A Brilliant Future Written in the Stars

The first keynote speaker of the 2024 ACEC Fall Conference in New Orleans kicked off his presentation with a bang – literally.

Astrophysicist and former Space Science Education Lead Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi prefaced his remarks with a brief video on “extreme science” – experiments gone wrong that led to discoveries that ultimately would make life safer, easier, and just flat out more fun.

Oluseyi greeted the roomful of engineering professionals with, “Good morning, fellow nerds,” setting the stage for a 45-minute address that was equal parts inspirational and hilarious. He began with a metaphor about quantum physics, namely that initial conditions don’t define outcome. It’s widely accepted social science that economic and educational factors surrounding children determine their future prospects. But, Oluseyi declared, it’s not necessarily so.

Demography doesn’t always have to be destiny.

The brilliant, highly esteemed, internationally renowned scientist then began his life story. Raised in deep poverty, Oluseyi moved every year for a decade, each time to some of the most economically ravaged parts of the Deep South. By the time he landed in rural Mississippi, two sets of circumstances had converged. The first was that Oluseyi had become more deeply involved in his father’s “business,” about which he joked that his late parent would be “happy to know is now legal in 35 states.”

The second was that he “fell in love with nature.” Oluseyi joked that he was “born a nerd,” and that his love of books began at an early age. With no children’s books in the house, he voraciously consumed Alex Haley’s “Roots,” which further ignited his love of learning and sparked a realization that there was a bigger world than that which surrounded him.

The self-proclaimed “gangsta nerd,” continued to lead a double life – relaxing after a day spent packaging drugs by reading the entire collection of World Book encyclopedias. When he reached the letter “E,” that’s when life began to change. “I ran into this dude,” Oluseyi said, pointing to a photo on the screen. That “dude” was Albert Einstein, whose work inspired the 10-year-old Oluseyi to “master relativity.”

From that moment, a new trajectory was created, helped along by what he called “Hustle, Hope, and Help.” The first in his family to graduate high school, Oluseyi found himself at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. Homeless for his first two summers, he began working as a research assistant at the University of Georgia in Athens. Recognizing his brilliance, a series of mentors steered Oluseyi toward grad school. The kid from the worst high school in the poorest part of the poorest state in America was accepted to Stanford University.

Oluseyi closed his remarks by remembering those who helped him find his way, and shared that he continues to pay that forward with other disadvantaged young people. “When we help each other,” he said, “we can accomplish anything. There’s no telling what can happen.”