Dr. Brian Harmon, PhD in Environmental Health and Engineering | Research Staff Member at Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA); Lieutenant Colonel at U.S. Army Reserve

In this episode, we discuss Brian’s unexpected journey from being an aspiring golf course superintendent to studying environmental chemistry, joining the U.S. Army Reserves, pursuing a doctorate in environmental health and engineering, and working in public health preparedness at the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), his advocacy work as the co-founder and chair of a military and veteran employee resource group at IDA, and his take on the importance of being flexible, learning from your mistakes, and always trying to improve.

Hosted by Lois Dankwa

To connect with Brian and to learn more about his story, visit his page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

Lois Dankwa

Hi! I'm co-host Lois Dankwa. And this is the 100 alumni voices podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today, we're joined by Brian Harmon PhD in Environmental health and engineering and current researcher and deputy project lead at the Institute for Defense Analyses, which is a federally funded research and Development center. He is also a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves. Hi Brian!

Brian Harmon 

Hi, Lois! How's it going?

Lois Dankwa

I'm good. How are you today?

Brian Harmon 

I'm good, very good.

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, well, I'm glad that you've joined us today, and I'm excited to dive in. So, I want to. So, I wanna start by hearing a little bit about just your story and what led you into getting a PhD in environmental health and engineering.

Brian Harmon 

Oh, yeah, well, I'll tell you. It's it's a interesting story, I think, just because all the different turns it took. But I I was on active duty in the army, and I was doing some security related work, and we were working mainly in chemical and biological defense for the military, and I got interested in public health preparedness, and a co-worker of mine, she had her PhD in pharmacology from UNC Chapel Hill, and she kind of inspired me to apply, and I knew the only program that I was interested in getting any type of you know, public health preparedness, or any type of PhD from in the area when I was stationed here in the DC Metropolitan area was Hopkins. So, I applied to Johns Hopkins, and now the rest is history.

Lois Dankwa

That's great to hear, and it's always it's interesting how kind of we all arrive at what got us to like pulling the trigger and like applying to be in the program. And it's cool that you mentioned that a co-worker that you were with in the army was really what got you to go, oh, let me do this!

Brian Harmon 

Yeah, yeah, that was really it. I had been interested in a PhD program, you know, years before, but it was really, you know, talking with her that really kind of, you know, pushed me the final step in applying to Hopkins when I was here at that time.

Lois Dankwa

That's pretty cool. So, I wanna, I guess take a second to zoom away from your PhD and also just understand a little bit more about kind of what appealed to you about joining the army, and how you arrived at that, too, since you kind of have 2 roles that you exist in.

Brian Harmon 

Yeah, yeah, of course. So, my mom, has always been, or she was, she's retired now, but she had always been in the army reserves from the time you know I can remember she was in the military before I was born. And so, I was always exposed to the military, you know, in a way. Not not the traditional military life or people move around. You know they’re referred to as Army Brats, right, but I had been exposed to the army reserves for my whole life at that point, you know, growing up, and and I and I actually was never interested in joining in the military at all when I was I was a kid. It was kind of funny looking back on it now. I was not interested whatsoever. I actually wanted to be I wanted to be a golf course superintendent when I was in high school, and then when I initially, you know, got to college doing my undergrad, cause I worked on golf courses. I enjoyed playing golf. I enjoyed sports in general, did a lot of sports in high school, but I really, I saw golf had some longevity with it, you know, because you're not getting beat up all the time. And then I became interested in working on golf courses, and I am going somewhere with this, I promise

Lois Dankwa

Okay.

Brian Harmon 

And I did my, yeah. And I did my, I did my internship, for when I was in college I did an internship with with with a golf course in Vail, Colorado. It's a beautiful area, and I'd been working on golf courses a long time, so I was familiar with all the processes and the work hours. And I was standing on a golf green, setting the golf green up at about 4:45 or so in the morning in July, I think it was July fourth in Vail, Colorado. And then I just had this epiphany. It's like, wait, if I you know, if I choose this career, then my yeah, my busiest days are gonna be everyone else's, you know, holidays or weekends. So, you know right there, right there standing on the golf green in Vail Colorado, you know this is this is also the importance of internships too, right? Want to make sure you're gonna enjoy the job. But I decided I was like, oh man, I don't wanna do that. I was like that doesn’t sound good at all. Well, I guess I'll just, you know go into science and become a scientist. And I decided right then there. But you kind of fast forward a little bit, and I had gotten and interested in environmental science, environmental chemistry. At the time I was getting my masters at the Rochester Institute of Technology and I was doing environmental chemistry. We're looking at naturally occurring organo halogen compounds, which is pretty cool. I decided I wanted to pursue going into the Medical Service corps with the Army cause I really appreciated the role they played and the and that position that they filled, you know, for the military, and for the Government as a whole. So, I applied then initially to go into the medical service corps as a graduate student for my master's a long time ago, and it did not work out because we missed the board, the Entry board. My recruiter was unfamiliar with the process for the medical service corps. He thought that the process was like the rest of the army where they hold a board every quarter of the year, and it was not the case. They only held the board once once a year for the medical service corps, so due to that error, I ended up just going into the regular army reserves, and I branched Intel, and that's what got me kinda got me into the field in the army. Otherwise I would have been, I would have been in Medical Service Corps, and I probably wouldn't be where I'm at right now, talking to you on the podcast for Johns Hopkins. 

Lois Dankwa

Oh, wow! It's crazy! How, when womething doesn't quite work out how you planned it, it can sometimes work out for the better, right?

Brian Harmon 

Absolutely, and I've seen that I've seen that happen time and time again. Not just not just in my life, but, you know, watching the lives of my friends and family and co-workers. Yeah, people really, get so determined sometimes, you know, setting a goal that they think they need to achieve, or they wanna achieve to make whatever it is complete in their life. And then that goal doesn't work out, and you know as the I think the saying is, you know, one door closes, another one opens. Well that really does happen, you know, and sometimes it really ends up being the better route. And really it comes down to just more of you know what you make of the opportunities that are given in front of you, because nobody is gonna succeed at everything they do. But there are people that have flexibility and can overcome, you know, those obstacles, right.

Lois Dankwa

Oh, yeah, definitely. And I I can certainly identify with that as well. So as someone that loves a narrative and an epiphany I love that you shared the story about just your experience kind of working on a golf course and how you realized, oh, wait. Everyone's vacation, I'm very busy. But I recognize that you have a lot of different roles, and I'm curious if golf, then, still has a role in your life where you're at least able to still enjoy it, despite not working in those spaces.

Brian Harmon 

Yeah, you know it it really really does. And I have. I can give you a quick story about that, too. So, I do I enjoy playing golf, you know, just recreationally. And I think it's a it's relaxing for me just to be outside and I'm not too concerned about how well I score. I'm really not. I tell people that. And they and they don't believe me. But I really don't. You know, I feel like a lot of people get competitive with, you know, get competitive with themselves for golf, and I just enjoy being outside and walking around. It's fun. But as I say, I do it for fun, and do it for relaxation. So, I’m in I'm a member of my company Institute for defense analysis, their Golf League, and it's a it's a really, it's really, you know, relaxed golf league. We go out and play 9 holes a day or 2 a week in the evening. It usually doesn't take very long and definitely not more than a couple of hours, 2 and a half hours, something like that. But it's a really good way to meet co-workers I don't normally interact with. And I and I started in the Golf League during, it may have been during Covid. Yeah, it was during Covid, when when Covid first ticked off in 2020 cause we could be outside and that worked out really well, and and I had arrived at IDA in the fall of 2019, it was November 2019. So, I didn't get a lot of time in the office until it was time to, you know, go home and work from home. And then, you know, then you're just not meeting a lot of folks at the office. So, I did it as a, as a means to play golf and as a means to meet my coworkers and and get to know people. And so, I did, and I've been in the Golf League since, and still, you know, still great. It's a lot of fun. Yes, but I ended up meeting a guy, a co-worker of mine, that I otherwise never would have met if it had not been, for you know, being on the golf course. We got pair together, and he's he's a great guy. And he's working on some some access issues, I guess, to certain, to certain groups within the military and that's like another task he's working on. That's not very specific, but you know he's a prior military. He's retired and you know we got to talking while we were walking around, and I was like well yeah, I think you know, I think I could contribute to that effort that you're doing. And he did too. So, then we you know, we got linked up on a golf course and and kinda carried that through to to the to work. And we've been collaborating on things since and since I knew Dave already, right, and we worked together and and worked on this project together, we ended up we ended up kind of formulating a military and veteran employee resource group at IDA. And so, I'm the chair of that, and he is the Deputy chair, and we advocate for or you know, Army well, military Reservists there at at IDA and we also Advocate for the veteran community there. We have a lot of veterans at IDA, so we advocate for them for issues that matter for them. And we also. And we're, you know, very inclusive in the in the ERG. You know we have spouses of military members, and then also just advocates. We have advocates in the group. So essentially, if you work at IDA, you can be in the military and veteran ERG. So, you know, it's not some kind of club, right? Cause everybody, you know, there's people that are currently serving like myself, and are in a part-time capacity. And there's people who have served. We have a lot of people who have served. I think I don’t know what the numbers are exactly, but I would say it's somewhere around a quarter of the people that work, at least at my building, are Veterans in one way, shape, or form. And they either retired or were separated honorably. And then we have, you know, we have we have the spouses there as well, you know. There's plenty of spouses, military members, and there's people that just, you know, wanna support the military that are the advocates. And our initial effort that we're still working for, this is actually a pretty new ERG, you know, the employee resource group we have there the whole concept it's pretty new to IDA, and we're actually bringing in a co-worker of mine, somebody I was on active duty with, we're bringing in Pasha Palenkur, and he's gonna come and talk about PTSD and the issues of dealing with PTSD. And also, the resources that are available for people, because a lot of times people don't don't understand the resources that are available to folks. I feel like a lot of active duty service members are aware that they have a lot of resources available, but a lot of times people who are, you know, separated, or, you know, separated honorably or for whatever reason and or retired, they're not completely familiar with all the resources that are available through various routes. You know, not not just the VA, but you know, tons of profits and things like that. So, it's it's a cool thing, and then all that started, because really because of golf.

Lois Dankwa

That's amazing. I I love, I love how it seems like so many important like moments for you, and impactful moments have stemmed from just like a peer or a colleague, whether it was you applying to a PhD Program in the first place, or helping start up what sounds like an amazing resource for people who kind of can understand kind of the military and army experience. And I'm curious to hear just a little bit more about, or maybe in other ways, the role that mentors and peers have had in your career journey.

Brian Harmon 

Oh, yeah. Well, you know, I've had I've had a lot of mentors over the years. The mentor I have now at IDA, she's wonderful. I would say she's a leader in the field, you know that we that we work in, which is kind of it's kind of you know it's kind of public health-ish. I would say it's more, you know, public health preparedness lane. But Laura Idle, she's been she's been at IDA for a number of years. I think she she's been. It's over 15, I think, but she's the assistant director of the Division I’m in at IDA, the Operational Evaluation Division. She's been leading our task, which supports Department of Homeland Security or their Office of Safety Act implementation, and the Safety Act, that’s not really the question you asked, but it supports anti-terrorism technologies that are, you know, deployed to supporting venues, you know, big football games, you know, airports, or wherever it may be. But you know, working with her, you know, she’s really helped me out and kinda kind of given me some guidance on, you know what to, I guess what to look for as you kind of mature throughout your career, and one and one of the big things that I've learned from her, and you know, previous mentors in the military, mentors when I was growing up, you know a lot a lot of those were actually, you know, coaches and friends of the family cause my mom, my mom was a single mom. So, I had so, I kinda had, you know she was working, you know, 2, 3 jobs. Actually, I think at 1 point my mom had 5 jobs. So, when she was when she was doing that, you know, I picked up a lot of mentors as a child too. My mom was obviously a mentor. But you know there were my best friend’s his parents, I'm very close to them. You know, going up to the military, I had some some great mentors when I was deployed to Iraq. I had a mentor there. I had a mentor when I was in Afghanistan, you know separate mentors. And you know it was kind of learning from them all. But there's a common theme between all of it. I think it is being open to being open to correcting the way you do things, or changing the way you do things to optimize them. I've always been pretty flexible over my life. Not just even in, you know, professional settings, or, you know, also in personal settings, too, right? I think you know, having that perspective and being flexible and really trying to make the most of the opportunity that’s given to you, because all of it's really opportunities if you think about it, and you can either, you know, not capitalize on the opportunity, or you can choose to capitalize on it and make the best of it. And also another another tip that I've learned is to try and pick up habits that are constructive and not destructive. And I've learned that the hard way over the years years, you know. You know, trying to pick up habits and and practices that build on who you are, and make you better, a better, you know, rounded person, and I kinda learned that from a few mentors over the years too. And also not to respond to an email quickly if you're upset.

Lois Dankwa

Yes, always a good reminder.

Brian Harmon 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think, actually, you know what I think I learned that one from Kellogg Schwab at Hopkins. Yeah, he was my mentor at the School of Public Health.

Lois Dankwa

That's great!

Brian Harmon 

Yeah. And I remember him telling me, I never was really prone to, you know, quickly respond to an Email and be upset. But you know, not necessarily upset, but like, you know, if you're agitated, or whatever it is, I remember him telling me he had a 24-hour rule. He didn’t respond to emails for a day if you know he felt he needed some time to reflect and I don't think he would mind me sharing that with them. That's just good wisdom for everybody. 

Lois Dankwa

Yeah, that is certainly some good advice, because I'm sure we've all experienced moments where, whether we were just having a bad day, so, an email just irked us particularly. Always good to take a step back. But I also love how you'd mentioned the importance of being open to opportunities. And just also just yeah, being being open in a way where you're able to learn and flexible and stuff.

Brian Harmon 

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's so important. And I have I have a 9-year-old son, his his his mom, and I, co-parent, and we were divorced some years back, and and he's got, you know, he's got 2 homes right so he's got 2 homes, and you know, 2 loving homes and the time to share it’s you know 50%. And he's got a you know, he's got his mom and his step Dad, over there, and he's got a half-sister. And over here he's got, you know, my fiancée, Regina, and and a dog so it's like 2 very, you know, different environments, and, you know, two outstanding environments, but you know very different. You know, one at his mom's house is very, you know, busy and hectic. I mean, he's got a sister that's half his age, right? And I think he's pretty young. And then over here, you know, it's much quieter and and you're trying to deal with that change in pace, as you know, as he's going back and forth, right, and he goes back and forth very well. He's been been doing it for quite a while, you know, probably as long as he can remember. But you know, trying to remind him too, right, all the time, of the importance of being flexible. And you know, keeping a positive attitude. And he generally does a good job with it, though he's also 9, right. But those fundamentals don't change in life. I mean you still you know, you gotta wake up and yeah be positive about what you're doing that day. I, really, I really I’m concerned about folks that you know wake up, and they don't have that positive attitude, because you know it's a positive thing when you're waking up in the morning and you're able to go to work and function the way you normally function. That's not a that's not a given every day. You know there's a lot of lot of people I have, you know, met a lot of people I know in the military their lives have been drastically changed by certain events over the years, and you know they could be maybe they’re not walking the way they used to. Maybe they can't walk at all, you know. Maybe, you know, maybe they have issues that you can't really see. So, there's a lot of things we're grateful for and having to, you know, in those times of frustration, right? And everybody gets them. I get them, you know, times when you're frustrated at work, or you're over over tasked at work. You got too much work to do. I mean the time that it's always good to set back and think about all the things you do have and all the and all the opportunity you have available and the positive things you have. So just that perspective, you know, and flexibility. And yeah, taking advantage of the opportunities given, cause those are the only opportunities you’re gonna get, you know, if you earned them or not.

Lois Dankwa

Right. Yeah, I love all of that. So, I have one more question for you today, Brian, and I am curious you said a lot of answering this, but I'm curious what inspires you right now?

Brian Harmon 

I'm inspired by the opportunity to improve, and the concept of that is, you know I've been trying to, I've been trying to think about, you know, I've been thinking about this a good bit. And Regina and I, we talked about it a fair amount. There's always, you know, an opportunity to improve even. It doesn't matter it doesn't matter how good you are at something you can always improve and be better and refine, you know your practice, or you can refine your skills, whatever it may be. And you know I'm trying to apply that across my life, right. So, I mean you apply it to, you know, personal life, like, hey, you know I'm you know I I wanna improve, you know, being a better partner. I wanna improve being a better dad. I wanna improve being a better golfer, right? I wanna improve being better at my job, more efficient. And the areas of improvement that I've really tried to focus in on is to be a little more understanding and aware of, you know, things going on around me. Sometimes in my life I've been I've definitely been in situations where you know you kinda get the tunnel vision right. And all you can really see is, is kind of what's on the other end of the tunnel. But that is never the way it is, you know. That's never the way it is, and it's taking me time to figure that out. And I'm telling this, I'm telling you this right as you’re a PhD student yourself. I imagine you're seeing a lot of light, you know, at the end of the tunnel, as everybody does in PhD Program as you start nearing the end. And that's probably a good thing actually. But, being able to recognize what's going on around you and making the most of what you have. And also looking for ways to improve. You know I've been, you know, every day, you know it's shocking. I tell my son you know I tell them I'm like, well, you know it's not like I was like it's not like Dad hasn't made mistakes, you know. I've made mistakes throughout my life. I continue making mistakes. And he's always like he's very dramatic about things. He's always like, what? And you know, he really, it's like you made mistakes. He's like what?. And I'm like, oh, man, yeah, I make mistakes all the time. Like, all you gotta do is just try and learn from your mistakes. And I was telling him the other day I was like, you know, you look at the people in life right. You look at the people in general, the people who really succeed in life, and I'm not talking about succeeding and making a bunch of money in the stock market or getting a job that, you know has, you know I'm not talking anything at all about that. I'm talking about people who are happy and successful in life. They have at a minimum, they've learned from their mistakes, and they've corrected the deficiencies that they've identified over time. So, there's that, right. And then there's people who take it a next level, and they learn from the mistakes of others. Now unfortunately, those other people, you know, they made mistakes right, but if we all learned from our mistakes, you know, try to make ourselves better and improve. And then also learn from the mistakes of others, right? That's that's a lot of the battle, and I and I've told I told my son that. I do believe that. I do believe that's very true. And then, you know, there's always opportunities to improve. You know, like I'm a like tomorrow, I was in, so I do martial arts on the side, too, and I was in a dojo last night. I've been pretty, I've been practicing pretty heavily so to speak. Actually, every day, all day, like twice a day, because I have a black belt test coming up tomorrow right so I'm doing the Black Belt test tomorrow. And I was talking to my lead instructor, Jonathan, and and I was doing our final kata for the we had to do, you know, we have to know a bunch of stuff, right? It's like blocking sets, katas, and defensive measures, and there's a bunch of them. And our final kata is a pretty complicated kata, and and I looked over to him, and I found myself, you know, asking the question I was like, well, I was like, well, can I? You know, after I had been practicing and practicing, and the last version he saw, you know, last night, I was like, well, I was like, did you see any areas for improvement? That was my question to him, and he said, Well, yeah, he's like you can improve the whole thing. I was like, Oh, yeah, you're right, I was like I can. I can always improve that you're right. It can be better. So then I had to rephrase my question. I was like, well, do you see the areas that are very glaring that would be a no go? 

Lois Dankwa

Right.

Brian Harmon

And and he said he said no, he said, it's fine. He's like you you have a perfectly, you know, serviceable kata 10 and I was like, Okay, good. But but I guess the point of that was, you know, I could always, you know, improve that right, and he's my instructor, and he will be the first one to tell you that he could always improve his forms, so it's not like there's not opportunities for improvement, even if other people recognize you as an as an expert, or highly proficient, or very, very good at what you do, you can still get a little bit better and you can self-reflect and improve.

Lois Dankwa

That's such a good point. And, Brian, it's so. It's been so wonderful kind of hearing from you, hearing your experiences, and just you're such a good storyteller. So, I wanna thank you so much for taking time to chat with us and share a little just a little bit about your experiences.

Brian Harmon 

Oh, yeah, thanks so much, Lois. I had a good time talking about it, and I did not know I was a good storyteller, but I will make sure to bring that up. I'll make sure to bring that up with Regina and my later that I have been I've been labeled a good storyteller.

Lois Dankwa

That’s right. Alright thank you so much Brian.

Brian Harmon 

Alright thanks so much.