NASA Needs to Think Beyond The Mohawk Guy
Dr. John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 3rd from left, meets with members of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory team on Thursday, August 1, 2013 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. August 6, 2013 EDT will mark the first anniversary of the Curiosity rover’s landing on Mars. Larger image
Keith’s note: I am the first one to complain that NASA does not touch the public as well as it could and am always eager to applaud them when they do. Its nice that “Mohawk Guy” (authentic rocket scientist Bobak Ferdowsi) has energized some subset of the geek chic community. But NASA seems to be obsessively focusing on him and his niche impact while gutting education and public outreach programs across the agency. In addition, while travel is being cut for scientific and technical meetings, Bobak gets to fly all over the place to do receptions and photo ops. Where’s the NASA focus on jocks, history majors, people without a career interest, inner city youth, blue collar workers, farmers, accountants, and everyone else who pays taxes and has a stake in what NASA does – and probably doesn’t even know what NASA already does for them? How many young people did he actually energize in the OSTP meeting room and at the receptions on Capitol Hill?
So long as NASA stays obsessed with their infrequent home grown media stars such as Mowhawk Guy they will not focus on the rest of us. No offense Bobak, I know you mean well, and that you do a lot of things on your own time out of sincere interest in NASA – and I hope that you continue to do so, but NASA needs to be about much more than a cool smart guy with a edgy haircut.
NASA needs to reach out to the remaining 98/99% of the people who pay the bills and have little or no idea what NASA does or means to their daily lives. NASA does not need to focus its limited resources on nerds who already understand what NASA does. Enough with the choir practice.
Mohawk Guy at State of the Union Address, earlier post
Yes, NASA is our future people. Give them ALL the money. DEAR GOD GIVE THEM MONEY AND ALL OF IT.
Three posts of vintage Cowling this morning. Looks like our friend Keith attended some sort of sword sharpening seminar this summer.
Lots of walking and hiking, actually.
Sweet
Just a minor note, I believe Ferdowski is a systems engineer, not a scientist.
I agree. I also think that NASA somehow has to communicate to the public that its budget is extremely low in comparison to, say, DOD. Perhaps this would put into perspective the insanity of trying to balance the Nation’s budget by cutting R&D in general and NASA’s in particular. If NASA cannot do this, we in the R&D community should step up our efforts.
Gelbstoff
I agree, his 15 minutes have expired! Also, do we only want to inspire boys? Are there no women at all in the space program now that Garver has left? This photo just looks like more white house self congratulation and milking past NASA successes instead of actually supporting a better future for the agency.
Boys are an endangered species nowadays…
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/…
I’ve said this for years: I grew up in the Brooklyn projects. Until NASA education can figure out how to engage the poor Black kid in the projects of NY & Chicago, or the poor White kid in the suburban trailer park, or the Hispanic kid from the barrio, it’s a failure.
Apollo inspired folks from all backgrounds to pursue STEM-based jobs.I will also give a nod to 60s & 70s science fiction on that note as well. I was one of those folks. . We have to be able to do that again. Unfortunately, I don’t see that on the horizon.
Totally agree.
Besides flying around doing those “NASA photo ops,” Bobak also mentors students from an under-served community (NW Pasadena) in a high school robotics program. The impact from that effort helps reach that 98/99% who don’t understand how NASA impacts their world.
He does this with little fanfare. Or is the media just more focused on his haircut rather than something more substantial? Even if you ignore the mentoring contribution, Bobak shows NASA isn’t stuck in the ’60s, with only white males with horned-rimmed glasses, white shirts and ties in the room. Yes, the agency IS accessible to a much broader demographic than in the Apollo era. He needs a lot more than “15 minutes” to get that message out…
No one doubts his dedication – but the only reason he became a media star was his haircut as he sat at his console on NASA TV. And that high school robotics program – again, commendable – doesn’t come close to reaching 98/99%.
I read NASA Watch regularly and follow NASA much more than the average Joe. And I’ve never heard of Mohawk Guy.
Seven minutes of terror .. when the mars mission landed, he was in the control room .. guy with a mohawk hair cut… it went viral and that became the conversation .. not the lander.
And NASA used the notoriety to help connect with some people. Great. And Bobak is a smart guy who understands things. But the interest factor has faded. Time to find others at NASA who represent other constituencies and communities – and keep doing this – until you start to make real connections in many places – not just with the Mohawk fans.
Thanks.
I agree, this is getting a liitle too played out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s had enough of it himself, but with all the cutbacks and restrictions these days, perhaps it’s best to just take whatever we can get.
Isn’t he with JPL?
Oh Keith, tumblr is not just geeks. It’s a mess of craziness.
There is a robotics club at our school (with supplies funded by NASA). Last year, the number of applications skyrocketed because of Curiosity. One month later, the hype has died down. Only a dozen geeks remain.
Some months later Pete Worden came to our town and the JPL folks did a fair. A group of well behaved students were chosen to go. It did draw a lot of townsfolk there, but all in all it wasn’t that inspiring.
No the posters in every single classroom except the English building isn’t inspiring either.
/Anecdote ends.
Couldn’t agree more. It’s pretty offensive that this guy gets to be carted around everywhere while the NASA E/PO budget is threatened with massive cuts, and the rest of us can’t travel due to sequestration. Even the JPL open house has been cancelled. Sorry, Bobak, it’s great that you’ve got a mohawk and get to party with celebrities, but that’s not outreach.
Few things turn off the interests of non-geeks as much as geeks arguing about how to get non-geeks interested in the things that geeks are passionate about. They kinda dismiss it as whining.
“Where’s the NASA focus on jocks, history majors, people without a career interest, inner city youth, blue collar workers, farmers, accountants, and everyone else who pays taxes and has a stake in what NASA does – and probably doesn’t even know what NASA already does for them?”
I guess it was easier in the past when NASA could parade their Jock-ish looking 60’s Astronauts. Before my time but it seems to be apparent that they captured the interest of the nation. And “all” it took was a program that cost tens of billions and an internationally rivalry. Today, Bobak and his colleagues, are, in some sense, being put in that role. Big shoes to fill, right? But, years back I often wondered why the astronauts got so much attention compared to some of their engineers. So I think it is neat that these geeks, software engineers and the types, are becoming the new poster people.
I think it is working. I’ve been to a maker faire in NYC where these robot folks are like rock stars. But only geeks go to maker faires, right? Hard to say what the background of these people were. But yesterday a jock, and you attend one maker faire, or take up an interest in NASA, and baam, someone slaps a label on you and you are not a jock anymore, you’re a geek. (More Geeks!)
I work in a blue-collar establishment. I’m the NASA guy cause I know more about what is going up in space than anyone else. I share. Made sure everyone was up on the roof for Enterprise. Shared my photos of the Wallops Anatares launch from that same roof. But it is hard to say I am actually swaying anybody to take a greater interest in it themselves. This is geek stuff and they still care more about the Mets and Yankees.
Actually, I find it is Hollywood that probably does the best job of converting people. It did for me when I was a child. It gets people talking. I think space movies have greater impact than NASA TV or education programs IMHO.