The Caucus: For Science's Sake, It's 'Mohawk Guy'

To highlight science education and memorable haircuts, one of the guests in Michelle Obama?s box during the State of the Union speech Tuesday night will be the ?Mohawk Guy? ? Bobak Ferdowsi, a member of the team operating NASA?s Mars Curiosity rover who is best known for his spiky, red- and blue-streaked haircut and the stars shaved on the side of his head.

Last Thursday, Mr. Ferdowsi was driving when he got a phone call from John P. Holdren, the president?s science adviser. ?He said the first lady would like to invite you to the State of the Union address,? Mr. Ferdowsi said. ?It?s kind of a surprise.?

In Tuesday night?s speech, Mr. Obama is likely to touch on familiar themes touting the importance of science education and innovation for the United States economy. In its descriptions of the invited guests, the White House noted that Mr. Ferdowsi volunteers as a mentor at robotics competitions.

Still, it is the hair that gained the 33-year-old Mr. Ferdowsi his renown, not to mention marriage proposals and more than 50,000 followers on Twitter.

He has a history of getting special haircuts to commemorate milestones on the Mars project. ?The team knew I was going to do something special for landing night,? he said. ?And rather than let me decide on my own, my boss sent out an e-mail poll to the team, letting them vote on my hair.?

The decision: ?They wanted a red, white and blue kind of theme.?

When Mr. Obama phoned the NASA team in August to congratulate its members on the successful landing of the rover, he singled out Mr. Ferdowski, joking, ?I, in the past, thought about getting a Mohawk myself, but my team keeps on discouraging me.?

Mr. Ferdowski has had the Mohawk since then, although he has modified the accouterments a couple of times. For the rover?s first drive, he replaced the stars with dots and dashes that spelled out J.P.L., for Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Morse code. (The wheels of the rover have the same pattern, endlessly spelling out those letters as it rolls along Mars.)

Now he has a new pattern. ?For tonight, I have U.S.A. on one side and Mars on the other,? he said.

Source: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/for-sciences-sake-its-mohawk-guy/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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