Ohio State University: COSI President and CEO Frederic Bertley to address autumn Ohio State graduates
Frederic Bertley, president and CEO of COSI (the Center of Science and Industry), will deliver the autumn commencement address at The Ohio State University.
The ceremony will be held Sunday, Dec. 19, at the Schottenstein Center. Approximately 3,600 graduates will receive diplomas during the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m.
Frederic Bertley
“Dr. Bertley – or simply ‘Dr. B’ as he’s better known to his WOSU fans – has perfected the art of taking complex scientific concepts and distilling them down into easily understandable explanations of how they impact our daily lives,” said President Kristina M. Johnson, who will preside over the ceremony. “He is a consummate science communicator who has spoken at high-profile venues like the United Nations and the White House, and as a fellow scientist, I am particularly pleased he has accepted our invitation to speak at autumn commencement. Dr. Bertley is a great friend and partner to our university, and I know his insights will be both entertaining and important for our graduates and their guests to hear.”
Bertley is a scientist, scholar, and evangelist for innovative thinking, ideation and challenging the status quo. Bertley joined COSI in 2017 with the goal of “shepherding the leading central Ohio science center to its next great iteration in a legacy of successful science center history.”
Earlier this year, he partnered with Ohio State to host “QED With Dr. B,” a WOSU series exploring the scientific issues that play such a vital role in our daily lives.
Prior to joining COSI, Bertley was the senior vice president for science and education at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where he oversaw a diverse portfolio of initiatives supporting innovation in STEM learning as well as departments and programs that capture the history and legacy of The Franklin Institute, such as the Benjamin Franklin Awards Program.
Bertley is a graduate of McGill University, where he studied physiology, mathematics and the history of science, and also earned a PhD in immunology. He worked internationally in preventive medicine and basic vaccines in Haiti, The Sudan and the Canadian Arctic and continued this focus by joining a vaccine research group at Harvard Medical School focusing on the development of DNA vaccines for HIV/ AIDS.
Among his numerous honors, Bertley has received an honorary doctorate from Otterbein University and the Harvard Medical School Dean’s Service Award, and was named CEO of the Year by Columbus CEO magazine.