| When you think of a rocket scientist for NASA, you don’t usually think of barbecue. For those who know North Carolina A&T State University alumnus Dr. Howard Conyers ’04 it is hard not to pair the two.
“I just went back to my roots. I went back to something I knew,” he said.
A Manning, S.C. native, Conyers grew up cooking whole hog barbecue. He started shoveling coals at the age of 6 and cooked his first pig at 11. It’s a tradition that he moved away from when he came to N.C. A&T to pursue his undergraduate degree in biosystems engineering.
“Well, I lived on campus. Where can you put a pit on campus,” he said laughing.
While barbecue became something he enjoyed on trips back home, one thing that Conyers was able to maintain that he learned at home was excellence in the classroom. As an undergraduate, he earned and maintained a perfect grade point average all four years while on a USDA 1890 scholarship and participating in the intake process for the Beta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.
“I wanted to prove that you could do everything you wanted and still get your work done,” he said. “I always try to prove naysayers wrong. It can be done and you are the person to do it.”
That is precisely what has driven him through graduate school at Duke University and into his job at NASA. Initially, he was advised to pursue his Ph.D. at another institution but he opted to go to Duke for a number of reasons.
“I met a professor there who made me feel like I would be a good fit there and like I would be going home again – like I felt when I got to A&T,” he said. “I also got the degree because one day I want to teach at a HBCU.”
It is his experience and the relationships he built at A&T that has prepared him for the challenges and victories he’s experienced in both graduate school and working for NASA. After earning his degree from Duke, Conyers followed in the footsteps of Aggies like Dr. Ronald McNair and took his first job at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
At Stennis, Conyers is a structural dynamicist to support rocket engine testing. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, Kathryn (formerly Jackson) ’06 and is a supporter and champion for education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
On a visit home to South Carolina, he noticed that his family had taken a break from the tradition of cooking whole hog barbecue.
“I said, ‘This tradition could die if someone doesn’t pick it back up’,” he said.
And Conyers was that someone. He not only picked it back up, in 2013, he entered the “Hogs for the Cause” barbecue competition in New Orleans.
“I wanted to show New Orleans what Carolina barbecue is all about,” he said.
To say Conyers is an enthusiast would be a gross understatement. While he has competed, he is not as focused on winning the competition as he is making sure the people who eat his barbecue are experiencing the real thing.
“I’m afraid that with competition barbecue, traditional barbecue will be lost,” he said. “I’m going to do my part in making sure traditional barbecue lasts longer.”
Doing his part includes sharing his barbecue with many but not necessarily as a competitor or even a restauranteur.
“When I cook at these competitions, I want people to taste what I would eat at home,” he said. “I’m not thinking about a restaurant at all. Maybe I’ll market my own sauce or something like that.”
He is also considering a marriage between his family tradition of barbecue and his passion for engineering by designing barbecue pits. |
