NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ A member of the hit country band Little Texas
aims to combine his loves of music and science to promote science
education after graduating with a master‘s degree in Communication of
Science, Engineering and Technology from Vanderbilt University.
Dwayne
O‘Brien, who scored hits including “God Blessed Texas” with Little
Texas and co-wrote the Hall and Oates hit “A Promise Ain‘t Enough,”
will be awarded his degree on Friday as one of 2,468 Vanderbilt
graduates.
“I want to help put the humanity back into science and scientists,”
said O‘Brien, who earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry at East
Central University in Ada, Okla., before joining Little Texas. “I will
be looking for ways to dovetail my interests and use music to promote
science education.”
O‘Brien was the first student to enroll in the interdisciplinary
Communications of Science, Engineering and Technology program headed by
director Rick Chappell. He is also the program‘s first graduate.
“Dwayne is a very special person with a dual talent for science and
music, and he‘s poised to make a big contribution to science
education,” Chappell said. “Music is a way to express emotion, and one
of the things that‘s overlooked about scientists and engineers is the
emotion and passion they put into their work. They‘re explorers, trying
to do things that nobody has done before. The life of an explorer is a
life of agony and ecstasy, and music is one way of getting that across.”
O‘Brien has already written a song about science education, titled “So Much More to Know.”
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu