It's rocket science: Why engineer Dr. Howard Conyers designs barbecue pits

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Dr. Howard Conyers mans the grill. Photo courtesy of Dr. Conyers.

When Dr. Howard Conyers isn’t designing rocket engines for NASA, he is building barbecue pits. Shadowing his father since he was 3 years-old, Dr. Conyers learned about barbecue and was intrigued by the fellowship of family that came with the process. Barbecue and cooking in trenches goes back 300 years in America. Using his experience in mechanical engineering, Dr. Conyers demonstrates his barbecue prowess in the PBS series, “Nourish.” 

Dr. Conyers’ #100AcresProject aims to purchase 50-100 acres of land where he was raised in South Carolina. 

He writes on his GoFundMe page, “Black Farmers have lost a lot of land due to lending practices of the USDA and systemic racism. It is why I am trying to raise the capital to purchase this amount of land outright, and going through a platform like GoFundMe, everything is open and transparent. Finally, the #100AcresProject will have enough space to be able to hand out awards and recognitions to black and brown people in the hospitality industry.”