Terrence Howard, an award-winning actor with more than 78 movie and television appearances, added another title to his accomplished career — inventor. The actor developed a passion for creating and recently shared his knowledge with children at Morgan State University this past weekend.
According to the Baltimore Times, the institution tapped Howard as a guest speaker to encourage children to pursue careers in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics), along with other topics during “A Day of Conversations w/ Terrence Dashon Howard.”
While Howard does not have an engineering degree, he has over 90 patents, including his Lynchpin Drone, which he discussed with attendees. The event was held on Saturday, June 11, at MSU’s Institute for Urban Research, consisting of workshops, panels, and conversations with the Best Man actor. He talked about the geometry of subatomic particles and patented technologies with several tech professionals in the industry.
Dr. Jeffrey Menzise, an Associate Professor at the Institute for Urban Research (IUR), School of Graduate Studies at Morgan State University, shared the concept for creating the event while explaining how he met the 53-year-old Chicago native on the set of a film.
“The overall purpose is to encourage our youth to seriously consider the STEAM fields for their professional and academic pursuits,” said Dr. Menzise, noting that the event was for a new center he proposed at the IUR called The Center for STEAM Growth, Opportunity, and Development. “The main objective of this new center will be to build a pipeline for increasing the numbers of minority students interested in pursuing STEAM professions by way of exposure to fun and exciting STEAM-related activities, professionals in the field, and to leverage the face and voice of celebrities like Terrence Howard.”
Dr. Menzise recalled meeting Howard on set after he displayed the periodic table in written form from memory.
“I was working as a ‘stand-in’ in a movie,” recalled Dr. Menzise. “During a break, I walked over to where Mr. Howard was working. He had sketched out the periodic table, in spiral form from memory. I thought to myself, ‘Wow’, I’ve never seen it written like this, and he walks over and starts to explain it to me. He thought I was an aspiring actor.”
He added, “as Mr. Howard was walking away, my inner voice told me to take a chance, and I formally introduced myself. I told him I was a psychology professor at Morgan, and that I could bring his theoretical and scientific perspectives in front of academicians. He stopped in his tracks, and with a sincere look in his eyes said, ‘Man, this is the conversation I have been waiting years to have.’”
Dr. Menzise was hopeful that the event would be the first of many held at Morgan State to develop an ongoing partnership with the inventor.
“Mr. Howard is very excited and thankful to Morgan for providing him this opportunity. Based on our follow-up conversations, we both recognize the divine intervention in this process, to where we went from total strangers to talking and texting almost every day since that time.”
