Michael Taiwo PhD

Michael Taiwo was born and raised in a town in the middle of nowhere in Nigeria. He considers himself "low maintenance" probably because he was raised on less than 50 cents a day. As a child, he would walk a mile to the town’s public library because there were orange, mango and cashew trees behind the library and he was welcome to them. He would have as many fruits as his stomach could hold, and then go into the library to enjoy yet another free item: books.

Once inside this world of books, he would question dead men. He would ask Plato the meaning of Justice; ask Aristotle about Ethics; ask Newton about Mechanics; Lincoln about Governance; Ford about Industry and on and on. He found it surprising that they, in their humanity, answered him. He would leave the library – or sanctuary, as he called it – with his belly a little emptier but his head a little fuller. In many ways, his visits to the library shaped his worldview. He came to agree with Sir Henry David Thoreau’s sentiment that “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”

In his free time, he mentors and coaches a growing number of students – from high school to grad school – from all over the globe, gives speeches and judges science fairs. He is passionate about making people become better version of themselves.

He lives in New Orleans with his wife and three kids. When he is not making engineering decisions for a major energy company, he is teaching math to his two daughters at the kitchen table.