COMPUTER SCIENCE

Pursuing a Lifelong Passion

M. Brian Blake
Title: Associate Professor, Department of Computer
Science, Georgetown University
Education: Ph.D., Information and Software Engineering, George Mason University; M.S., Electrical Engineering,
Mercer University; B.E.E., Electrical Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology
Age: 35

Driven. That, in a word, best describes Dr. M. Brian Blake. For somebody who fell into teaching by accident, he has taken the academy by storm. At age 33, he was the nation’s youngest Black computer science professor awarded tenure. Blake is a prolific author, whose work appears in a wide range of publications, including InfoWorld, InformationWeek, Computerworld and CNET.

A software and electrical engineer by training, Blake already had a promising career after earning his bachelor’s, with stints at Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and the MITRE Corp. As the first in his family to graduate from a four-year college, he had “made it” by all accounts. However, Blake says that even while working full time, he had no intention of taking a break from his studies. As a result, he finished his master’s and doctorate within six years.

“I’ve always been overly ambitious and tried to work hard —
it came out of my dad,” Blake says. Even though his father never earned a bachelor’s, he tried his hand in a number of odd jobs before becoming a prosperous business owner, passing on his tenacity to his son.

After wrapping up his doctorate, a world of opportunity opened up for Blake in both public and private industry, and he originally thought he might end up at a consulting firm. However, he says he had a vision of the future while teaching as an adjunct at Georgetown during the final stages of his doctoral process.