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Dr. Frederic Bertley, the charismatic CEO of the Center of Science and Industry, takes us on a captivating journey from his adventurous childhood mishap with a video game and a lamp cord to leading one of the most respected science centers in the U.S. We explore how these early sparks of curiosity ignited his passion for science, proving that even the most unexpected experiences can set the stage for a lifelong commitment to discovery. This episode is packed with tales of wonder and inspiration, as Dr. Bertley shares how these formative moments can encourage young minds to explore the vast potential within STEM fields.
While sports icons like LeBron James and cultural figures like Beyoncé steal the spotlight, there’s an urgent need for scientists and engineers to gain recognition for their groundbreaking contributions to society. Dr. Bertley passionately discusses this challenge and how his initiatives, such as the Free Science All Day Community Days, aim to elevate the visibility and appreciation of the scientific community. He invites us to rethink how we perceive scientists, promoting a narrative where scientific achievement is celebrated and accessible to all, especially in communities that often lack representation in these fields.
Fashion, diversity, and science intersect in delightful ways as Dr. Bertley illustrates how personal style can complement scientific identity rather than conform to stereotypes. From his favorite Jordans to the importance of visible role models, he highlights how these elements can resonate with and inspire individuals from all walks of life. By blending hip-hop influences with an educational mission, Dr. Bertley is pioneering efforts to make STEM engaging and relatable, particularly for students in underserved areas. Through hands-on experiences and innovative media projects, he is opening doors for the next generation to embrace global opportunities and create their own inspiring legacies in the world of science.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Be A Baller podcast where we discuss
how to build a lifelong legacy.
I'm your host, coach Tim Brown.
Today, I'm excited to have onthe show with me Dr Frederick
Burtley.
Dr Burtley is an immunologistand science educator.
He is currently the presidentof CEO, which is the Center of
Science and Industry, a sciencemuseum in Columbus, ohio.
(00:29):
Prior to COSI, dr Berkleyworked as Senior Vice President
for Science and Education at theFranklin Institute in
Philadelphia.
Dr B is also an award-winninghost of an animated YouTube show
, Dr B in 3, and a televisionshow, qed with Dr B.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Here's some cool science from COSI, an official
science partner of our ColumbusBlue Jackets.
Physicist Isaac Newton wouldhave loved hockey.
Why?
Because it clearly proves histhird law of motion For every
action there's an equal andopposite reaction.
Who knew?
Well, isaac Newton did.
(01:06):
I'm a huge fan of hockey andall this time it was Newtonian
physics at work.
Want more science in your life?
Visit cosiorg.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Today on the show, dr B will share his love for
science and his commitment toinspiring young learners to be
curious about the fields ofscience, technology, engineering
and math.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Dr Berkley, welcome to your Ballot Podcast.
Coach Brown, thank you so muchfor inviting me to participate
on your incredible podcastseries.
Pleasure to be here.
Thanks, sir.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I had a question for you.
I knew you grew up in CanadaNow did you always have a love
of science?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
That's a funny story.
So a little more backgroundbefore the love of science.
So my parents are from theCaribbean, my dad's from
Trinidad, my mom's from Barbados, and they met in Montreal and
then had four kids.
And I like to say I'm the oopsbaby's younger brother.
Ok, so the brother above me, hewas a baby.
I was oops.
(02:04):
My mother was when-40s when Icame out definitely not planned
um, but but grew up in canadaand so I was an outdoorsy kid.
I was not a schooly kid.
I like to play hockey, soccer,basketball, baseball, football,
skateboard.
When I came in, even bmx andskiing, like I was, was just
outdoors kid.
But I had a.
(02:27):
I had a paper route and, beingbeing the son of West Indian
children, even though WestIndian parents, even though the
paper was my paper route, andcollect my little $5 a week or
whatever it was, that wasn't mymoney, that needed to go into my
bank account.
I was not allowed to spend it.
They were like you, save yourmoney, put it in the bank.
I was like, all right, and thenwhen I was 10 years old Coach
Brown, I don't know I'm datingmyself, but one of the first
(02:53):
handheld video games came out.
You might remember it's calledCalico Head-to-Head Football.
They had Head-to-Head Footballand Head-to-Head Baseball and I
wanted to get this game.
My friends had it down thestreet.
They had it.
My parents were like, no, youcan't buy it, save your money.
Finally, I just begged andbegged and finally they let me
buy it.
And so I bought it.
And you know, back then thesehandheld games weren't energy
(03:16):
efficient.
It took those square batteries,those 9-volt batteries.
You know the ones.
I'm sure you did as Coach Brown.
You stick out your tongue andyou zap your tongue to feel that
little sting.
Make sure you're laughing.
Yeah, I see you laughing, that'sexactly right.
So yeah, so it took thosebatteries, but it would chew
through those batteries realquick and I couldn't afford to
get new batteries, and so I didwhat I thought was a smart idea
(03:39):
at the time.
I went down to our basement.
We had an old lamp that wasn'tin use.
When I cut off the cable of thelamp, the part did the part you
plug in the wall, and I openedup the back of the game.
I ripped off that little snapcap that snaps on that nine volt
battery.
It's a red and black wire.
I attached it to the, to thelamp cord, and I coached around.
True story, I remember it likeit was today.
(04:00):
I plugged it into the wall,worked best 10 seconds of my
life.
By the 11th second, though,there was a char and spark at
the outlet.
My beautiful game that myparents let me buy my money
actually got charred and fried.
So I ruined my game and I wasbummed.
(04:21):
But I remember thinking after,despite being bummed.
I remember thinking that, wow,this electricity stuff that as a
kid I just been taking forgranted that you flick on a
switch and the lights come on,or you plug something in the
wall and it works.
I was like there's somethingreally interesting behind the
walls.
It just literally andmetaphorically sparked my
(04:44):
curiosity and that's what got mehooked on science and the
natural universe.
I then began to be obsessedwith why does this work?
Why is the grass green?
Why are ladybugs this way?
Why does a caterpillar have somany legs?
Why, why, why, why, why.
And I became that annoying kidthat was always asking the
adults in the room why, why, why.
But that got me hooked onunderstanding, kind of just,
(05:05):
nature and the natural universeand that's what got me hooked in
science.
So I didn't shoot out being ascientist or scientifically
inclined kid.
I was a sports kid.
But when I destroyed mycherished video game, that's
when okay, there's somethingcool here going on.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
There's a story about your dad's reaction to that.
Oh there is Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So he comes running down the stairs now you know
he's from Trinidad, but he livedin Canada at this point, like
30 years or something.
He only had a West Indianaccent when he wanted to have
one and he comes running downthe stairs like son, what are
you doing?
You're trying to burn down thehouse and I'm like no, no.
But after that I mean, what'sreally cool about my parents is,
(05:44):
even though he definitely was alittle irritated at that,
overall they were just sosupportive, and now they had
this weird wacky kid that wasinterested in and in science and
they supported me in whateverway I wanted to move forward.
So but yeah, that was a funnyparent experience for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
You know were you?
Were you always a science fairchampion?
Were you the champion ofscience fairs?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You know.
So that's a funny story.
So in Canada, in the US,science fairs are a big deal.
In Canada now they are a bigdeal.
When I was growing up, itmattered on what school you went
to, so if you didn't go to aschool that did them, you didn't
do them.
So I believe you're not.
I've never, ever, participatedmyself as a student in the
science fair Never.
(06:31):
I got into science fairs onlyas an adult.
When I started teaching.
I taught in elementary school,high school and then I taught
colleges as well.
But in my elementary and highschool period was when I was
working with students on theirscience fairs, and then I became
a what's called a nationalactually in this country as well
a national science fair judge,and so, even though I love
science fairs today, I thinkthey're so important at letting
all kids, regardless ofbackground, zip code, gender, to
(06:52):
get access to like doing somefun hands-on stuff.
I actually didn't do that as akiddo, which is interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You know now, was science cool with you and your
friends?
Was that the cool thing to do?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Absolutely not.
Science is not cool.
Hey, it ain't even cool today.
I mean, I tried my best to makeit cool but you know people are
Googling LeBron James, and, andyou know and and Queen B.
They're not Googling Bill Nye,the science guy, or Frederick,
it's just, it's not happening.
So science was not cool then.
But because I was all jokesaside because I was a very
(07:24):
athletic kid, I was kind of inthe not so much the cool, but in
the coolest kind of athletic.
So kids liked me.
I just also happened to likescience.
The other kids who are the truenerds, who had no athletic
skills and no game on the court,had no crossover.
No, fadeaway jump shot forgetit.
They were considered nerdy andweird.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I know you have.
I've heard you speak and youhave this thing today about how
the media needs to do a betterjob of promoting science people.
You know scientists today.
You know if you ask who's ascientist, you put up your sign
Dr Einstein and then you teaseBill Nye the science guy.
And if you ask me who ascientist is, you know I'm going
to say George Washington Carveris my man.
That's right, that's me.
Who a scientist is, you knowalmost like.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
George Washington Carver is my man.
That's right, that's right,yeah, and I'm glad you brought
that up.
And let me be clear GeorgeWashington Carver is an amazing
scientist.
It's amazing black scientist,but everybody needs to know him.
Einstein, marie Curie, youmentioned it, you know, but
those are all dead, right.
And then the challenge is whenyou try to ask somebody, well,
name a living scientist, thenthey scratch their head and
that's where they may say BillNye, the Science Guy, or they
(08:26):
might say a Needlegrass Tyson,but that's it.
I mean the average person and,by the way, I'm not knocking
this right, I'm just stating thefact the average person out
there and I want to be clearblack or white, athletic or
non-athletic, musical or not, ifyou ask them to name a living
scientist, they have a toughtime.
And if you ask them to namefive, they're not going to be
able to do it.
They just can't do it Right.
(08:46):
And so my question is what'sthat about?
I mean, I'm a we were talkingbefore the podcast, we talked
about sports, my love for sports.
I'm a huge Patriots, celtics,montreal Canadians and Red Sox
slash national fan.
I love my sports.
I will never hate on an athlete.
Go get it, love it, and so Iunderstand why the media covers
that.
I also love singing and dancing.
I love hip hop.
(09:06):
I love jazz, I love you name it.
I love reggae, Like I loveartists too, but my problem is
or beef, if you will is yes, weneed to celebrate athletes and
entertainers.
You know that's a good thing todo, but scientists are the
(09:27):
people that make absolutelyeverything we do that makes our
lives healthy possible.
If you use your cell phone, itwas not LeBron James that made
that happen.
If you use navigation, it wasnot Queen Bee or Jay-Z that made
that happen, right.
If you use et cetera, et cetera, you can go to every aspect the
medicines that heal our lovedones, transportation, the cars
we drive.
It are all created byscientists and engineers who
(09:48):
dedicate their lives, coachBrown, to move the needle
forward and give us the besttechnology and stuff to improve
our standard of living.
Something like take a shower,turn on your water.
We take that for granted inAmerica.
You just got to tap, you turnit on.
Well, somebody came up withthat and it wasn't the singer,
dancer, rapper, athlete, youknow, politician, it was a
(10:10):
scientist.
And so my beef is I'm notsuggesting it's going to be the
same level of a LeBron James orAdele or Rihanna.
I get it.
I mean, those are famous peoplemaking a whole lot of cash, but
if we could just show a littlebit more love.
You know, if the media ingeneral can not just make fun of
them and have this?
You know, this big bang, showthat, okay, these nerdy, smart
(10:33):
geniuses?
No, you know, like, makescience, you know, more engaging
, showcase some more scientists.
Which is why I'm so honored tobe on your show that you decided
to highlight some of them.
You know, like I said, I lovesports and entertainment, but I
am a scientist and I appreciateyou bringing me on.
So that's, that's the beef.
It's just not saying it shouldbe the same level, but just show
a little more.
(10:54):
I mean, as the expression says,put some respect on the
scientist's name, man, like,come on, you can't.
You can't get through your daywithout science.
It's impossible.
I'm sorry, dr B, I apologize,right, but don't you agree with
me?
Put some respect on that personthat made your cell phone
possible, right, like you can'tlive without a cell phone.
(11:14):
At least most of us can't,right?
I mean, the food was.
Some scientists and engineersand agriculture experts made
that food possible for us to eat.
Oh boy he fired up, up.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I'm fired up you know the other thing, uh, the thing
I love about you is that all youknow, all the talk, but you
also put, put it into action.
And one thing you did can youtalk about the vision of the
free science all day?
Community days in philadelphiathat you started, and now I
attended the one in columbus andthat one was just awesome.
Can you talk about your visionbehind that?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
So that's a funny story.
So I moved from Philadelphia,you mentioned, as at the
Franklin Institute, that'sactually the oldest science
museum in the United States ofAmerica.
I moved from there to Columbusto be the president, ceo of the
Center of Science and Industry,affectionately known as COSID,
and for those folks out inCleveland, this is equivalent to
the Great Lakes Science Center.
You know that kind of thing.
(12:15):
All right, and so I startedJanuary 1, 2017.
And my first major interview waswith this writer named Mary
Yost, who is the writer forColumbus CEO Magazine, and that
was like three, like just thebeginning of February.
I'm doing this interview,interview and interview's going
fine.
Oh, tell me about thebackground, all that kind of
stuff.
And then she says so, drburtley, you came from the
famous franklin institute.
What are you going to bringfrom philadelphia and bring here
to columbus?
So I, being green and naive,open my big mouth and say oh, we
(12:40):
did this thing called thephiladelphia science festival'm
going to bring the sciencefestival here to Columbus, not
knowing that your mouth isclosed when you're speaking to a
reporter unless you want tomake sure they go with it.
It's a true story, covermagazine.
I'm in there with my armsstretched out and it says
Hurtley promises to bringscience festival to Columbus.
(13:03):
I tell that story because if youask people what a science, I
mean you came to it so you knowwhat it is.
But if you ask most people whata science festival is, they
have no idea.
Everybody knows what a jazzfestival is, everybody knows
what a riff festival is,everybody knows what a art
festival is, et cetera, etcetera.
You say science festival,people scratch their head.
What are you talking about?
And so here I am on the coverof the magazine as a new person
to the Ohio region promising tobring this thing that nobody
(13:26):
knows what the heck it is and,by the way, it costs a lot of
money to put it on.
And so, yeah, so I had tofundraise that crazy.
But long story short, what itis?
The very simple premise is toyour point, it's to make science
accessible, right?
Like, yes, we have the OhioState or Carnegie, or you know
the Case Western or whatever.
(13:47):
We have all these greatuniversities, right, but you
can't walk into those researchlabs, they're not going to let
you in, right?
And so how do you make scienceaccessible?
So the concept of a sciencefestival.
This is not at CoSAR, at ourbuilding for the most part.
Ours is four days long.
The first three days we do 100different events in 20 different
communities, including andaround Columbus.
(14:09):
So we are working with mayors,elected officials, to get out in
the community and work withtheir constituents to put on
activities there.
And our line is we want todeliver science where you live,
where you learn and you lounge.
And Coach Brown, the reason whythat's important is if you go to
even a co-sign.
But if you go to the Ohio Stateor MIT and you walk into the
lab and have an experience whichis very hard to do, but let's
(14:32):
say you're able to get throughand do that, even if you have a
cool experience, you don'tnecessarily think that that's
for you.
You're like, okay, I got lucky,I got in, but I'm not part of
that.
But if you do an experiment oran experience in your church, in
your community center, in yourrestaurant, at your favorite rib
barbecue joint, where you'rereally comfortable, you're like,
(14:53):
wait a minute, I'm doing so.
I'm around my people, I'm in mycommunity, maybe this is for me
.
So it's very intentional that wedo this massive expose on
science everything fromengineering, to environmental
sciences, to agriculture, tomedicine, you name it.
But we showcase it incommunities around, in this case
Central Ohio, and those firstthree days we do 100 events and
(15:15):
then that last day, the fourthday, we call it the big science
celebration and I think that'swhat you came to.
That's actually at COSI, butthat's not in our building, it's
outside and we have 200 tents.
That's actually at COSI, butthat's not in our building, it's
outside and we have 200 tents.
Google's there, intel's there,ohio State has about 10 tents,
automine has five you name it,et cetera.
And people come from not justColumbus but from really far.
Honda is there, battelle, andthey're showcasing in ways that
(15:39):
you, as a visitor, you're notgetting a pamphlet from Battelle
Research Labs or a pamphletfrom Honda here's our next car.
You are interacting with ahands-on experience and really
doing something like a scientistor an engineer and we've had a
lot of fun with it.
We've done five years so farand people really love it in
this community.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
That was great.
My wife and I attended, alongwith my nephew he's about 10
years old and he was just soexcited.
You know, just to, just to, andI love the hands on, and it
wasn't just like you said handsto my pamper, here come Chad.
No, you got to actually dosomething, you know, and it was
awesome.
It was awesome, you know.
Speaking of that, why are yousuch an advocate for introducing
(16:20):
minority students to careers inSTEM?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah, oh man, now you thought I was animated earlier.
Now you really got me fired uplike that.
So there are some fundamentalreasons why diversity and equity
, if you will, diversity andinclusion is important in
general, but especially for thesciences.
Let's just say you know you gotto do the right thing right.
(16:46):
I mean, if science is thefuture, if science provides
opportunities, you can get agood job with just a two-year
degree from Columbus State insome computer science thing.
You might start at $80,000.
I mean, that's a legit good job.
So just making sure all peoplebut in the context of America,
especially Black and Brown folksand girls who are
(17:08):
underrepresented, women anddifferentiated genders, however
you want to define that theyneed to have access to this too.
It can't just be for rich kidsor kids who have parents who are
scientists or engineers, right?
So you want to make sureeverybody has access to that.
If we want to talk about, youknow, raising people out of
poverty, providing economicsustainability, talk about
(17:29):
filling that workforce pipeline,well, you know, get everybody
engaged.
So that's one the right thingto do.
But the other thing is I havethis line that I say genius
knows no color, no race, nosocioeconomic status and no zip
code and no gender.
No socioeconomic status and nozip code and no gender.
(17:52):
What I'm talking about is you,named george washington carver.
Well, he's african-american.
He's a genius.
Sure?
Einstein's a genius?
Sure?
Mark zuckerberg came up with acool technology you know,
transferred, transformed ourworld with social media.
But genius knows no color.
If half of this great country,or, depending what sense, 41
percent of the United States ofAmerica, or 43 percent or
(18:13):
sometimes 47 percent, is notwhite, right, we want to make
sure we provide opportunitiesfor half of the country to learn
about this, because we mightmiss the next person who will
cure cancer, we might miss thatnext genius who might come up
with the next communicationdevice.
We might miss that next personwho will come up with the best
(18:35):
way of saving our environmentfrom incredible pollution, et
cetera, et cetera, if we don'tensure women have opportunities
here.
Women make up 51% of the USpopulation.
So forget about even doing theright thing if you're not into
supporting different races andother causes, if you're just
thinking, practically speaking,from an American strength and
(18:57):
workforce development and thenext great genius leaders and
technological innovators.
If we don't bring in half ofthe country, we're going to miss
out.
So those are the two reasons.
One it's the right thing, man,you want everybody to have the
opportunity.
The third thing I'll say isagain back to the entertainment
thing, and I like to use thatonly because most of us are into
entertainment, whether it'ssports or movies and dancing hey
(19:18):
, I love that stuff.
Harder to be jay-z beyonce,little wayne, you know drake
versus, you know you name him.
I mean, it's so you know youwant to be the next lebron james
(19:38):
, you want to be the the 15thman on the bench.
You want to ride pine in thenba or or be in the dugout and
never see the field.
It is so hard.
And I want to be clear, coach.
But I am not saying don't chaseyour dream.
If you're an athlete and youwant to be a professional
athlete, hey, chase your dream.
I'm just saying let'sunderstand some basic math and
(19:59):
probability.
It is infinitely harder for youto do that than to be Dr B,
than to get an engineeringdegree, than to get a PhD, let
than to be Dr B, than to get anengineering degree, than to get
a PhD, let alone getting amaster's or an undergrad where
you can feed your family for 30,40, 50 years.
So that's the third piece tothat.
Again, not poopooing on allthese other big dreams, but it's
(20:19):
actually doable.
You know, just be okay, getthrough high school, get into a
college, pick a discipline.
Yeah, it's a little tough hereand there, but it's not nearly
as hard as playing for the OhioState Buckeyes, let alone making
it to the Browns.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Right, yeah, that's good.
One thing you said there, twothings making it accessible.
And then the biggest thing yousaid was it's doable, it's
doable.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Absolutely.
I mean that's so important.
I mean you think about all theschools.
That's so important.
I mean you think about all theschools and I know we have tough
K-12 schools, especially insome urban zip codes, but at the
end of the day, there are somany colleges and two-year
colleges, four-year colleges,tech colleges in this great
country that you know what, ifyou can just get out, you know
you don't have to be a 4.0.
(21:01):
If you can just get out andfind your way in.
You struggle through that, butnow you're 22, 24.
Out and find your way in.
You struggle through that, butnow you're 22, 24.
You have the rest of your lifeto earn money and you will have.
If you study STEM, you willhave a job.
That I promise you.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Good, I have this thing.
I talk to young people all thetime, adults as well.
You can't be what you can't see, and that's what I love about
you.
During that whole event mynephew saw nephew saw you, you
know and then got a picture withyou and we didn't say that
picture and we're gonna keep.
You know he keep looking atthat picture and he can say I
can do this.
(21:36):
You know I, I can.
You know you got to seesomebody doing that.
Nathan harris is another one Ibring with me all the time.
You know guys like that, butyou know I gotta jump in there,
coach brown.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
That's why you are coach brown, because you hit the
nail on the role models arecritical, right I mean?
So you talked about dr nathanharris.
He's another great brotherdoing some really cool things.
Role models are critical.
When they see you in that role,I mean, oh my gosh, I let alone
meet you personally.
It's like, wait a minute, he'snot speaking some latin
(22:07):
highfalutin language, he'sdropping bars like an mc, he's
about to battle me, but he'stalking about science, right.
So it's like I love the factthat you highlighted that,
because that's so important.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yeah it was we as we then.
Now let's flip to your the funyou have on your youtube channel
.
You know dr b 3, and then thetelevision for QED with Dr B on
PBS.
What is it about those showsthat you're trying to highlight
or you're trying to do withthose?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, thanks for plugging those two things.
So a little background.
So the QED with Dr B is aprimetime television show that's
30 minutes long, so it's a TVshow.
It's what's called a magazinestyle where I go around
interviewing scientists andengineers from around this
country.
I think a few of the scientistswere outside the country, did
that through Zoom, but ingeneral go around interviewing
(22:58):
scientists, so that's a TV showhalf hour.
The Dr B in three is ananimated series and these are
three minute short videos.
So those are two things, but thepurpose of both of them is is
similar and that's and this is acall out to to when you talk
about tribe, my tribe and this,the tribe I'm talking about now
is the scientists and engineertribes.
(23:18):
A lot of times we um, you knowwe're arrogant, you know, we we
have this attitude that we'resmarter than everybody else and
we work in these things calledthe ivory towers of higher
education or research labs.
We speak in a vocabulary thatoftentimes 12 other people
around the world understand andwe think that makes us smarter
(23:39):
and that's part of the problem.
Yes, on the one hand, we talkedabout media earlier on this
podcast.
I wish media would celebrateand elevate scientists and
engineers more.
But we as scientists andengineers also need to get off
our little silver platter youknow our little podium and be
accessible to the average person, right.
And so the purpose of those twoshows is to show, is to one
(24:02):
take important scientificconcepts, whether it's climate
change, whether it's generativeAI and how that's shaking up the
world, you know, whatever it isgenetically modified organisms,
or just the science of exercise, or the science of stress,
whatever these topics are thatdeal with us, that we deal with
every day, is to deconstructthem, but in a way that doesn't
(24:22):
make the viewer think thatthey're small or pardon the
expression but dumb or stupid.
So to deconstruct in a way thatstill engages the audience,
makes the audience feelcomfortable, but they actually
learn something.
And so we do that with the tvshow.
And then, similarly, we do itwith the animated series.
But the animated series.
We've just learned over timethat people like animation and,
even though it's animated, thesearen't for little kids.
(24:44):
I I mean it's for, like youknow, maybe upper middle school,
but really high school,undergrad and adults, even
though it's animated.
And those are.
Those are three minute videoswhere we break down a concept
and make again, making itaccessible and hopefully
enjoyable to the audience.
But I want to say this what I'mso proud about with the team and
(25:06):
let me step back the TV showwith PBS, so that's WOSU PBS.
So they own half the rights.
We own half the rights In caseof the animated series.
That's 100% co-sign.
We own all those rights becausewe created the whole thing
in-house.
And I'm proud about both ofthese products because, believe
it or not, we've won nine Emmysin three years for those shows.
(25:28):
And the reason why I'm so proudabout that is sure, having an
Emmy trophy is kind of fun.
It's a conversation piece thatpeople see behind you.
I don't have it right herebecause I'm actually at home,
not the office, but it's a funconversation piece.
But more important than that,coach Brown, is Emmys, which
recognize the best televisionkind of in the world, have
decided that sciencecommunication and science
(25:50):
literacy is actually importantand you know what, if someone's
doing some good stuff, some goodTV or good media around that,
we're going to recognize themand that's why I'm so proud
about that.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, you are.
Now we got to get to this shoegame.
You got going, you know, I knowyou're the shoe man and your
collection is envied by me andothers, you know.
Can you talk to us about theconnection between science and
fashion?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, so I mentioned earlier, I'm the last of four
kids and my dad, being fromTrinidad, you know was who he
was, but he was just such agreat man, very educated.
One of the things is he lovedShakespeare and as a kid he used
to read Shakespeare.
Now, he was reading Shakespeare.
As a kid I'm like at the time Iwanted to listen to Run DMC and
(26:40):
Kumo D and Grandmaster FlashDon't Push Me, because I'm Close
Like that's what I used to do.
My dad's like okay, you'regoing to like that rap thing,
but let me also read you someShakespeare.
And so he would readShakespeare to us and so I'll
never forget it.
There's, you know, the classicHamlet.
I mean, a lot of us read Hamletduring high school and I don't
know if you remember the story,but he's leaving his home,
(27:04):
denmark, and he's going toFrance for the first time and
his uncle, he's not Hamlet,actually, he's Laertes.
And his uncle, polonius, isgiving his nephew Laertes this
advice, and this is the one.
He says all kinds of stuff inthis long soliloquy, but he says
it's the same one where he saysand most of all, to thine own
(27:25):
self, be true, for if thou arttrue to thyself, thy cannot be
false to any man, right, or aversion of that.
But in that soliloquy one ofthe lines he said is dress rich,
not gaudy.
And he says because the clothesoften proclaim the man.
And as a kid I didn't get that,but my dad used to always dress
(27:47):
sharp.
You know, he had those nicesuits back in the 60s, 70s, 80s,
cufflinks.
He's always a snazzy Westerndresser and he would teach us
that, look, it's not about beingsuperficial.
People like to use theexpression, don't judge a book
by its cover.
But, coach Brown, that's thebiggest BS ever.
Because why do you pick up thebook or the magazine in the
(28:08):
first place?
Because the cover looked darngood to you or interesting, it
was appealing to you.
And so, whether you like it ornot, fashion is how you choose
to present yourself to the worldaround you, and whether you're
talking to somebody about whatyou're wearing or not, you are
having a silent conversationwith them.
You are having a silentconversation with them and
they're judging you, not sayingmaliciously or not, but they're
(28:29):
making decisions about who youare as a human being based on
what you're wearing.
And so as I grew into being anadult, I was like that's what my
dad is talking about.
That's what Shakespeare istalking about.
You know the clothes oftenproclaim the man, and so you
know that got me into fashion.
So I love fashion and for mefashion isn't about spending a
(28:55):
billion dollars and having themost expensive sneakers that
were just.
You know that are sold.
You know waiting in line forthree years, three days to get
them.
But it's about you beingcomfortable with who you are
deciding how you want to show upin the world and bring a game.
So that's one.
Two I do like kicks, I do likesneakers.
I have a little bit of a sneakygame.
Combination of my two thingsare Jordans and Chuck Taylors.
(29:17):
And I have everything, some ofthe classics I don't have for
the record, I do not have allthe Jordans in the official
Jordan collection, but I got acouple of shelves of Jordans at
the house, but but I got acouple of shelves of Jordans at
the house, but I also love ChuckTaylors, and so that became a
thing where that's my thing,that I like having.
You know, I like wearingsneakers.
And then the third piece tofashion is, while all of that's
(29:38):
true, especially in my case as ascientist, I think it's useful,
and I don't do it because ofthis, but I'm conscious of it as
I do it, and that's that.
You know, I want people to seethat, hey, you can be a
scientist, but you can stillhave shoe game.
You know, you can still havesome cool clothes, you can still
be hip or stylish or in vogueor whatever the words are.
You know, you can have game inthe fashion thing, but still be
(30:00):
a neurophysicist, a oncologist,a environmental scientist.
You don't have to wear as wetalked earlier.
You don't have to have a labcoat with a pocket protector and
your calculator sticking out todeclare you're a scientist.
And so that's why I lovefashion.
But most importantly, it's anextension of who you are and,
whether you like it or not, ifyou're on that bus going to work
or you're walking down thatstreet, people are judging you
(30:22):
rightly or wrongly, based on howyou look.
Now you, you have to havesubstance behind that and
hopefully you have some goodcore values in who you are as a
person.
But at the end of the day,swagger people see the swagger
on the outside.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
You know.
The other thing that you'vedone is you opened up CoSci to a
lot of events, you know, andyou've given people an
opportunity.
I've seen some of those events.
People are really gettingdressed up to come into CoSci,
but I think it's twofold One.
You got them in the door sothey can come in and see about
science, you know, and all that,but also it gives them an
opportunity to, you know, todress up and then you, being the
(30:57):
man if you dressed up,everybody know when they come
they gotta come right, cause Docgonna be.
You know Doc gonna be styling,so you can't come in and clown
in that you know Doc will bestyling.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
So you can't come in and clown at that.
You know that's the heart ofour community.
Get people dressed up and lookgood.
We like to go out and look good, but I do have to give a
special shout out to the boardof trustees that hired me
because, you know, I'm not fromColumbus, I'm not from Ohio.
They did an international searchfor the next CEO when I was
coming on board.
They found me and went throughthe process and then, when I
kind of when it became clearthat I was a finalist, you know,
(31:26):
they said to me.
They said, hey, dr B, actuallythis is Dr Burton at the time.
Dr Burton, you know, clearlyyou're advancing as one of our
candidates, our lead candidates.
You know, if, if we offered youthe job, you know, is there
anything you'd want to say?
And I said, well, I'm honoredto be in this position, I'm
(31:49):
honored to to be aist andhopefully you will offer me the
job.
But before you offer me the job, I just want to make it clear
to you that, while I love thehistory of what I learned about
COSI, I've spent a lot of timewalking through it and if you do
go with me, I want to make surethat that building reflects
more of the American diversityand the Columbus diversity, and
(32:12):
so, if you do go with me, yes,I'm going to make sure we still
have, you know, a lot of whitemoms bringing their kids in
there to go to little kids space.
But I want to make sure blackfolks are in that building,
brown folks are in that building, that young folks but when I
say young, between 12 and 22 arealso engaged, and that COSI
becomes a community asset andnot just an asset for a subset
(32:33):
of people.
And, to their credit, theylooked at me and they said, dr
Burley, that's why you're theperfect person for the job.
So I want to just give a shoutout to them and you're spot on.
I got in there and I was like,look, everybody needs to have
access to this.
So we cater to all kinds ofcommunities.
We've got a group called theCenter of Societal Inclusion,
which is shortened as COSI, butthat's where we reach out to the
(32:54):
Bhutanese community, the FirstAmerican community, the Latino
community you name it the Jewishcommunity, et cetera, and, of
course, the black and browncommunity, and so it's been
great.
So we have one of the biggestevents, in fact.
One of the biggest events.
In fact it's going to beNovember, november, I want to
say 18th this year.
It's the Excellence Black Tieevent and that's one of the
biggest African-American eventsin the state of Ohio.
(33:16):
We will have thirty fivehundred to four thousand
African-American folks, fromtwenty one to seventy To your
point, coach Brown dress to thenines and you're going to be
rocking and jamming and shuckingand jiving, having a great time
with science and fantasticentertainment.
No-transcript.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
It's awesome.
I once heard you talk about DeLa Soul.
You said that the stakes arehigh in challenging the next
generation in science.
Why are you on a mission togive more students interest in
science?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, I'm a huge hip-hop head.
I like new hip-hop but I'm alittle old school.
De La Soul is one of myfavorite groups.
One of my favorite albums isthat album titled Stakes.
They said stakes is high is howthey quote it.
But I'm with you Stakes arehigh.
But it's that concept that forall people, but especially our
(34:13):
community, like the stakes arehigh.
If you're not or your immediatesurroundings are not connected
to science, technology,engineering and math, you are
going to get left behind.
Look at computer science, lookat AI.
Look where the job industry andthe sector is going.
It's all about digitaltechnology.
Or look into life sciences it'sall about drug discovery,
(34:37):
medicines, et cetera.
I mean this is all science.
Agriculture Ain't nobodypulling a donkey and planting a
seed with a donkey pulling it?
That's not happening.
This is all computerizedtechnology that's planted all
the farms and growing all ourproduce.
It's all around us and so thestakes are high.
I always say not everybody,including black and brown or
(34:59):
women not everybody needs to bea PhD scientist.
But just like you're supposedto read, right, if you can't
read or write and you'reilliterate, you're embarrassed
about that, your family'sembarrassed for your friends.
There's a little shame attachedto it.
No one expects you to be MayaAngelou or William Shakespeare,
but you're still expected toread.
Same thing with counting.
You know you don't have to be amathematical genius, but you
still expect it to be able tocount and figure out your change
(35:21):
.
Well, in the same way, weshould have some vocabulary,
some literacy around science,and that's why I say the stakes
is high and that's why all kids,but especially the kids from
the more underserved zip codes,the more struggling schools, we
need to make sure that they haveaccess to this opportunity to
learn about science, technology,engineering and math.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, that's good.
I once saw when you gave anexample about how we do school
you know the same way with thedesks and all that you know and
how the hands-on and I wasblessed to walk into a couple
schools in Columbus and see thatfirst hand hands-on piece and
it was just I think it was somekids doing some DNA kind of
stuff you know at East HighSchool I think it was some kids
doing some DNA kind of stuff,you know, at East High School.
(36:04):
I want me to see how excitedthose kids were, you know, and
it's just.
But that's the science piece.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
It's a science piece and the broader is the education
piece.
I mean every.
I mean outside of the Amishpopulation, right?
Most of us don't use a horseand buggy anymore, right?
We use planes, trains andautobooms to get around.
How many?
When's the last time youcommunicated with a smoke signal
or a cup and string or atelegraph, coach Brown, you
don't.
You know you use these devices,these cell phones, right?
When is the last time youunfolded a map?
(36:32):
You know, my dad used to takethe family on these trips and he
would unfold this map on asteering wheel and he'd try to
drive with this floppy map andmy mother would be obsessed with
me.
Put away the map, man, you'regoing to crash us, right?
Well, we don't Matter of fact.
If you show a map to a kidtoday, they'd look at you like
you're crazy.
We have this thing called GPStechnology.
(36:53):
Medicines, right?
I mean, I'm into holisticmedicine and so there's a lot of
.
You know, definitely, ourancestors have some good
therapies that we need topreserve, but at the end of the
day, you're going to a pharmacyand buying something to help you
get better.
Technology has moved allaspects of our lives forward.
We don't hunter and gather.
Did you go for a bow and arrowyesterday to get your meal?
You either went into yourfridge, freezer or restaurant,
(37:15):
right.
But schools haven't changed,coach Brown, right?
I mean, for the most part, alot of these public schools,
where the lion's share ofAmericans are educated, are
desks in rows with kids boredout of their minds.
So I love the fact that youcalled out some of these schools
where you saw kids doinghands-on stuff, because that's
where science is right.
(37:36):
Science isn't in a book anymore, science is at the bench, doing
discovery, innovating, etcetera.
So we need to just do more ofthat.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
That's great, you know, as we come around the
corner, let's talk.
You know it's a legacy podcast.
We talk about building alifelong legacy.
What would you say?
What's the legacy of DrFrederick Berkeley?
Well, what's your legacy?
I know it's still building andevolving.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'm honored that you would even think of me having a
legacy at this point, at onepoint.
I'm honored that you would eventhink of me having a legacy at
this point, at one point, whenthe history is written and I'm
pushing up daisies, maybe theremight be some legacy.
But if I do look in therearview mirror and say you know
, what do I hope to be part of?
And that's one getting peopleto be less and less scared or
(38:19):
disconnected from science andengineering.
It's everywhere on planet Earth.
It allows us to do all thethings and you don't have to be
an expert.
But back to the literacy justlike reading and writing, you
should understand some stuffabout science and math and
engineering.
So I hope I've made a smalldent in getting people
(38:41):
comfortable around that.
And then two, I hope I make adent in getting people to
appreciate that you know justfrom a daily, weekly, monthly
workforce development, lifestyleopportunities that getting some
science or engineeringeducation can open the world to
(39:01):
you and for your listeners.
I traveled around the worldbetween 20 and 24 without a dime
in my pocket because I learneda couple of skill sets when I
was an undergraduate student.
I learned just laboratory skillsets and so I ended up doing
some work for the World HealthOrganization, living in Haiti,
living in the Sudan, living inthe Canadian Arctic, just
(39:24):
traveling to some reallydifferent places and travel is
important because it broadensyour mind, but I did that on
other people's dimes.
So if there are two legacies,it's one.
Hey, science isn't this weirdthing that you should be scared
of?
Jump in, learn, be excited byit.
And two as many people as weprovide opportunities to get
(39:45):
some scientific training,society will be better because
people will get jobs.
More People have the capacityto feed their families, take
care of themselves, provideshelter and have a good
lifestyle, just by having alittle bit of education around
science, technology, engineering, math.
Beyond that, the biggest legacypoint is science is super cool
and is for everyone.
(40:05):
Period, mic drop.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Amen, we're going to drop the mic on that one.
This brings us to the end ofthis episode.
I want to thank our specialguest, dr Burley, for sharing
his love for science andbringing a real-life role model
for the next generation offuture scientists.
Dr Burley has and continues tobuild a lifelong legacy in
innovative programs to inspireyoung people, particularly young
(40:28):
people of color, to know thatscience is cool.
So thanks, dr B, for being onthe show.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
You got it and Coach Brown thanks for having me and
anybody listening to yourpodcast.
If you want to come to CoScifor free, shoot me an email at
burleyatcociorg or shoot CoachBrown an email saying I heard
this guy, dr B, on your podcast.
How do I get tickets for me andmy family or what have you?
I will take care of that.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
Thank you for that.
So I want to thank the audiencefor joining us during this
enlightening and informeddiscussion on building a
lifelong legacy in service.
Hope this episode wasbeneficial to you, as always.
Thanks for listening.
Be a Baller podcast.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
If you enjoy our show , please share this podcast with
your family and friends.
Be a Baller podcast isavailable on all major podcast
stations.
Be sure to come back next weekas we continue to discuss on how
to build a lifelong legacy.
Until then, don't forget to bea baller.
This podcast was created byCoach Tim Brown.
Thank you.
Welcome to Be A Baller podcast where we discuss
how to build a lifelong legacy.
I'm your host, coach Tim Brown.
Today, I'm excited to have onthe show with me Dr Frederick
Burtley.
Dr Burtley is an immunologistand science educator.
He is currently the presidentof CEO, which is the Center of
Science and Industry, a sciencemuseum in Columbus, ohio.
(00:29):
Prior to COSI, dr Berkleyworked as Senior Vice President
for Science and Education at theFranklin Institute in
Philadelphia.
Dr B is also an award-winninghost of an animated YouTube show
, Dr B in 3, and a televisionshow, qed with Dr B.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Here's some cool science from COSI, an official
science partner of our ColumbusBlue Jackets.
Physicist Isaac Newton wouldhave loved hockey.
Why?
Because it clearly proves histhird law of motion For every
action there's an equal andopposite reaction.
Who knew?
Well, isaac Newton did.
(01:06):
I'm a huge fan of hockey andall this time it was Newtonian
physics at work.
Want more science in your life?
Visit cosiorg.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Today on the show, dr B will share his love for
science and his commitment toinspiring young learners to be
curious about the fields ofscience, technology, engineering
and math.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Dr Berkley, welcome to your Ballot Podcast.
Coach Brown, thank you so muchfor inviting me to participate
on your incredible podcastseries.
Pleasure to be here.
Thanks, sir.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I had a question for you.
I knew you grew up in CanadaNow did you always have a love
of science?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
That's a funny story.
So a little more backgroundbefore the love of science.
So my parents are from theCaribbean, my dad's from
Trinidad, my mom's from Barbados, and they met in Montreal and
then had four kids.
And I like to say I'm the oopsbaby's younger brother.
Ok, so the brother above me, hewas a baby.
I was oops.
(02:04):
My mother was when-40s when Icame out definitely not planned
um, but but grew up in canadaand so I was an outdoorsy kid.
I was not a schooly kid.
I like to play hockey, soccer,basketball, baseball, football,
skateboard.
When I came in, even bmx andskiing, like I was, was just
outdoors kid.
But I had a.
(02:27):
I had a paper route and, beingbeing the son of West Indian
children, even though WestIndian parents, even though the
paper was my paper route, andcollect my little $5 a week or
whatever it was, that wasn't mymoney, that needed to go into my
bank account.
I was not allowed to spend it.
They were like you, save yourmoney, put it in the bank.
I was like, all right, and thenwhen I was 10 years old Coach
Brown, I don't know I'm datingmyself, but one of the first
(02:53):
handheld video games came out.
You might remember it's calledCalico Head-to-Head Football.
They had Head-to-Head Footballand Head-to-Head Baseball and I
wanted to get this game.
My friends had it down thestreet.
They had it.
My parents were like, no, youcan't buy it, save your money.
Finally, I just begged andbegged and finally they let me
buy it.
And so I bought it.
And you know, back then thesehandheld games weren't energy
(03:16):
efficient.
It took those square batteries,those 9-volt batteries.
You know the ones.
I'm sure you did as Coach Brown.
You stick out your tongue andyou zap your tongue to feel that
little sting.
Make sure you're laughing.
Yeah, I see you laughing, that'sexactly right.
So yeah, so it took thosebatteries, but it would chew
through those batteries realquick and I couldn't afford to
get new batteries, and so I didwhat I thought was a smart idea
(03:39):
at the time.
I went down to our basement.
We had an old lamp that wasn'tin use.
When I cut off the cable of thelamp, the part did the part you
plug in the wall, and I openedup the back of the game.
I ripped off that little snapcap that snaps on that nine volt
battery.
It's a red and black wire.
I attached it to the, to thelamp cord, and I coached around.
True story, I remember it likeit was today.
(04:00):
I plugged it into the wall,worked best 10 seconds of my
life.
By the 11th second, though,there was a char and spark at
the outlet.
My beautiful game that myparents let me buy my money
actually got charred and fried.
So I ruined my game and I wasbummed.
(04:21):
But I remember thinking after,despite being bummed.
I remember thinking that, wow,this electricity stuff that as a
kid I just been taking forgranted that you flick on a
switch and the lights come on,or you plug something in the
wall and it works.
I was like there's somethingreally interesting behind the
walls.
It just literally andmetaphorically sparked my
(04:44):
curiosity and that's what got mehooked on science and the
natural universe.
I then began to be obsessedwith why does this work?
Why is the grass green?
Why are ladybugs this way?
Why does a caterpillar have somany legs?
Why, why, why, why, why.
And I became that annoying kidthat was always asking the
adults in the room why, why, why.
But that got me hooked onunderstanding, kind of just,
(05:05):
nature and the natural universeand that's what got me hooked in
science.
So I didn't shoot out being ascientist or scientifically
inclined kid.
I was a sports kid.
But when I destroyed mycherished video game, that's
when okay, there's somethingcool here going on.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
There's a story about your dad's reaction to that.
Oh there is Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So he comes running down the stairs now you know
he's from Trinidad, but he livedin Canada at this point, like
30 years or something.
He only had a West Indianaccent when he wanted to have
one and he comes running downthe stairs like son, what are
you doing?
You're trying to burn down thehouse and I'm like no, no.
But after that I mean, what'sreally cool about my parents is,
(05:44):
even though he definitely was alittle irritated at that,
overall they were just sosupportive, and now they had
this weird wacky kid that wasinterested in and in science and
they supported me in whateverway I wanted to move forward.
So but yeah, that was a funnyparent experience for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
You know were you?
Were you always a science fairchampion?
Were you the champion ofscience fairs?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You know.
So that's a funny story.
So in Canada, in the US,science fairs are a big deal.
In Canada now they are a bigdeal.
When I was growing up, itmattered on what school you went
to, so if you didn't go to aschool that did them, you didn't
do them.
So I believe you're not.
I've never, ever, participatedmyself as a student in the
science fair Never.
(06:31):
I got into science fairs onlyas an adult.
When I started teaching.
I taught in elementary school,high school and then I taught
colleges as well.
But in my elementary and highschool period was when I was
working with students on theirscience fairs, and then I became
a what's called a nationalactually in this country as well
a national science fair judge,and so, even though I love
science fairs today, I thinkthey're so important at letting
all kids, regardless ofbackground, zip code, gender, to
(06:52):
get access to like doing somefun hands-on stuff.
I actually didn't do that as akiddo, which is interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You know now, was science cool with you and your
friends?
Was that the cool thing to do?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Absolutely not.
Science is not cool.
Hey, it ain't even cool today.
I mean, I tried my best to makeit cool but you know people are
Googling LeBron James, and, andyou know and and Queen B.
They're not Googling Bill Nye,the science guy, or Frederick,
it's just, it's not happening.
So science was not cool then.
But because I was all jokesaside because I was a very
(07:24):
athletic kid, I was kind of inthe not so much the cool, but in
the coolest kind of athletic.
So kids liked me.
I just also happened to likescience.
The other kids who are the truenerds, who had no athletic
skills and no game on the court,had no crossover.
No, fadeaway jump shot forgetit.
They were considered nerdy andweird.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I know you have.
I've heard you speak and youhave this thing today about how
the media needs to do a betterjob of promoting science people.
You know scientists today.
You know if you ask who's ascientist, you put up your sign
Dr Einstein and then you teaseBill Nye the science guy.
And if you ask me who ascientist is, you know I'm going
to say George Washington Carveris my man.
That's right, that's me.
Who a scientist is, you knowalmost like.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
George Washington Carver is my man.
That's right, that's right,yeah, and I'm glad you brought
that up.
And let me be clear GeorgeWashington Carver is an amazing
scientist.
It's amazing black scientist,but everybody needs to know him.
Einstein, marie Curie, youmentioned it, you know, but
those are all dead, right.
And then the challenge is whenyou try to ask somebody, well,
name a living scientist, thenthey scratch their head and
that's where they may say BillNye, the Science Guy, or they
(08:26):
might say a Needlegrass Tyson,but that's it.
I mean the average person and,by the way, I'm not knocking
this right, I'm just stating thefact the average person out
there and I want to be clearblack or white, athletic or
non-athletic, musical or not, ifyou ask them to name a living
scientist, they have a toughtime.
And if you ask them to namefive, they're not going to be
able to do it.
They just can't do it Right.
(08:46):
And so my question is what'sthat about?
I mean, I'm a we were talkingbefore the podcast, we talked
about sports, my love for sports.
I'm a huge Patriots, celtics,montreal Canadians and Red Sox
slash national fan.
I love my sports.
I will never hate on an athlete.
Go get it, love it, and so Iunderstand why the media covers
that.
I also love singing and dancing.
I love hip hop.
(09:06):
I love jazz, I love you name it.
I love reggae, Like I loveartists too, but my problem is
or beef, if you will is yes, weneed to celebrate athletes and
entertainers.
You know that's a good thing todo, but scientists are the
(09:27):
people that make absolutelyeverything we do that makes our
lives healthy possible.
If you use your cell phone, itwas not LeBron James that made
that happen.
If you use navigation, it wasnot Queen Bee or Jay-Z that made
that happen, right.
If you use et cetera, et cetera, you can go to every aspect the
medicines that heal our lovedones, transportation, the cars
we drive.
It are all created byscientists and engineers who
(09:48):
dedicate their lives, coachBrown, to move the needle
forward and give us the besttechnology and stuff to improve
our standard of living.
Something like take a shower,turn on your water.
We take that for granted inAmerica.
You just got to tap, you turnit on.
Well, somebody came up withthat and it wasn't the singer,
dancer, rapper, athlete, youknow, politician, it was a
(10:10):
scientist.
And so my beef is I'm notsuggesting it's going to be the
same level of a LeBron James orAdele or Rihanna.
I get it.
I mean, those are famous peoplemaking a whole lot of cash, but
if we could just show a littlebit more love.
You know, if the media ingeneral can not just make fun of
them and have this?
You know, this big bang, showthat, okay, these nerdy, smart
(10:33):
geniuses?
No, you know, like, makescience, you know, more engaging
, showcase some more scientists.
Which is why I'm so honored tobe on your show that you decided
to highlight some of them.
You know, like I said, I lovesports and entertainment, but I
am a scientist and I appreciateyou bringing me on.
So that's, that's the beef.
It's just not saying it shouldbe the same level, but just show
a little more.
(10:54):
I mean, as the expression says,put some respect on the
scientist's name, man, like,come on, you can't.
You can't get through your daywithout science.
It's impossible.
I'm sorry, dr B, I apologize,right, but don't you agree with
me?
Put some respect on that personthat made your cell phone
possible, right, like you can'tlive without a cell phone.
(11:14):
At least most of us can't,right?
I mean, the food was.
Some scientists and engineersand agriculture experts made
that food possible for us to eat.
Oh boy he fired up, up.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I'm fired up you know the other thing, uh, the thing
I love about you is that all youknow, all the talk, but you
also put, put it into action.
And one thing you did can youtalk about the vision of the
free science all day?
Community days in philadelphiathat you started, and now I
attended the one in columbus andthat one was just awesome.
Can you talk about your visionbehind that?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
So that's a funny story.
So I moved from Philadelphia,you mentioned, as at the
Franklin Institute, that'sactually the oldest science
museum in the United States ofAmerica.
I moved from there to Columbusto be the president, ceo of the
Center of Science and Industry,affectionately known as COSID,
and for those folks out inCleveland, this is equivalent to
the Great Lakes Science Center.
You know that kind of thing.
(12:15):
All right, and so I startedJanuary 1, 2017.
And my first major interview waswith this writer named Mary
Yost, who is the writer forColumbus CEO Magazine, and that
was like three, like just thebeginning of February.
I'm doing this interview,interview and interview's going
fine.
Oh, tell me about thebackground, all that kind of
stuff.
And then she says so, drburtley, you came from the
famous franklin institute.
What are you going to bringfrom philadelphia and bring here
to columbus?
So I, being green and naive,open my big mouth and say oh, we
(12:40):
did this thing called thephiladelphia science festival'm
going to bring the sciencefestival here to Columbus, not
knowing that your mouth isclosed when you're speaking to a
reporter unless you want tomake sure they go with it.
It's a true story, covermagazine.
I'm in there with my armsstretched out and it says
Hurtley promises to bringscience festival to Columbus.
(13:03):
I tell that story because if youask people what a science, I
mean you came to it so you knowwhat it is.
But if you ask most people whata science festival is, they
have no idea.
Everybody knows what a jazzfestival is, everybody knows
what a riff festival is,everybody knows what a art
festival is, et cetera, etcetera.
You say science festival,people scratch their head.
What are you talking about?
And so here I am on the coverof the magazine as a new person
to the Ohio region promising tobring this thing that nobody
(13:26):
knows what the heck it is and,by the way, it costs a lot of
money to put it on.
And so, yeah, so I had tofundraise that crazy.
But long story short, what itis?
The very simple premise is toyour point, it's to make science
accessible, right?
Like, yes, we have the OhioState or Carnegie, or you know
the Case Western or whatever.
(13:47):
We have all these greatuniversities, right, but you
can't walk into those researchlabs, they're not going to let
you in, right?
And so how do you make scienceaccessible?
So the concept of a sciencefestival.
This is not at CoSAR, at ourbuilding for the most part.
Ours is four days long.
The first three days we do 100different events in 20 different
communities, including andaround Columbus.
(14:09):
So we are working with mayors,elected officials, to get out in
the community and work withtheir constituents to put on
activities there.
And our line is we want todeliver science where you live,
where you learn and you lounge.
And Coach Brown, the reason whythat's important is if you go to
even a co-sign.
But if you go to the Ohio Stateor MIT and you walk into the
lab and have an experience whichis very hard to do, but let's
(14:32):
say you're able to get throughand do that, even if you have a
cool experience, you don'tnecessarily think that that's
for you.
You're like, okay, I got lucky,I got in, but I'm not part of
that.
But if you do an experiment oran experience in your church, in
your community center, in yourrestaurant, at your favorite rib
barbecue joint, where you'rereally comfortable, you're like,
(14:53):
wait a minute, I'm doing so.
I'm around my people, I'm in mycommunity, maybe this is for me
.
So it's very intentional that wedo this massive expose on
science everything fromengineering, to environmental
sciences, to agriculture, tomedicine, you name it.
But we showcase it incommunities around, in this case
Central Ohio, and those firstthree days we do 100 events and
(15:15):
then that last day, the fourthday, we call it the big science
celebration and I think that'swhat you came to.
That's actually at COSI, butthat's not in our building, it's
outside and we have 200 tents.
That's actually at COSI, butthat's not in our building, it's
outside and we have 200 tents.
Google's there, intel's there,ohio State has about 10 tents,
automine has five you name it,et cetera.
And people come from not justColumbus but from really far.
Honda is there, battelle, andthey're showcasing in ways that
(15:39):
you, as a visitor, you're notgetting a pamphlet from Battelle
Research Labs or a pamphletfrom Honda here's our next car.
You are interacting with ahands-on experience and really
doing something like a scientistor an engineer and we've had a
lot of fun with it.
We've done five years so farand people really love it in
this community.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
That was great.
My wife and I attended, alongwith my nephew he's about 10
years old and he was just soexcited.
You know, just to, just to, andI love the hands on, and it
wasn't just like you said handsto my pamper, here come Chad.
No, you got to actually dosomething, you know, and it was
awesome.
It was awesome, you know.
Speaking of that, why are yousuch an advocate for introducing
(16:20):
minority students to careers inSTEM?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah, oh man, now you thought I was animated earlier.
Now you really got me fired uplike that.
So there are some fundamentalreasons why diversity and equity
, if you will, diversity andinclusion is important in
general, but especially for thesciences.
Let's just say you know you gotto do the right thing right.
(16:46):
I mean, if science is thefuture, if science provides
opportunities, you can get agood job with just a two-year
degree from Columbus State insome computer science thing.
You might start at $80,000.
I mean, that's a legit good job.
So just making sure all peoplebut in the context of America,
especially Black and Brown folksand girls who are
(17:08):
underrepresented, women anddifferentiated genders, however
you want to define that theyneed to have access to this too.
It can't just be for rich kidsor kids who have parents who are
scientists or engineers, right?
So you want to make sureeverybody has access to that.
If we want to talk about, youknow, raising people out of
poverty, providing economicsustainability, talk about
(17:29):
filling that workforce pipeline,well, you know, get everybody
engaged.
So that's one the right thingto do.
But the other thing is I havethis line that I say genius
knows no color, no race, nosocioeconomic status and no zip
code and no gender.
No socioeconomic status and nozip code and no gender.
(17:52):
What I'm talking about is you,named george washington carver.
Well, he's african-american.
He's a genius.
Sure?
Einstein's a genius?
Sure?
Mark zuckerberg came up with acool technology you know,
transferred, transformed ourworld with social media.
But genius knows no color.
If half of this great country,or, depending what sense, 41
percent of the United States ofAmerica, or 43 percent or
(18:13):
sometimes 47 percent, is notwhite, right, we want to make
sure we provide opportunitiesfor half of the country to learn
about this, because we mightmiss the next person who will
cure cancer, we might miss thatnext genius who might come up
with the next communicationdevice.
We might miss that next personwho will come up with the best
(18:35):
way of saving our environmentfrom incredible pollution, et
cetera, et cetera, if we don'tensure women have opportunities
here.
Women make up 51% of the USpopulation.
So forget about even doing theright thing if you're not into
supporting different races andother causes, if you're just
thinking, practically speaking,from an American strength and
(18:57):
workforce development and thenext great genius leaders and
technological innovators.
If we don't bring in half ofthe country, we're going to miss
out.
So those are the two reasons.
One it's the right thing, man,you want everybody to have the
opportunity.
The third thing I'll say isagain back to the entertainment
thing, and I like to use thatonly because most of us are into
entertainment, whether it'ssports or movies and dancing hey
(19:18):
, I love that stuff.
Harder to be jay-z beyonce,little wayne, you know drake
versus, you know you name him.
I mean, it's so you know youwant to be the next lebron james
(19:38):
, you want to be the the 15thman on the bench.
You want to ride pine in thenba or or be in the dugout and
never see the field.
It is so hard.
And I want to be clear, coach.
But I am not saying don't chaseyour dream.
If you're an athlete and youwant to be a professional
athlete, hey, chase your dream.
I'm just saying let'sunderstand some basic math and
(19:59):
probability.
It is infinitely harder for youto do that than to be Dr B,
than to get an engineeringdegree, than to get a PhD, let
than to be Dr B, than to get anengineering degree, than to get
a PhD, let alone getting amaster's or an undergrad where
you can feed your family for 30,40, 50 years.
So that's the third piece tothat.
Again, not poopooing on allthese other big dreams, but it's
(20:19):
actually doable.
You know, just be okay, getthrough high school, get into a
college, pick a discipline.
Yeah, it's a little tough hereand there, but it's not nearly
as hard as playing for the OhioState Buckeyes, let alone making
it to the Browns.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Right, yeah, that's good.
One thing you said there, twothings making it accessible.
And then the biggest thing yousaid was it's doable, it's
doable.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Absolutely.
I mean that's so important.
I mean you think about all theschools.
That's so important.
I mean you think about all theschools and I know we have tough
K-12 schools, especially insome urban zip codes, but at the
end of the day, there are somany colleges and two-year
colleges, four-year colleges,tech colleges in this great
country that you know what, ifyou can just get out, you know
you don't have to be a 4.0.
(21:01):
If you can just get out andfind your way in.
You struggle through that, butnow you're 22, 24.
Out and find your way in.
You struggle through that, butnow you're 22, 24.
You have the rest of your lifeto earn money and you will have.
If you study STEM, you willhave a job.
That I promise you.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Good, I have this thing.
I talk to young people all thetime, adults as well.
You can't be what you can't see, and that's what I love about
you.
During that whole event mynephew saw nephew saw you, you
know and then got a picture withyou and we didn't say that
picture and we're gonna keep.
You know he keep looking atthat picture and he can say I
can do this.
(21:36):
You know I, I can.
You know you got to seesomebody doing that.
Nathan harris is another one Ibring with me all the time.
You know guys like that, butyou know I gotta jump in there,
coach brown.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
That's why you are coach brown, because you hit the
nail on the role models arecritical, right I mean?
So you talked about dr nathanharris.
He's another great brotherdoing some really cool things.
Role models are critical.
When they see you in that role,I mean, oh my gosh, I let alone
meet you personally.
It's like, wait a minute, he'snot speaking some latin
(22:07):
highfalutin language, he'sdropping bars like an mc, he's
about to battle me, but he'stalking about science, right.
So it's like I love the factthat you highlighted that,
because that's so important.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yeah it was we as we then.
Now let's flip to your the funyou have on your youtube channel
.
You know dr b 3, and then thetelevision for QED with Dr B on
PBS.
What is it about those showsthat you're trying to highlight
or you're trying to do withthose?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, thanks for plugging those two things.
So a little background.
So the QED with Dr B is aprimetime television show that's
30 minutes long, so it's a TVshow.
It's what's called a magazinestyle where I go around
interviewing scientists andengineers from around this
country.
I think a few of the scientistswere outside the country, did
that through Zoom, but ingeneral go around interviewing
(22:58):
scientists, so that's a TV showhalf hour.
The Dr B in three is ananimated series and these are
three minute short videos.
So those are two things, but thepurpose of both of them is is
similar and that's and this is acall out to to when you talk
about tribe, my tribe and this,the tribe I'm talking about now
is the scientists and engineertribes.
(23:18):
A lot of times we um, you knowwe're arrogant, you know, we we
have this attitude that we'resmarter than everybody else and
we work in these things calledthe ivory towers of higher
education or research labs.
We speak in a vocabulary thatoftentimes 12 other people
around the world understand andwe think that makes us smarter
(23:39):
and that's part of the problem.
Yes, on the one hand, we talkedabout media earlier on this
podcast.
I wish media would celebrateand elevate scientists and
engineers more.
But we as scientists andengineers also need to get off
our little silver platter youknow our little podium and be
accessible to the average person, right.
And so the purpose of those twoshows is to show, is to one
(24:02):
take important scientificconcepts, whether it's climate
change, whether it's generativeAI and how that's shaking up the
world, you know, whatever it isgenetically modified organisms,
or just the science of exercise, or the science of stress,
whatever these topics are thatdeal with us, that we deal with
every day, is to deconstructthem, but in a way that doesn't
(24:22):
make the viewer think thatthey're small or pardon the
expression but dumb or stupid.
So to deconstruct in a way thatstill engages the audience,
makes the audience feelcomfortable, but they actually
learn something.
And so we do that with the tvshow.
And then, similarly, we do itwith the animated series.
But the animated series.
We've just learned over timethat people like animation and,
even though it's animated, thesearen't for little kids.
(24:44):
I I mean it's for, like youknow, maybe upper middle school,
but really high school,undergrad and adults, even
though it's animated.
And those are.
Those are three minute videoswhere we break down a concept
and make again, making itaccessible and hopefully
enjoyable to the audience.
But I want to say this what I'mso proud about with the team and
(25:06):
let me step back the TV showwith PBS, so that's WOSU PBS.
So they own half the rights.
We own half the rights In caseof the animated series.
That's 100% co-sign.
We own all those rights becausewe created the whole thing
in-house.
And I'm proud about both ofthese products because, believe
it or not, we've won nine Emmysin three years for those shows.
(25:28):
And the reason why I'm so proudabout that is sure, having an
Emmy trophy is kind of fun.
It's a conversation piece thatpeople see behind you.
I don't have it right herebecause I'm actually at home,
not the office, but it's a funconversation piece.
But more important than that,coach Brown, is Emmys, which
recognize the best televisionkind of in the world, have
decided that sciencecommunication and science
(25:50):
literacy is actually importantand you know what, if someone's
doing some good stuff, some goodTV or good media around that,
we're going to recognize themand that's why I'm so proud
about that.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, you are.
Now we got to get to this shoegame.
You got going, you know, I knowyou're the shoe man and your
collection is envied by me andothers, you know.
Can you talk to us about theconnection between science and
fashion?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, so I mentioned earlier, I'm the last of four
kids and my dad, being fromTrinidad, you know was who he
was, but he was just such agreat man, very educated.
One of the things is he lovedShakespeare and as a kid he used
to read Shakespeare.
Now, he was reading Shakespeare.
As a kid I'm like at the time Iwanted to listen to Run DMC and
(26:40):
Kumo D and Grandmaster FlashDon't Push Me, because I'm Close
Like that's what I used to do.
My dad's like okay, you'regoing to like that rap thing,
but let me also read you someShakespeare.
And so he would readShakespeare to us and so I'll
never forget it.
There's, you know, the classicHamlet.
I mean, a lot of us read Hamletduring high school and I don't
know if you remember the story,but he's leaving his home,
(27:04):
denmark, and he's going toFrance for the first time and
his uncle, he's not Hamlet,actually, he's Laertes.
And his uncle, polonius, isgiving his nephew Laertes this
advice, and this is the one.
He says all kinds of stuff inthis long soliloquy, but he says
it's the same one where he saysand most of all, to thine own
(27:25):
self, be true, for if thou arttrue to thyself, thy cannot be
false to any man, right, or aversion of that.
But in that soliloquy one ofthe lines he said is dress rich,
not gaudy.
And he says because the clothesoften proclaim the man.
And as a kid I didn't get that,but my dad used to always dress
(27:47):
sharp.
You know, he had those nicesuits back in the 60s, 70s, 80s,
cufflinks.
He's always a snazzy Westerndresser and he would teach us
that, look, it's not about beingsuperficial.
People like to use theexpression, don't judge a book
by its cover.
But, coach Brown, that's thebiggest BS ever.
Because why do you pick up thebook or the magazine in the
(28:08):
first place?
Because the cover looked darngood to you or interesting, it
was appealing to you.
And so, whether you like it ornot, fashion is how you choose
to present yourself to the worldaround you, and whether you're
talking to somebody about whatyou're wearing or not, you are
having a silent conversationwith them.
You are having a silentconversation with them and
they're judging you, not sayingmaliciously or not, but they're
(28:29):
making decisions about who youare as a human being based on
what you're wearing.
And so as I grew into being anadult, I was like that's what my
dad is talking about.
That's what Shakespeare istalking about.
You know the clothes oftenproclaim the man, and so you
know that got me into fashion.
So I love fashion and for mefashion isn't about spending a
(28:55):
billion dollars and having themost expensive sneakers that
were just.
You know that are sold.
You know waiting in line forthree years, three days to get
them.
But it's about you beingcomfortable with who you are
deciding how you want to show upin the world and bring a game.
So that's one.
Two I do like kicks, I do likesneakers.
I have a little bit of a sneakygame.
Combination of my two thingsare Jordans and Chuck Taylors.
(29:17):
And I have everything, some ofthe classics I don't have for
the record, I do not have allthe Jordans in the official
Jordan collection, but I got acouple of shelves of Jordans at
the house, but but I got acouple of shelves of Jordans at
the house, but I also love ChuckTaylors, and so that became a
thing where that's my thing,that I like having.
You know, I like wearingsneakers.
And then the third piece tofashion is, while all of that's
(29:38):
true, especially in my case as ascientist, I think it's useful,
and I don't do it because ofthis, but I'm conscious of it as
I do it, and that's that.
You know, I want people to seethat, hey, you can be a
scientist, but you can stillhave shoe game.
You know, you can still havesome cool clothes, you can still
be hip or stylish or in vogueor whatever the words are.
You know, you can have game inthe fashion thing, but still be
(30:00):
a neurophysicist, a oncologist,a environmental scientist.
You don't have to wear as wetalked earlier.
You don't have to have a labcoat with a pocket protector and
your calculator sticking out todeclare you're a scientist.
And so that's why I lovefashion.
But most importantly, it's anextension of who you are and,
whether you like it or not, ifyou're on that bus going to work
or you're walking down thatstreet, people are judging you
(30:22):
rightly or wrongly, based on howyou look.
Now you, you have to havesubstance behind that and
hopefully you have some goodcore values in who you are as a
person.
But at the end of the day,swagger people see the swagger
on the outside.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
You know.
The other thing that you'vedone is you opened up CoSci to a
lot of events, you know, andyou've given people an
opportunity.
I've seen some of those events.
People are really gettingdressed up to come into CoSci,
but I think it's twofold One.
You got them in the door sothey can come in and see about
science, you know, and all that,but also it gives them an
opportunity to, you know, todress up and then you, being the
(30:57):
man if you dressed up,everybody know when they come
they gotta come right, cause Docgonna be.
You know Doc gonna be styling,so you can't come in and clown
in that you know Doc will bestyling.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
So you can't come in and clown at that.
You know that's the heart ofour community.
Get people dressed up and lookgood.
We like to go out and look good, but I do have to give a
special shout out to the boardof trustees that hired me
because, you know, I'm not fromColumbus, I'm not from Ohio.
They did an international searchfor the next CEO when I was
coming on board.
They found me and went throughthe process and then, when I
kind of when it became clearthat I was a finalist, you know,
(31:26):
they said to me.
They said, hey, dr B, actuallythis is Dr Burton at the time.
Dr Burton, you know, clearlyyou're advancing as one of our
candidates, our lead candidates.
You know, if, if we offered youthe job, you know, is there
anything you'd want to say?
And I said, well, I'm honoredto be in this position, I'm
(31:49):
honored to to be aist andhopefully you will offer me the
job.
But before you offer me the job, I just want to make it clear
to you that, while I love thehistory of what I learned about
COSI, I've spent a lot of timewalking through it and if you do
go with me, I want to make surethat that building reflects
more of the American diversityand the Columbus diversity, and
(32:12):
so, if you do go with me, yes,I'm going to make sure we still
have, you know, a lot of whitemoms bringing their kids in
there to go to little kids space.
But I want to make sure blackfolks are in that building,
brown folks are in that building, that young folks but when I
say young, between 12 and 22 arealso engaged, and that COSI
becomes a community asset andnot just an asset for a subset
(32:33):
of people.
And, to their credit, theylooked at me and they said, dr
Burley, that's why you're theperfect person for the job.
So I want to just give a shoutout to them and you're spot on.
I got in there and I was like,look, everybody needs to have
access to this.
So we cater to all kinds ofcommunities.
We've got a group called theCenter of Societal Inclusion,
which is shortened as COSI, butthat's where we reach out to the
(32:54):
Bhutanese community, the FirstAmerican community, the Latino
community you name it the Jewishcommunity, et cetera, and, of
course, the black and browncommunity, and so it's been
great.
So we have one of the biggestevents, in fact.
One of the biggest events.
In fact it's going to beNovember, november, I want to
say 18th this year.
It's the Excellence Black Tieevent and that's one of the
biggest African-American eventsin the state of Ohio.
(33:16):
We will have thirty fivehundred to four thousand
African-American folks, fromtwenty one to seventy To your
point, coach Brown dress to thenines and you're going to be
rocking and jamming and shuckingand jiving, having a great time
with science and fantasticentertainment.
No-transcript.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
It's awesome.
I once heard you talk about DeLa Soul.
You said that the stakes arehigh in challenging the next
generation in science.
Why are you on a mission togive more students interest in
science?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, I'm a huge hip-hop head.
I like new hip-hop but I'm alittle old school.
De La Soul is one of myfavorite groups.
One of my favorite albums isthat album titled Stakes.
They said stakes is high is howthey quote it.
But I'm with you Stakes arehigh.
But it's that concept that forall people, but especially our
(34:13):
community, like the stakes arehigh.
If you're not or your immediatesurroundings are not connected
to science, technology,engineering and math, you are
going to get left behind.
Look at computer science, lookat AI.
Look where the job industry andthe sector is going.
It's all about digitaltechnology.
Or look into life sciences it'sall about drug discovery,
(34:37):
medicines, et cetera.
I mean this is all science.
Agriculture Ain't nobodypulling a donkey and planting a
seed with a donkey pulling it?
That's not happening.
This is all computerizedtechnology that's planted all
the farms and growing all ourproduce.
It's all around us and so thestakes are high.
I always say not everybody,including black and brown or
(34:59):
women not everybody needs to bea PhD scientist.
But just like you're supposedto read, right, if you can't
read or write and you'reilliterate, you're embarrassed
about that, your family'sembarrassed for your friends.
There's a little shame attachedto it.
No one expects you to be MayaAngelou or William Shakespeare,
but you're still expected toread.
Same thing with counting.
You know you don't have to be amathematical genius, but you
still expect it to be able tocount and figure out your change
(35:21):
.
Well, in the same way, weshould have some vocabulary,
some literacy around science,and that's why I say the stakes
is high and that's why all kids,but especially the kids from
the more underserved zip codes,the more struggling schools, we
need to make sure that they haveaccess to this opportunity to
learn about science, technology,engineering and math.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, that's good.
I once saw when you gave anexample about how we do school
you know the same way with thedesks and all that you know and
how the hands-on and I wasblessed to walk into a couple
schools in Columbus and see thatfirst hand hands-on piece and
it was just I think it was somekids doing some DNA kind of
stuff you know at East HighSchool I think it was some kids
doing some DNA kind of stuff,you know, at East High School.
(36:04):
I want me to see how excitedthose kids were, you know, and
it's just.
But that's the science piece.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
It's a science piece and the broader is the education
piece.
I mean every.
I mean outside of the Amishpopulation, right?
Most of us don't use a horseand buggy anymore, right?
We use planes, trains andautobooms to get around.
How many?
When's the last time youcommunicated with a smoke signal
or a cup and string or atelegraph, coach Brown, you
don't.
You know you use these devices,these cell phones, right?
When is the last time youunfolded a map?
(36:32):
You know, my dad used to takethe family on these trips and he
would unfold this map on asteering wheel and he'd try to
drive with this floppy map andmy mother would be obsessed with
me.
Put away the map, man, you'regoing to crash us, right?
Well, we don't Matter of fact.
If you show a map to a kidtoday, they'd look at you like
you're crazy.
We have this thing called GPStechnology.
(36:53):
Medicines, right?
I mean, I'm into holisticmedicine and so there's a lot of
.
You know, definitely, ourancestors have some good
therapies that we need topreserve, but at the end of the
day, you're going to a pharmacyand buying something to help you
get better.
Technology has moved allaspects of our lives forward.
We don't hunter and gather.
Did you go for a bow and arrowyesterday to get your meal?
You either went into yourfridge, freezer or restaurant,
(37:15):
right.
But schools haven't changed,coach Brown, right?
I mean, for the most part, alot of these public schools,
where the lion's share ofAmericans are educated, are
desks in rows with kids boredout of their minds.
So I love the fact that youcalled out some of these schools
where you saw kids doinghands-on stuff, because that's
where science is right.
(37:36):
Science isn't in a book anymore, science is at the bench, doing
discovery, innovating, etcetera.
So we need to just do more ofthat.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
That's great, you know, as we come around the
corner, let's talk.
You know it's a legacy podcast.
We talk about building alifelong legacy.
What would you say?
What's the legacy of DrFrederick Berkeley?
Well, what's your legacy?
I know it's still building andevolving.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'm honored that you would even think of me having a
legacy at this point, at onepoint.
I'm honored that you would eventhink of me having a legacy at
this point, at one point, whenthe history is written and I'm
pushing up daisies, maybe theremight be some legacy.
But if I do look in therearview mirror and say you know
, what do I hope to be part of?
And that's one getting peopleto be less and less scared or
(38:19):
disconnected from science andengineering.
It's everywhere on planet Earth.
It allows us to do all thethings and you don't have to be
an expert.
But back to the literacy justlike reading and writing, you
should understand some stuffabout science and math and
engineering.
So I hope I've made a smalldent in getting people
(38:41):
comfortable around that.
And then two, I hope I make adent in getting people to
appreciate that you know justfrom a daily, weekly, monthly
workforce development, lifestyleopportunities that getting some
science or engineeringeducation can open the world to
(39:01):
you and for your listeners.
I traveled around the worldbetween 20 and 24 without a dime
in my pocket because I learneda couple of skill sets when I
was an undergraduate student.
I learned just laboratory skillsets and so I ended up doing
some work for the World HealthOrganization, living in Haiti,
living in the Sudan, living inthe Canadian Arctic, just
(39:24):
traveling to some reallydifferent places and travel is
important because it broadensyour mind, but I did that on
other people's dimes.
So if there are two legacies,it's one.
Hey, science isn't this weirdthing that you should be scared
of?
Jump in, learn, be excited byit.
And two as many people as weprovide opportunities to get
(39:45):
some scientific training,society will be better because
people will get jobs.
More People have the capacityto feed their families, take
care of themselves, provideshelter and have a good
lifestyle, just by having alittle bit of education around
science, technology, engineering, math.
Beyond that, the biggest legacypoint is science is super cool
and is for everyone.
(40:05):
Period, mic drop.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Amen, we're going to drop the mic on that one.
This brings us to the end ofthis episode.
I want to thank our specialguest, dr Burley, for sharing
his love for science andbringing a real-life role model
for the next generation offuture scientists.
Dr Burley has and continues tobuild a lifelong legacy in
innovative programs to inspireyoung people, particularly young
(40:28):
people of color, to know thatscience is cool.
So thanks, dr B, for being onthe show.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
You got it and Coach Brown thanks for having me and
anybody listening to yourpodcast.
If you want to come to CoScifor free, shoot me an email at
burleyatcociorg or shoot CoachBrown an email saying I heard
this guy, dr B, on your podcast.
How do I get tickets for me andmy family or what have you?
I will take care of that.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
Thank you for that.
So I want to thank the audiencefor joining us during this
enlightening and informeddiscussion on building a
lifelong legacy in service.
Hope this episode wasbeneficial to you, as always.
Thanks for listening.
Be a Baller podcast.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
If you enjoy our show , please share this podcast with
your family and friends.
Be a Baller podcast isavailable on all major podcast
stations.
Be sure to come back next weekas we continue to discuss on how
to build a lifelong legacy.
Until then, don't forget to bea baller.
This podcast was created byCoach Tim Brown.
Thank you.
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