Dr. Robert L Ford is Education Committee Chair of the Houston-Monrovia Sister City Association, former Membership Chair of the Houston-Luanda Sister City Association, Board Member of the Houston-Abu Dhabi Sister City Association, and Board Member of Sister Cities of Houston. Bob is STEM Coordinator for Africa’s Brain Bank, Board Member of Refocus Africa, and CEO of DRF Industries LLC. He is a former Houston Community College Foundation Board Member and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee, and Vice Chair of the Hermann Park Rotary Club Education Committee. He is a former TSU Enactus Faculty Advisor and current TSU Enactus Business Advisor, and he is a Corporate Member of One Delta Plaza Educational Center. He is a Zoetic Global LLC Advisor and former Citizens Schools Teacher, having developed an “America: A Smart Energy Society” Apprenticeship at Patrick Henry Middle School. Dr. Ford is a Board Member of the TSU Earl Carl Institute, College of Science, Engineering, and Technology Board of Advisors and Board Member of the Southern University Science and Engineering Advisory Board. He is a former Board Chair of Bridging the Digital Divide, Inc., Executive Advisory Board Member for the National Basketball Retired Players Association – Houston Chapter and a recent AdvancED K-12 External Reviewer. Bob is a former member of the Shared Decision-Making Committee for Yates High School and Thompson Elementary School. He was a member of the Board of Directors for the Texas Center for African American Living History. Ford is a Northern Third Ward Implementation Project Education Committee Member and Education Committee member of the Third Ward Complete Communities Work Group. He was a founding member of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Consortium of 17 minority-serving institutions leading to establishment of PhD programs in environmental science and engineering at five of the member institutions. He won the first Environmental Education grant, awarded by the EPA Environmental Education Trust Fund. Bob is retired as Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for STEM Education and Outreach (C-SEO) at Texas Southern University. Bob chaired the College of Science and Technology Fundraising, Events, and Public Relations Committees at Texas Southern University where he served as Associate Provost for Research, Interim Vice President for Advancement and was Interim Chair of the TSU Chemistry Department. At Fort Valley State University, he served as Vice President for Advancement and Research, as well as Vice Chancellor for Research at Southern University in Baton Rouge and Founder/Director of the SUBR Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Dr. Ford was a Research Scientist at Xerox Corporation (Rochester, NY and Palo Alto, CA) in the 1970’s and served as Assistant Secretary for Community Services for the Louisiana Department of Urban and Community Affairs. Ford has international business and energy technology experience in Tanzania/Zanzibar, South Africa, The Republic of the Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Taiwan, Germany, China, Brazil, Belize, and The Netherlands. He has visited China, Singapore, and Malaysia to study STEM student and professional development. In 2021/2022, Dr. Ford traveled to Liberia to assist the Ministry of Education in re-establishing the country’s GLOBE Program and was invited to serve on the Organizing Committee by the Liberia Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention to assist in establishing Liberia’s newest university, the William R. Tolbert Baptist University. Ford earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry is from Purdue University at Lafayette, IN, where he was recently recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by both institutions.