IAM346- Student Improves Access to Science Education to Find World’s Long-term Problems

Rithvik Musuku is from Gilbert, AZ. He's still a student and intend to graduate with a degree in astronomy. There are many long-term problems the world faces and not many people around the world receive the same level of upbringing that he did in an American middle/upper-middle class family. Thus, he started Advancing Science Worldwide as he believes ensuring that everyone around the world has access to science education is key to finding solutions to our world's long-term problems, such as antibiotic resistance and climate change.

• CEO Hack: Book- The Tipping Point
• CEO Nugget: Set the right example for those around you
• CEO Defined: Example setter and hard worker

Website: https://www.aswinc.org/

Advancing Science Worldwide Social Media:
https://facebook.com/ASWcharity
https://twitter.com/ASWcharity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aswcharity

My Personal Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/RithvikMusuku0
https://www.linkedin.com/in/RithvikMusuku
https://www.twitter.com/RithvikMusuku

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:30

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Rithvik Musuku of Advancing Science Worldwide. Rithvik, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Rithvik Musuku 0:41

Great to be here. It's a pleasure.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

No problem and pleasure is all mine. And what I want to do, is read a little bit more about Rithvik, so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Rithvik Musuku is from Gilbert, AZ. He's still a student and intends to graduate with a degree in astronomy. There are many long-term problems the world faces and not many people around the world receive the same level of upbringing that he did in an American middle/upper-middle class family.

Thus, he started Advancing Science Worldwide as he believes ensuring that everyone around the world has access to science education is key to finding solutions to our world's long-term problems, such as antibiotic resistance and climate change. Rithvik, are you ready to talk to the I AM CEO Community?

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Rithvik Musuku 1:25

Yep.

Gresham Harkless 1:26

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Rithvik Musuku 1:34

Okay, so I'm originally from Illinois. And a couple of years ago, I moved to Arizona and my dream job has always been something like a Neil DeGrasse Tyson kind of thing, I've always been interested in astronomy or astrophysics, and he also has his own TV show and all that. So I've always wanted to do something like that. But I've always been interested in science. And I've always been reading up on futuristic and scientific trends and everything.

And I always noticed that a lot of these articles are written by people from more developed countries and people from higher upbringings. So the reason we started Advancing Science Worldwide is to ensure better access to science education, for people around the world and every country, every economic condition. And we believe that by doing that we can essentially solve the world's problems faster. As you mentioned, climate change and antibiotic resistance, and giving everybody access to science education, would allow us to have as many scientists as possible to solve those problems.

Gresham Harkless 2:37

Absolutely, I would definitely agree with that. I always say knowledge is power. So to be able to empower people about things that they may not know or have known about otherwise has definitely given them the tools by which they can help solve these problems and create the solutions that can help out the world overall.

Rithvik Musuku 2:53

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 2:55

Nice. And I wanted to drill a little bit deeper, could you tell us a little bit more about Advancing Science Worldwide, what you guys are doing to help, support the clients you're working with?

Rithvik Musuku 3:04

Okay, so our organization is fairly new, just under two years old. So we have a couple of main programs. One of our programs is library outreach, where we partner with startup libraries in developing regions around the world. And we supply them with a lot of scientific books, journals, and magazines, intended for all ages, from children to professional researchers. And so far we supply the libraries in three different countries and have increased access to education for almost 100,000 people.

And another one of our programs is our equipment donation program, where we partner with different facilities and other similar institutions in other developing regions and we supply them with equipment, maybe even facility upgrades. And although that program is not as established as our Library Outreach Programme, we're still working on increasing its scope of it.

And we have another program called the disruptors, which is a podcast. It's about two or three days per episode. And we have a lot of STEM speakers, and a lot of talks to talk about a lot of futuristic and scientific trends going on in the world. And it's all free to access and we have over 100 episodes right now. And so far we've had over 250-1000 listeners as of December 2018, and it's only gone up from there. So that's also increased our mission of science education around the world.

And our latest program is our Young Scientist Empowerment Programme, which is more focused in our home state of Arizona, and well, and there's a big gap between low-income and high-income students as it pertains to science education, such as advanced science classes, such as AP classes and competitions, such as science fairs. And what we do with that program is aim to provide tutoring and scientific resources to bridge that income gap. And that is also one of our newest programs, like the equipment donation program, and we're still planning on increasing the scope of that in the future.

Gresham Harkless 5:09

Nice, well, I definitely appreciate you for building this and helping us to grow, because as you mentioned at the beginning of talking about is that a lot of times, it's all about access, and a lot of times because of location or where they're at in the world or potentially socio-economics may not be able to think that they can pursue. Well, any type of degree related to science or even to work on science, whether they're a younger age. So I appreciate you for developing these programs to help out people, whether it be from the libraries that you mentioned, or the actual facilities or listening to the podcast, whatever way people can take in more information and become more aware of the things that they can do. I appreciate you for doing that.

Rithvik Musuku 5:57

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 5:59

You're welcome. And would you consider that to be your secret sauce, it could be for you or your organization. What is it that you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you guys unique?

Rithvik Musuku 6:07

So there are a lot of organizations focused on improving education around the world, and there are a lot of organizations focused on science. But what sets us apart is a lot of these organizations, primarily provide funding to established professional researchers through grant applications and research funding and stuff like that. But what I believe sets us apart is that we focus a lot more on building up that passion or that curiosity for science, from a more younger age. Because in the end, we want more scientists around the world so that we can solve the world's problems. And primarily providing funding to professional researchers would only would not increase the number of scientists around the world. So I believe our secret sauce is catering to a younger audience with our access to STEM education.

Gresham Harkless 6:59

Nice, I think that's a great kind of distinguisher. Because just like you said, a lot of times if you're giving money or resources to people that are a sciences is unnecessarily creating that awareness that we have been talking about. But by doing that, especially at a younger age, when a lot of times, you know, kids and children are starting to establish their interest and find out what they're interested in. If you do that at a younger age, then they start to become scientists and start to have more problems being solved as your overall mission is.

Rithvik Musuku 7:29

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 7:32

Nice. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Rithvik Musuku 7:42

Okay, so I've been asked similar questions in the past. And what I always recommend is this book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. And it's a book about how to set your business apart from the rest of the competition. And it's fairly general. So it can be applied to many different types of businesses, from car dealerships to nonprofits, to ice cream shops, to really anything. And it's called the tipping point, because it explains how a business goes from just an ordinary small business, and crosses that tipping point to become a large company and focus on a lot of the psychology or the marketing techniques behind it.

And nowadays there are a lot of books focused on new marketing, like social media or search engine advertising. But this book just really goes into the fundamentals and can really be applied to the marketing of today or even decades, or previous decades. And I find that the advice Gladwell gives in the book has been really effective.

Gresham Harkless 8:50

Absolutely huge Malcolm Gladwell fan. And actually, I do remember picking up that book, but it was so long ago that I definitely want to pick it up again, because it does talk about and shows case studies and stories about what had these brands create that, I guess virality that's the right word where they started to take everything to a different level. And if you have that opportunity to do that, I think that's a great CEO hack that people can take in and learn how to do themselves with core principles.

Rithvik Musuku 9:21

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 9:23

And now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Rithvik Musuku 9:31

Okay, so a lot of people see a CEO position as just more of a position where you have others under your control, or you're telling them what to do, and what I would say, my idea of a CEO essentially, is that you should lead from the front set an example for your employees, and I find that that allows those around you to be more motivated and work harder. So my CEO nugget, essentially, would be to set the example for those around you or set the example for what you want those who work for your company to be.

Gresham Harkless 10:13

Exactly, I think that's a phenomenal CEO nugget, because I think a lot of times people used words like do as I say, not as I do, and I think that's more of a boss mentality than a leader. So I think that's a great kind of reminder and a CEO nugget. And you might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So, Rithvik, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Rithvik Musuku 10:41

Well, that goes just together with the last question where, to me, a CEO just you have to set an example for those around you like, if, for example, our tax return should actually be transparent. So if you go through it, we have to list the number of hours worked by all of our key staff members. And so for some other organizations in our field, you see that the higher-ups might work lower hours and others.

But if you look at ours, I'm almost at the top of the list. So what I would say, to me, a CEO is someone that set an example for those around them and work hard, maybe even work harder than those around them to motivate your employees to set an example for them such that your company can increase its revenue, increase its annual profits and just grow

Gresham Harkless 11:32

Absolutely indefinitely as in any organization a lot of times attitude reflects leadership and production relates to real leadership as well too. So a lot of times as a CEO, the person that is a quote-unquote, head or leader or whatever role you might have, you want to be that. Sometimes you have to do what you're asking others to do, and if not more than that, in order to see the results that you want. So I definitely appreciate that definition. And Rithvik I appreciate your time even more, what I wanted to do was pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know, and then of course, how best they can get in touch with you.

Rithvik Musuku 12:07

Okay, so we have our website aswinc.org. And there, you can get in touch with our social media, all the links should be on our website, and you can subscribe to our email list of students, so they stay in further contact with us. And if you want to get in touch with me, my information should also be on that website at aswinc.org/people. Or you can also click on the People page at the top navigation bar. And you can get in touch with me they should have my email and some other information for you to get in touch with me.

Gresham Harkless 12:39

Nice Well, I definitely appreciate that. And we will also have those links in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you to see all the awesome things that you're doing and the purpose-driven brand that you're building I appreciate your time again today. Appreciate everything that you're doing. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Rithvik Musuku 12:55

You too. Thank you.

Outro 12:56

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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