Maynard Okereke the Hip Hop MD: Presentation & Book Signing

🗓️ Date: Tuesday, May 12 ⏰ Time: 12:45-2:30pm 📍 Location: MDC 😁 Age Range: All are welcome! 💸 Price: FREE for MDC Members, general admission for Nonmembers 🖊️ Registration: No sign-up necessary, just show up! At this year’s Iron Range Science & Engineering Festival (IRSEF), we’re thrilled to welcome special guest Maynard Okereke, known as the “Hip Hop MD”! He’s an award-winning science communicator who blends music, entertainment, and science to make STEM (that’s science, technology, engineering, and math) fun and engaging. On Tuesday, May 12 from 12:45-2:30pm, Maynard will be putting on a presentation not just for our seventh-grade IRSEF attendees, but for the public as a whole! After the show, he’ll sit down for a book signing, so be sure to snag a copy and get his signature. Entry is FREE for MDC Members and the usual cost of general admission for Nonmembers. Along with being a public speaker, Maynard is also a civil engineer, author, artist, actor, musician, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his hit kids’ show MayNERD’s Wild World of Science, and he has also been featured on Netflix’s Ada Twist, Scientist, The Science Channel, and Curiosity Stream. His STEM outreach work has been published in Scientific American, and he recently published his first book, Zombie Spiders & Asteroid Blasters: 16 Incredible Ways That Scientists Are Changing the World. Awards and honors? Maynard’s got ‘em. He has received the EarthLight Foundation’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Social Media, been named the National Society of Black Engineers’ Entrepreneur of the Year, and been featured on EBONY’s “Power 100” List. Thank you to IRSEF 2026’s sponsors! We’re able to bring incredible talent like Maynard to MDC thanks to support from… PRESENTING SPONSOR: Minnesota Power, an ALLETE Company U.S. Steel Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. MiningMinnesota Twin Metals Baldwin Supply Company CTC Widseth Iron Trail Motors Northeast Technical Services