abdulalim a shabazz may 22 1927 june 25 2014 is an african american professor of mathematics he received the national association of mathematicians distinguished service award for his years of mentoring and teaching excellence president of the united states bill clinton awarded shabazz with a national mentor award in september 2000shabazz was born lonnie cross in bessemer alabama in 1949 he earned a bachelor of arts in chemistry and mathematics from lincoln university two years later he earned a master of science in mathematics at the massachusetts institute of technology in mathematics and a doctor of philosophy in 1955 in mathematical analysis from cornell university his subject of his doctoral dissertation was the distribution of eigenvalues of the equation integral of ast phi t with respect to t between lower limit a and upper limit arho integral of bstshabazz was appointed an assistant professor of mathematics by tuskegee institute in 1956 from 1957 until 1963 he served as chairman and associate professor of mathematics at clark atlanta universityshabazz announced in 1961 that he was a member of the nation of islam later he converted to islamfrom 1975 until 1986 shabazz taught in chicago detroit and in mecca saudi arabia in 1986 shabazz came back to clark atlanta where he served as chair from 1990 until 1995 from 1998 until 2000 shabazz was chairman of the mathermatics and computer science department at lincoln university pennsylvaniathe american association for the advancement of science presented him with its 1992 mentor award for his leadership in efforts to increase the participation of women minorities and individuals with physical disabilities in science and engineering he received the national association of mathematicians distinguished service award for his years of mentoring and teaching excellence president clinton awarded shabazz a presidential award for excellence in science mathematics and engineering mentoring award in september 2000 in 2001 the association of african american educators awarded shabazz with its lifetime achievement award for outstanding work with african americans in mathematics he is currently a professor and endowed chair in mathematics at grambling state universitydr shabazz passed on june 25 2014