In 1970, he was appointed a professor of Physics at Fisk University where he remained until 1982 when he became a Professor of Physics at Clark Atlanta Universty. In 1985 Dr. Mickens was named Callaway Professor of Physics at Clark Atlanta. His research is in Mathematics and Physics. In addition to research, his efforts to open Physics to Blacks are very important and he serves as Historian for the National Society of Black Physicists. Recently, Mickens was honored with an election to Fellowship in the American Physical Society, a rare position limited to .5% of the membership of the society. In 1999, Mickens personally published a history book: The African American Presence in Physics, and has just published (2002) the book Edward Bouchet, The First African-American Doctorate.