Claudia Rankins, Ph.D.

Claudia Rankins is a Program Officer in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation, where she manages the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program and the Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology. Prior to this post, Dr. Rankins served at Hampton University for 22 years in a number of capacities, including endowed university professor, chair of the department of physics, assistant dean for research, and dean of the School of Science.

Her formal education includes military training, certification as translator and interpreter for German, French and English, a B.S. in Mathematics from Christopher Newport University, an M.S. in Statistics from Old Dominion University, an M.S. in Physics, and a Ph.D. in Physics both from Hampton University.

Since 1998, Dr. Rankins secured over $10 million in external grants that supported pre-college activities as well as undergraduate education and research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Her research in theoretical particle physics focused on the development of a model to describe distribution amplitudes and form factors of pseudoscalar mesons. Dr. Rankins is the co-founder of the Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc.