Dr. Sampson is the Director of Planning and Operations Directorate, Space Test Program. Also, he is one of the foremost experts on the history of African Americans in show business. In 1967, he joined his current employer as a Project Engineer, when he co-invented and co- patented the Gamma-Electric Cell in 1968, which produced stable high-voltage outputs and current. He also holds three patents concerning solid rocket motors and one on the direct conversion of nuclear energy into electricity. Dr. Sampson's expertise includes Nuclear and Aeronautical Engineering, Space Vehicle Systems design, Satellite Electrical Power Systems design, and Direct Energy Conversion Radiation Effects on Polymers. He has written technical papers in rocket propulsion, direct conversion of nuclear energy to electricity, and computer simulation of electrical systems. After hours, Dr. Sampson serves as an expert on Black history in show business. He has written three books in this area: "Blacks In Black and White", Blacks in film from 1910-1950 (Scarecrow Press, 1995), "Blacks In Black Face", early Black musical shows (Scarecrow Press, 1980), and "The Ghost Walks: A Chronological history of Blacks in Show Business, 1860-1910" (Scarecrow Press, 1988). He has helped produce documentary films and lectures on early Black film-makers and films.