Believe it or not, ASTC’s 2012 Annual Conference, which will be held October 13-16 in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by COSI, is less than eight months away.

Registration will be open in mid-March, and be sure to keep your eye on the conference blog and the conference website (conference.astc.org) for all of the details on keynote speakers, educational sessions, pre- and post-conference workshops, and more.

If you’re interested in participating in ASTC 2012 as an exhibitor, sponsor, and/or advertiser, visit ASTC’s Integrated Marketing Prospectus to learn about the myriad opportunities available.

In the meantime, to get you in the spirit, check out COSI’s conference preview video.

See you in Columbus!!

At first, you can’t believe your eyes. Is the magnet really levitating, you wonder?

But while this demonstration of quantum levitation by Tel-Aviv University’s Superconductivity Group, shot during the recent ASTC Annual Conference in Baltimore looks like something that Harry or Hermione may have conjured up, there is true physics behind it. To date, this video has gotten more than 5 million hits on YouTube and been featured in media outlets all across the globe.

Watch the video below, and for an explanation of how quantum levitation works, visit www.quantumlevitation.com/QuantumLevitation/The_physics.html. For more information on Tel-Aviv University’s Superconductivity Group, contact Dr. Boaz Almog at boazal@gmail.com.

It may be merely minutes after the official closing of the 2011 ASTC Annual Conference in Baltimore, but it’s never too early to start thinking about next year!

ASTC 2012 will be hosted by COSI in Columbus, Ohio, and held October 13-16, 2012.

What’s in store for 2012? Check out COSI’s preview video!

And to get a jump on next year, you can submit a session proposal for 2012 completely online. Check out the Call for Proposals!

See you in Columbus!

Photo courtesy COSI

At the close of ASTC’s 2011 Annual Conference in Baltimore on Tuesday, October 18, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry President and CEO Nancy Stueber, who has served as ASTC’s president for the last two years, passed the gavel to the Association’s new president, R. Bryce Seidl, president and CEO of the Pacific Science Center, Seattle. Seidl formerly served as ASTC’s secretary/treasurer.

“Coming out of this conference, I am even more energized about the power and potential of ASTC to help our members and partners move the world forward on science and science education,” Seidl remarked.

Joining Seidl as board officers are: Chevy Humphrey, president and CEO, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, who will serve as secretary/treasurer; Linda Conlon, chief executive, International Centre for Life, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, who will serve as vice president; Joanna Haas, executive director, Louisville Science Center, Kentucky, who will serve as member-at-large; and Stueber, who assumes the position of immediate past president.

Two board members—Dennis Bartels, executive director of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and Ann Fumarolo, president and CEO of SciPort: Louisiana’s Science Center in Shreveport—were re-elected to a second term. Four new board members were also elected: Nohora Elizabeth Hoyos, executive director, Maloka, Bogota, Colombia; Neville Petrie, CEO, Science Alive! The New Zealand Science Centre, Christchurch; Stephanie Ratcliffe, executive director, Wild Center, Tupper Lake, New York; and Barry Van Deman, president and CEO, North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham.

ASTC board members not up for re-election this year include: Linda Abraham-Silver, president and executive director, Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, Ohio; David Chesebrough, president and CEO, COSI, Columbus, Ohio; Joseph Hastings, executive director, Don Harrington Discovery Center, Amarillo, Texas; Ronen Mir, general director, MadaTech: Israel National Museum of Science, Haifa; David Mosena, president and CEO, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; and Carol Valenta, senior vice president, Saint Louis Science Center, Missouri. Those individuals whose terms have ended include Immediate Past President Lesley Lewis, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto; Member-at-Large Erik Jacquemyn, Technopolis, the Flemish Science Center, Mechelen, Belgium; Graham Durant, Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre, Canberra, ACT, Australia; and Charlie Trautmann, Sciencenter, Ithaca, New York.

How can science centers and museums work to welcome and include all audiences? A group of museum practitioners convened on Tuesday, October 18, at the 2011 ASTC Annual Conference in Baltimore to hear how science centers are working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities.

The first presenter in the session, entitled “Diversity in Practice: Case Studies in Increasing Equity in Museums,” was Eric Godoy of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Godoy detailed several initiatives, ranging from silly (hosting a “Tranimal Drag Contest”—the winner wore an anglerfish costume) to the serious (producing a video as part of the It Gets Better Project to provide hope for LGBT youth facing bullying).

As Adrienne Barnett of the Exploratorium in San Francisco took the floor, she explained, “Eric and I have a friendly rivalry to make our institutions as LGBT-friendly as possible. When I saw the California Academy had an It Gets Better video, I thought, obviously, the Exploratorium has to do one.” Upper management and staff immediately and overwhelmingly supported Barnett’s idea. According to Barnett, the making of the video “was a huge, pivotal moment in history of the Exploratorium. It showed that we have acceptance throughout the institution.” The Exploratorium has had domestic partner policies for staff in place for 12 years and uses inclusive language (such as “spouse” and “partner,” rather than “husband” and “wife”) in materials for its staff and the public.

Next, Kevin Seymour described the LGBT-inclusion efforts of COSI, Columbus, Ohio, which began more recently with a visitation survey in 2009. The center now partners with a local youth center and participates in the Columbus Pride Festival.

Finally, session leader Timothy Hecox of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland described joining OMSI’s diversity workgroup, which has reaching out to the LGBT community among its goals. On November 7, OMSI will host its first family science night geared specifically for LGBT families. “To my knowledge, this [will be] the largest event for this specific community that’s ever happened in Portland,” Hecox said. He also plans to form an ASTC Community of Practice to support diversity committees and workgroups in science centers and museums.

Following the presentations, the participants split into small groups to create their own action plans for serving LGBT audiences or other diverse communities.

About the photo: The Exploratorium’s Adrienne Barnett. Photo by Christine Ruffo