AJ Crabill is an entrepreneur now serving as Director of Governance at the Council of the Great City Schools. He is a noted authority on education reform and governance.

Dedicated to transforming how we think about learning and education, particularly with space exploration and technology, AJ Crabill's approach focuses on creating sustainable change within schools and districts, fostering innovation, and emphasizing student achievement.

Listen in and you’ll hear how by incorporating elements of space exploration into education, we can inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and thinkers.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• AJ's vision for integrating space exploration themes into education to spark curiosity and interest.

• Strategies for improving school governance and the role of leadership in educational reform.

• The importance of encouraging diversity and inclusion in STEM-related fields, especially space-related industries.How technology and space exploration can provide new pathways for learning and development.

• Practical approaches to engage students and educators in a broader conversation about space and its impact on our future.

Quote:

"My sense is that two areas where the business of space are going to really cause revolutionary exploration and benefit for all of us. In the area of biological sciences and material sciences."

- AJ Crabill

Episode Links:

Connect with AJ Crabill on LinkedIn

Learn more about the Council of the Great City Schools

Check out AJ’s website

Discover AJ’s books

Credits:

Production by CxS Partners LTD

Executive Producer: Toby Goodman

Audio & Sound Design: Lee Turner

Artwork: Ryan Field

Join our journey into the world of education and space: https://interastra.space

Those are 2 areas I'm particularly excited about. The biological sciences and the material sciences that as we move more and more industry outside of our atmosphere, then the adaptations it has to engage and to be successful in that context is gonna bring remarkable benefit back to the rest of us.

Hi, I'm AJ Crabill and you're listening to Your Business in Space.

I'm a school board coach at the College for the Great City Schools.

And what that means is that I work with the largest school systems across United States on really improving their focus on student outcomes.

In a typical week, I'm working with school board members and superintendents across the nation to help them think through their strategic planning work. What are their priorities for themselves and their communities and how best to serve the children within their school system. I grew up during the age of shuttle missions, watching these things at school and at home on television, reading sci fi and imagining was possible for our species beyond this planet.

During my high school years, I got incredibly interested in technology and taught myself how to program and became very interested in the burgeoning Internet that was relatively nascent at that time.

The more I got involved, the more, I enjoy it from programming my own websites and learning about the e commerce technology behind that, to eventually starting my own e commerce company and really helping push and explore what this new technology could do.

That interest in exploring technological boundaries has persisted with me, throughout my entire career. I've had the joy of teaching middle schoolers how to program of working with school districts as they think through what technology makes most sense for them and their educational mission.

Then now these days, helping policy leaders think through how best to take advantage of what the latest resources are, what the latest technologies are, and how they educate children. So that regard, my early fascination with technology lingers with me even today.

A lot of the really amazing technological breakthroughs that we enjoy today have a lot of their genesis and the United States space program and around the advances necessary to make that happen. I suspect that will continue to be the case that as we push the frontiers of where we have habit as a species, that'll necessarily require us to continue to push the frontiers of our technology and empowering all of that are the hopes and dreams of school children, everywhere, that as they grow up inspired by what's what's possible, what exploration remains to be done, that that that can be an inspiration for them to persist in their educational journey as much as it wasn't an inspiration for me to persist in mind.

In addition, if we think about it from a national perspective, the nations that are going to have the most success, with taking advantage of the opportunities that the space has to provide are nations that are educating their children in such manner that they have the knowledge and skills to pursue that if that is their passion. My work begins with thinking through what is possible, what are we making possible for the students that we serve. And so when I think about children in public school all across the United States, what I want for them is to be able to live a choice filled life where their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations, they have the knowledge that is necessary to pursue those.

What I find is that the more we could expose students to a wide variety of opportunities out there, the more likelihood that they'll find the thing that really clicks for them. And for some percentage, hopefully, an escalating percentage of students across the nation. That as they're exposed to the opportunity to learn more about space and our future in space, that it's something that will inspire them and speak to them and we will have made sure that their public education prepared them adequately for. That takes the teachers. One of the things that I love about teachers is their ability to share their excitement for a topic with students.

I certainly was not a huge history buff, but when Paul Barth my senior year brought it to life for me in the way he did through his passion of it, my senior year, that got me fired up about it.

And so I imagine that there's a generation of teachers across the country for whom there's already a spark of imagination about space and space exploration and the science that builds up to that, whether it's biological sciences, material sciences. And that is they're excited about it.

I would want for them to have access to all the resources they need to be able to convey that excitement and to share that with their students. That there would be partners in the space industry and in the education industry who are making it easy for our educators for whom this is the area of passion to be able to share that passion.

But ultimately, governments benefit from this when there is an amazing educate public education system and students across the nation who see for themselves, something exciting, in the exploration of space and identifying how can we make life better for everyone on earth through taking advantage of resources that are beyond the earth.

And so from a government perspective, the the better that we can create public education to lift up our students, to create opportunities for our teachers, the greater the likelihood that the nations are positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that come down the road. And so again, to me, it's a full circle that that nations don't work without educated children.

Educated children, thrive in the care of the devoted and capable educators and that educators deserve the support of their government institutions to position them to be the best version themselves on behalf of the students. I frequently have folks ask me for advice and guidance around what's the next step? What what are they going to do next with their time and their talent? And what I often encourage folks to do is to draw 3 d overlapping circles. In one of those circles, I describe as passion. What's what are the things that you're deeply passionate about? Make a complete list, everything out there. Whether it's collecting Pokemon cards or anything at all, no matter how random and obscure, what are all the things that you're most passionate about?

And write all of those in that circle.

And then for the next circle, you write competence. What are the things that you are really, really, really good at that you were better at than most other people, are?

What are the skills even if it's not a skill that you particularly enjoy using, with just things that you just are significantly a step ahead of most of the people in that area. And what are you deeply top of it? And then in the 3rd circle, I think of this as what is the market's interest? What are the skills What are the things that are needed by the marketplace, that you could be rewarded for, by providing.

And then after you've written all three of these lists, try to figure out what all things live at the intersection of all 3 of these. Live at the intersection of passion, of competence, and of market demand.

And when you find things that exist at the confluence of all 3 of those, but those are the things that I often encourage folks that they're thinking about making a significant transition in their career, in their life or something of that nature. To try to find out is there something that lives at the intersection of at least 2 of those, preferably all 3. The the challenge is if it's something that you're really passionate about and you're really confident at, but it's there's not really a market for it, then that winds up being more of a hobby. And that doesn't mean you don't do it. It's just often harder to pay the bills at doing it. It may not be a career change, but it may be an area to dive into from a hobbyist perspective.

And so what you're really looking for is what is something to lose as much as possible at the intersection of all three. Because I I know people who have areas of extreme competence and that the market has a demand for those skills, but they're not passionate about it. And so it winds up feeling like golden handcuffs. Like they're doing it because it does help pay the bills. And if that's necessary, so be it. But if it's possible to pay the bills, doing something that you're also passionate about, I'd certainly encourage if you had to choose between those 2, definitely lean toward the things that also feature.

Now, the alternative there is, if you're standing in a place where there's overlap between your competence and what the market will bear, but it's not an area of passion. And then that often just means that you do that for your day job.

Find something you're passionate about that you do outside of work hours. But I have been blessed in that the things that I'm passionate about, how do we improve outcomes for students? The thing that I've been able to develop some amount of ability with is how do we support educators and education systems and being able to focus on and be more effective at educating students. And the things that the market has provided support with have all flown together for me. I didn't expect that that would be the case starting out.

I've just been incredibly blessed and I would encourage folks to try to pursue all 3 simultaneously to see if there's a blessing out for them that is just as unexpected for them as mine has been for me. My sense is that two areas where the business of space are going to really cause revolutionary exploration and benefit for all of us in the area of biological sciences and material sciences. I say biological sciences because in order for us to, as a species, spend more time inhabiting the realms of our solar system outside of Earth's atmosphere.

We're gonna quickly figure out that doing that for incredibly long period of time, for years at a time, not just what we do now weeks months at a time, but for years at a time and potentially for entire lifetimes.

It's gonna require us pretty significant enhancements to our current biology to be able to survive in that context. And the science that that exploration unlocks will almost certainly wind up being of incredible benefit to everyone in Earth's atmosphere just as much as it is to everyone outside of it. I mentioned material sciences because some of the most remarkable things that we need to be able to do in order to establish long term viability of living space outside of the earth's atmosphere, I believe would be for the construction of O'Neill Cylinders.

And, you know, think of having a massive, massive self contained ecosystem in a huge cylinder out of L4 that rotates in such a way that replicates the effects of gravity and that has all the resources that needs to be able to grow food and to have small town and things of that nature.

Part of what holds us back from being able to do things like that is there are material strengths that we haven't yet mastered to be able to create something, a monstrosity of that magnitude that would be needed to be able to have it rotate at the speed that needs to reproduce the effect of earth's gravity, but also being large enough that it doesn't leave everybody feeling nauseous.

So it really has to be quite massive and we just don't really seem to have the material sciences yet to build something of that magnitude, without it ripping itself apart at the, philosophy they would need to rotate its sleeve, pulling itself apart the seams. In addition, as we explore more and more material sizes, we'll figure out more efficient ways to extract energy, from the sun, from, theta gem from fusion to be able to power these massive installations. And so the more that we sort those things out for those uses, the more amazing things become available here on the planet.

That there are cleaner uses of energy that could benefit all of us in terms of taking care of the planet we have, better uses of materials that are stronger and lighter, hopefully even less expensive from an ecological perspective to develop, that can generate more safety and the construction of bridges and buildings and things here on earth.

And so those are 2 areas I'm particularly excited about.

The biological sciences, the material sciences that as we move more and more industry outside of our atmosphere, that the adaptations it has to engage and to be successful in that context is gonna bring remarkable benefit back to the rest of us. And it'll be the school children of today, who are carrying all of us of their hopes and dreams, into that scientific exploration tomorrow.

My name is AJ Crabill and you've been listening to Your Business in Space.

To connect with me, feel free to email me.

And to discover more, head to interastra.space