Tyson Tildon: Neuroscientist, Researcher, Educational Explorer

By Stefanie Johnson
Special to FYI Online

Tyson Tildon

“I have an innate curiosity,” admitted Tyson Tildon, a retired neuroscientist and a member of UMUC’s board. “If I could have any wish, I would want to know everything, from why people behave the way they do to why electrons and chemicals act in specific ways.”

At UMUC, Tildon has a chance to satisfy some of that curiosity by observing, firsthand, how cutting-edge technology can be put to use in the realm of education. It is the sort of opportunity Tildon lives for.

“I was a tinkerer [growing up],” said Tildon, whose earliest memories include one of disassembling and fixing a broken lamp his mother was about to discard. “I found I could make money doing it. Someone three doors up would give me 50 cents if I could repair her iron. The more I did it, the more I would read, and the more I would get to know how things worked.”

In high school, science became an outlet for Tildon’s voracious curiosity. He devoured physics and chemistry, particularly quantitative analysis.

“I had not defined my major,” Tildon said. “Then one of my teachers told me, ‘Tildon, you realize people get paid to do this?’ and I went to the office immediately and declared a science major.”

As a neuroscientist, Tildon headed a team of 30 researchers who worked to dissect the different types of cells in the brain and to study the brain’s unique metabolic processing system. In the early 1970s, Tildon discovered a substance used in brain cells called ketone bodies, and coined a phrase for their use, “metabolic trafficking,” which is now a part of standard scientific literature.

“That was fun, teasing that out,” said Tildon. “I was fortunate to have support from the NIH to explore these ideas. It was quite satisfying.”

Tildon’s own satisfaction in learning has prompted him to encourage curiosity in others. Sharon Wilks, currently a hematologist and oncologist in Texas, got her first lab job washing glassware for Tildon’s team. He saw promise in Wilks, who came from a Baltimore housing project. Tildon and his whole family adopted Wilks, providing the emotional, moral, and financial support necessary for her to realize her dreams.

“She’s a first-class physician now,” he said proudly.

Though Tildon has retired from regular work as a neuroscientist, his curiosity has led him to new problems that require a meticulous scientific mind to articulate a solution.

One of the most complicated of these problems was the failing Baltimore city school system. The ability, learned in childhood, to dissect a problem into its constituent parts, was exactly what the Baltimore public schools needed to revive a district in which test scores were plummeting.

“Urban education has suffered from a variety of factors,” said Tildon. “People have not uncovered the nature of the issues involved. The public school system served as a foundation for me to be able to explore my own curiosities. Any help I could provide for children who are trying to reach that same level felt like an obligation.”

At the request of the governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, Tildon joined the New Board of School Commissioners. The board’s first action was to put an end to social promotion.

“The decrease of human and financial resources to urban schools was horrendous. The response was to pretend that schools were achieving. We decided there would be no more pretending,” Tildon said.

In addition, the Board secured between $50 million and $75 million per year in additional funding for new teachers and equipment. Test scores rose dramatically and documented cases of student success began to pile up. Tildon, however, always searching for a new solution, knew that that was just the beginning.

“Those two things impacted, I’d say, 40 or 50 percent of what is needed,” Tildon pointed out. “There are more subtle factors involved.”

With marketers aiming advertising campaigns at 10- and 12-year-olds, and an ever-expanding volume of information available at the touch of a button, Tildon pointed out that new lexicons and approaches to education must be developed to keep up with the changing student demographic.

Here, UMUC’s technologically savvy approach to education attracted Tildon to serve on the UMUC board.

“How does the educational enterprise go forward when new dynamics are in play?” Tildon asked. “UMUC’s mission is exactly along the lines of an answer to that question through its use of the Internet and distance learning.”

UMUC is just one of several current beneficiaries of Tildon’s time and expertise. Though he recently finished his six-year term on the Baltimore Board of School Commissioners, Tildon finds plenty of ways to feed his curiosity. He has volunteered at numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Red Cross and Associated Black Charities.

“This is an opportunity to learn, not just to give back,” Tildon said. “I want to understand how the not-for-profit sector goes about doing what it is supposed to do, and then contribute to that.”

In addition, Tildon is currently conducting his own research on the history of tools.

“I find it intriguing,” he said. “I find my reading supportive of the overall thesis that science really has been a major contributor to man improving his own environment, and I believe that it continues to [help] do that.”