Timothy Bates, economic professor at Wayne State University, is interviewed in a Q&A about a 2003 study he co-authored with William Bradford of the University of Washington. Funded by the Missouri-based Kauffman Foundation, the study examines venture-capital firms that invested primarily in minority-owned companies through 2000. They found that 117 investments by those firms yielded an annual rate of return of more than 20 percent, compared to 17 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500. Bates and Bradford released a second study in June 2006 comparing those results with other studies of VC funds in general. The latter study concluded that the returns to the minority-focused funds are certainly no lower, and perhaps higher, than those of mainstream funds. A photo of Bates is included.