IAM2577 – Student Improves Access to Science Education to Find World’s Long-term Problems

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Rithvik Musuku Teaser 00:00

We have a couple main programs. One of our programs is a 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've supplied libraries in three different countries, and we've increased access to education for almost 100,000 people.

Intro 00:27

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:54

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

Rithvik Musuku 01:05

Great to be here. It's a pleasure.

Gresham Harkless 01:07

No problem. Pleasure is all mine. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Rithvik, so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing.

And Rithvik is from Gilbert, Arizona, and he still is 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, and he's an American middle-to-upper-class family.

Thus, he started Advancing Science Worldwide to believe that ensuring that everyone around the world has access to science education, and that is the key to finding solutions to our world's long-term problems, such as antibiotic resistance and climate change.

Rithvik, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Rithvik Musuku 01:49

Yeah.

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Gresham Harkless 01:49

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 01:57

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, where I want to, 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 so, I've always been interested in science, and I've always been reading up, 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 more higher upbringings.

So, the reason we started Advancing Science Worldwide is to ensure better access to science education for people around the world and in every country, every economic condition.

And we believe that by doing that, we can essentially solve the world's problems faster.

Like 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 03:00

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 have known about otherwise is definitely giving them the tools by which they can help solve these problems and create these solutions that can help out the world overall.

Rithvik Musuku 03:16

Yep. Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 03:17

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 03:26

Okay, so our organization is fairly new, just under two years old. So, we have a couple main programs.

One of our programs is a 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've supplied libraries in three different countries, and we've 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's not as established as our library outreach program, we're still working on increasing the 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 the, we have a lot of STEM speakers, a lot of talk 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 250,000 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 Program, which is more focused in our home state of Arizona.

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 we 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 05:31

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate you for building this and helping us to grow because, like you kind of mentioned in the beginning, we kind of talked about, is that a lot of times it's all about access.

And a lot of times, because of maybe location or where they're at in the world, or potentially of socioeconomic economics may not be able to think that they can pursue higher.

Well, any type of degree related to science or even to work on science while they're at 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 to become more aware of the things that they can do. I appreciate you for doing that.

Rithvik Musuku 06:18

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 06:19

You're welcome. And would you consider that to be like your secret sauce? It could be for you or your organization. Is that what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you guys unique?

Rithvik Musuku 06:27

So, there's a lot of organizations focused on improving education around the world. There's a lot of organizations focused on science.

But what sets us apart is a lot of these organizations they 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 not increase the number of scientists around the world.

So, I believe our secret sauce is catering to a more younger audience with our access to STEM education.

Gresham Harkless 07:18

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 already are scientists, it's not necessarily creating that awareness that we kind of been talking about.

But by doing that, especially at a younger age, when a lot of times, kids and children are starting to establish their interests 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 07:48

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 07:50

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 Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Rithvik Musuku 08:00

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.

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 it focuses on a lot of the psychology or the marketing techniques behind it.

And nowadays, there's a lot of books focused on more new marketing, like social media or search engine advertising.

But this book it just really goes into the fundamentals and can really be applied to the marketing of today or even decades, previous decades.

And I find that the advice he gives, the advice Gladwell gives in that book, has been really effective.

Gresham Harkless 09:06

Absolutely. I'm a huge Michael 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 kind of like case studies and stories about what had these brands create that I guess, virality, if that's the right word, where they started to take everything to a different level.

And if you have that opportunity to do that, and I think that's a great, CEO hack that people can, can take in and learn how to do it themselves with core principles.

Rithvik Musuku 09:37

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 09:38

And, now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, and this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Rithvik Musuku 09:48

Okay. So, a lot of people see a CEO position as just more of like 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 10:26

Exactly. I think that's a phenomenal CEO nugget because I think a lot of times people are like, do as I say, not as I do.

And I think that's more of a boss mentality than a leader and a true person that you can follow and you want to follow.

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.

We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. But Rithvik, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Rithvik Musuku 10:55

Well, that goes just together with the last question, where I, to me a CEO is just you have to set an example for those around you.

Like if, for example, our tax return should actually be transparent. So, and if you go through it, we have to list the number of hours worth of all of our key staff members.

And for some other organizations in our field, you see that the higher-ups might work lower hours than 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 those that set an example for those around them and work hard.

Maybe even work harder than those around them, to motivate your employees, set an example for them such that your company can increase its revenue, increase its annual profits, and just grow.

Gresham Harkless 11:45

Absolutely. And definitely, as any organization, a lot of times, attitude reflects leadership and production, relates to leadership as well too.

So, a lot of times as a CEO, as the person that is a quote-unquote head or leader, or, whatever role you might have, if 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. And 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 12:20

Okay, so we have our website at aswinc.org. And there you can get in touch with our social media. All the links should be on that website. You can subscribe to our email list to stay in further contact with us.

And if you want to get in touch with me, my information should also be on that website on the 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 12:52

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, see all the awesome things that you're doing, and the purpose-driven brand that you're building.

And I appreciate your time again today. Appreciate everything that you're doing. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Rithvik Musuku 13:07

Yep. You too. Thank you.

Outro 13:08

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and 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 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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