Dr. Robert L Ford

Chairman of Knowledge-First Academy & Career Institute Board of Directors and Board
Chair for reFocus Afrika, Africa’s Brain Bank STEM Coordinator, CEO of DRF
Industries LLC, and Zoetic Global LLC Advisor. Bob is a Houston Sister Cities, Inc.
Board Member, Sister Cites International Liberia Country Representative, and a
member of the Houston-Luanda Sister City Association and the Houston-Abu Dhabi
Sister City Association. He is Vice President for Sister/Twin Cities for the World
Conference of Mayors and William R. Tolbert Baptist University Board of Trustees
Member in Monrovia, Liberia. He is a Rotarian and a member of the TSU and the SUBR
College of Science and Engineering Advisory Boards. He recently stepped down as
Board Secretary for the TSU Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Polic after more
than 10 years. Bob is an international consultant having conducted STEM projects in
Liberia, South Africa, The Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Taiwan, Germany, Brazil, Belize,
and Tanzania/Zanzibar. He has studied STEM education programs in China, Singapore,
and Malaysia. Ford earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from Southern University at Baton
Rouge, LA and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Purdue University at Lafayette, IN. Dr.
Ford was Chief Research Officer and faculty member at Southern University, Fort Valley
State University and Texas Southern University. He founded and directed the Center for
Energy and Environmental Studies at Southern University and the Center for STEM
Education and Outreach at Texas Southern University. Bob was recently recognized as
Distinguished Alumnus by Purdue University and Southern University, and he was
recently appointed Bicentennial Honorary Consul by the President of Liberia.