Hip-hop Rocket Science
At NASA and Nightclubs, Stars Align for DJ Scientific, Washington Post
“By day, NASA aerospace engineer Mark Branch supervises electromagnetic compatibility and susceptibility tests on instruments for the Hubble Space Telescope. At night and on weekends, he becomes DJ Scientific, trading in his spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes for a microphone, turntables and a mixer as he cranks hip-hop tunes at some of the Washington area’s hottest clubs as well as at NFL and NBA events.”
More from Mark’s website, ScientificBeats (below):
“For the determined individual, there are many different avenues that one can pursue to be successful in America. Scientific realizes that one avenue has a proven track record for success. That avenue is a solid, educational background!! As an engineer at NASA, Scientific regularly goes to schools across the DC area and across the nation to get kids interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). After talking to hundreds of elementary and middle school students for the past several years, he realized that something connected them. Both Scientific and the students he was trying to help felt a love for Hip-Hop.
One day while talking to students about what he does outside of NASA (namely his life as a DJ on TV and in the clubs), he noticed that the students became more attentive. Once he captured their attention, they were more receptive to learn about the plethora of career possibilities in STEM. After that life-changing experience, Scientific chose to utilize Hip-Hop culture as a means to capture the attention of students and direct their energies toward a focus on improving their scholastic performance. At this time, he is working on a plan to broaden his talks and get involved with “at-risk” kids at a DC elementary school to see if his ideas will improve those students’ scholastic performance and foster an attitude of furthering their education past high school and on to college and beyond! We all hope that he is successful with this endeavor.”
