Oludurotimi Adetunji embarks on his first day as Brown's director of scientific outreach today. The new position is "a recognition on the part of the University that we need to pay attention to outreach," said David Targan, associate dean of the College for science education. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said the new position will not only expand the University's science advising, but also help develop the outreach mission of the newly opened Science Center.
Adetunji will be joining a group of scientists at Brown who have chosen to move from career research to outreach, Targan said.
"We need more scientists. We need more engineers," Adetunji said.
"When you look at the data, we're producing about 50,000 engineers per year by now," he said. "China produces about 500,000 engineers. We need to do something to change the picture."
Adetunji said he hopes to help Brown recruit and retain concentrators in the "STEM" disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — which he said have attracted few students recently. Women and minority students are particularly underrepresented in the "STEM" disciplines, he said.
Adetunji believes that "Brown can become a national leader" in the science communities. He said forming partnerships with faculty and students is important not only within Brown, but also within the larger Rhode Island community. Scientific outreach to middle school, high school and community college students is crucial to the vitality of sciences at Brown, he said. Adetunji said he hopes to attract prospective students by sending Brown undergraduates out to schools as "ambassadors" in the sciences to showcase relevant research at Brown.
He plans to facilitate partnerships between Brown scientists and those of nearby universities and explore how Brown's scientific work can benefit society. Adetunji said his other goals include writing grants, presenting work and publishing more research papers.
"You are a scientist first, but also a teacher," Targan said. "It's important that scientists not be isolated in our ivory towers. It's important that scientists explain to taxpayers that their research has significance to the public at large."
"That's not something you can just read about on the front page of the New York Times," he continued.
One of the first things Adetunji said he will do is to "administer a University-wide inventory." Brown needs a blueprint of the activities that scientists, students and faculty are starting within different departments, he said. Interdepartmental communication is fundamental to getting greater funding, especially when activities overlap, he said.
"The sciences are expensive," Targan said. "We have funding needs for the laboratories. We can't just operate with a whiteboard or a blackboard. We need grants to obtain the best and most cutting-edge facilities and to recruit cutting-edge scientists."
Adetunji — a native of Nigeria — graduated from Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tenn., with a degree in physics and computer science in 2002. He received his doctorate from Ohio State University in 2008, where he worked in experimental physics. After graduating, he worked as a physical scientist for the Navy and served as assistant dean in the division of natural and mathematical sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State. While in Ohio, he received two National Science Foundation grants, including one for a program he developed to spread awareness about the geological sciences.
