The organization is one of the oldest professional groups for Black scientists, and was founded as the National Association of Science Teachers in Negro Colleges and Affiliated Institutions in 1943.

Turner had notably founded the Virginia Conference of College Science Teachers and eventually became a crucial part of the foundation of the NIS.

Concurrently, wartime production at the onset of World War II led to an increased demand for organizing the capability of Black professional scientists and science education at HBCUs.

Crouch was joined by nine other representatives from eight other HBCUs to form the organization, including university presidents Rufus B. Atwood and Horace Mann Bond.

The group outlined its goals in four initial parts:[1] This first resolution was signed by the following scientists in attendance: Thomas W. Turner, Eugene D. Raines, Booker T. Griffith, Samuel M. Nabrit, Eldridge A. Miller, William W. Dowdy, James W. Hazzard, Hubert B. Crouch, and Herman R. Branson.

The meeting was organized by regional director John McNeile Hunter, and had 36 members in attendance representing 21 colleges and two high schools.

Beta Kappa Chi had been founded in 1923 by a group of students at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, among them Hildrus Augustus Poindexter, with the goal of providing a central organization for Black scientists.

Other annual activities include workshops, town hall meetings, graduate and undergraduate poster sessions, and the NIS Distinguished lecture.