Christian Greer: A Morehouse Man at the St. Louis Science Center

Christian Greer is chief education and programs officer at the Saint Louis Science Center, St. Louis’ free interactive science center in Forest Park that had nearly 1 million (944,104, to be precise) visitors in 2015. In 2015, the center received $10.8 million in tax revenues from the Zoo-Museum District, $6.1 million in contributions and grants, and $5.7 million from its theaters and other operations.

The St. Louis American spoke to Greer about what’s new at the Science Center, what a Chicago guy thinks of living in St. Louis, and how studying physics at Morehouse College prepared him for a successful career in leadership at non-profit science centers.

The St. Louis American: What’s new at the St. Louis Science Center?

Christian Greer: “GROW,” our new exhibit opening June 18, is an immersive and hands-on experience on the science behind the journey of food, from farm to fork. This is the first major addition to the Saint Louis Science Center since 1991 and is the only permanent exhibit dedicated to agriculture in the United States. “GROW” will introduce visitors to a wide range of content including agriculture, plant and animal biology and agronomics. It will help create personal connections to food growers, processors and distributors. “GROW” will feature more than 40 exhibits and experiences, indoor and outdoor, and will continue to evolve and change with the seasons. (For more details on the exhibit, visit slsc.org/grow.)

“Mission: Mars” opened in November 2015, engaging visitors in the exploration of Mars. It is a unique exhibit with two locations, bridging the James S. McDonnell Planetarium with the main building on Oakland Avenue. In these two locations, visitors can see what it is like to explore Mars by controlling a Mars Rover, giving scientific orders and receiving results. Through this exhibit, we hope to inspire visitors of all ages to learn more about space exploration and encourage the next generation of space explorers. 

The Youth Exploring Science (YES) program further promotes the Saint Louis Science Center’s mission to ignite and sustain lifelong science and technology learning.  The program works with 250 teenagers throughout the course of their high-school career, providing them with an inquiry based learning environment that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM). YES programming is designed to create opportunities for its participants to explore potential career paths and feel successful in both academic and workplace competencies. Our YES teens are recruited from 20-plus community-based organizations, beginning at age 14, and are mentored through their high school career.

The St. Louis American: Your bio states you “created better avenues to connect visitors with current science.” What are some examples?

Christian Greer: One of my priorities is to help the Saint Louis Science Center be the best in our region at connecting people with science. To do that, we have many exciting partnerships underway. In January, we became a Smithsonian Affiliate, which allows us to gain access to Smithsonian’s vast collection of objects, programs and experts. In March, we became an National Science Foundation-Funded Portal to the Public, which allows us to work together with scientists and other STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) professionals to create floor programs and demos to share their latest discoveries with the public.

The St. Louis American: You have some “20-plus career experiences” – that is a lot, and at some great places. What sets your experience at the Saint Louis Science Center apart?

Christian Greer: The Saint Louis Science Center is special in many ways. It’s a science center with just about everything you can ask for: the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, the OMNIMAX Theater, Discovery Room, Makerspace and other great exhibits and programs. The most incredible thing about us is that we are free. This provides us with a fantastic opportunity to fulfill our mission of igniting and sustaining lifelong science and technology learning through repeat visitation. 

The St. Louis American: You are a Chicago guy, with great work experience in your home city, now based in St. Louis. What do you miss about home? What have you learned to love about here?

Christian Greer: St. Louis is an extremely livable city, and that’s its best asset. You have all of the best things you can find in many of the major cities in the U.S. without the incredible overcrowding and smothering congestion you might find elsewhere. St. Louis has great music, food and outdoor activities. However, the one thing I miss most about Chicago is being able to spend more time with my family.

The St. Louis American: I read that you are a “certified Scrum master” – weird phrase. I read up on it. How would you describe what a Scrum master does? How does that impact your work at the Science Center?

Christian Greer: I have studied project management for almost 10 years and taught for the better part of that time. I have several university certificates in the discipline. There are many different approaches and methodologies in project management, and Scrum is an innovation brand of agile project management that is a lot of fun to facilitate. We definitely want to be more agile at the Science Center and develop programs that are relevant and accessible to the learner and responsive to the latest discoveries in STEM.  

The St. Louis American: I see that you have a physics degree from Morehouse. That is rich stuff. Tell me a story about studying physics at Morehouse.

Christian Greer: Morehouse is a great school with a very rich history. As a Morehouse man, you are expected to be a renaissance man with a social conscience and subscribe to the “five wells.” That means being well-read, well-traveled, well-spoken, well-dressed and well-balanced.

Then on top of all that, you are also expected after graduation to go out and knock down a few barriers, fight for justice and equality, make a name for yourself and light a candle in the dark after you have blazed a trail for others to follow. That’s a tall order!

Suffice it to say, being a Morehouse man means “no excuses.” Yes, you will be faced with challenges of all shapes and sizes throughout your life and career, but success for us is defined by how we overcome them and set examples for others to follow.

Physics is about overcoming challenges and setting examples as well. One of the greatest physicists of all time, Sir Isaac Newton, once wrote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” (meaning those who came before and laid the foundation). Physics at Morehouse was all about that, and it was taught with soul. One of my favorite professors was a former Tuskegee Airman who flew the P-47 Thunderbolt in combat during WWII. He overcame many challenges in his life. You might imagine that his expectations of us were sky-high.

The St. Louis American: What is a problem in contemporary science that interests you?

Christian Greer: Physicists are still looking for the Holy Grail of science, which is a “theory of everything.” However, the answer to the biggest question we can imagine may be just out of the reach of our best whiteboards, telescopes and particle accelerators. All of the leading theories and approaches deal with matter, energy, space and time, but how they all fit together and how we see them in new ways are the challenges we currently face with this one. Strings, branes and extra dimensions? Sometimes, it’s literally all Greek to me.