how would I feel?” explains Moore. “Or if I had helped 300 people … and they had published research in those publications, how would I feel?”
Moore chose the latter path, creating the nonprofit Building Diversity in Science (bdis.us) to provide mentoring and resources to underrepresented minority students in Bay Area colleges and universities who have an interest in science. More recently, he launched the Scientific Empowerment Movement (sem.bdis.us), a statewide initiative that connects urban high school students to science and technology through sports and entertainment.
Moore, 37, is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Peter E. Haas Public Service Award , given annually to a UC Berkeley alumnus who makes a significant voluntary public contribution in either community service, health care, environmental work, or education.
Growing up in Fairfield, Calif., Moore says racial prejudices affected his education. Although he could read well, one teacher assumed he could not comprehend the words and placed him in the lowest reading group. Consistently unchallenged, Moore says he rarely studied.
A serious traffic accident following high school led Moore to an epiphany: he could do more with his talents. He signed up for the Air Force Reserve, where he scored high on achievement tests and became trained in navigation systems. He returned to community college, focused on studying, and soon transferred to Berkeley, where he graduated with honors.
In graduate school, as one of only a few underrepresented minorities in his field, Moore became committed to expanding access for others. “As I’ve matured and grown,” says Moore, “I feel one of my gifts is to understand people and remove some of the roadblocks that are hindering them from moving forward.”
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