This year’s ASTC Annual Conference, to be hosted by the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, October 2–5, will feature a new speakers’ series entitled “Expanding the Scope: Key Issues for the Field.” The series is designed to push the boundaries of informal science education into new areas of collaboration.

In one of these sessions, Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will discuss ways science centers can link the scientific community with opinion leaders to provide public-dialogue opportunities at the local level.

In another conference highlight, featured speaker Jon D. Miller, the John A. Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies at Michigan State University, East Lansing, will report on data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), a 20-year U.S. national study of a sample of young adults, now ages 34 to 38. The 2009 LSAY study focused on how and where today’s young adults obtain science information when they need it—including from museums, print and broadcast media, and electronic resources.

Visit our conference section to learn more about ASTC 2010.

About the images: Alan I. Leshner (top), CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Jon D. Miller, the John A. Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies at Michigan State University, East Lansing, will be featured speakers at the ASTC Annual Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

This month marks a big transition for the Noyce Leadership Institute as the second cohort wraps up its final retreat and the third prepares for its first face-to-face meeting. The second cohort’s Capstone Retreat, held April 21–24 in the Washington, D.C. area, offered an opportunity for the participants to reflect on the future of their leadership and the role of their centers in the evolution of their communities and the science center field. The event featured group presentations by the 2009–2010 Fellows, which were attended by representatives from ASTC, the Noyce Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the American Association of Museums, the Association of Children’s Museums, and the National Science Foundation.

The start of the third cohort of NLI Fellows marks a distinct change in the program’s format. In contrast to prior cohorts that focused on CEOs, the 2010–2011 cohort includes senior managers inside and outside the field with the passion and potential to work as a CEO, COO, or another senior executive position within a science center or children’s museum. After a competitive application process, 18 participants were selected in February. The Fellows began meeting via audio conference in March, and will meet for their Opening Retreat in San Diego, California, May 15–23.

About the image: Ronen Mir, general director, MadaTech, Haifa, Israel, and Margie Marino, executive director, North Museum of Natural History, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, brainstorm ways to engage new audiences in their centers during Cohort 2’s Capstone Retreat. Photo by Jennifer Zoffel

In December 2009, Ka’iu Kimura was named Interim Director of ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. She is the first alumnus of the ASTC Diversity & Leadership Development Fellows program to be named as executive director or CEO of an ASTC-member institution. Kimura has been involved with the center since initial planning began in 2001 as an exhibit content researcher, leading the development of Hawaiian content for exhibits and helping define the mission of the center. After the center’s opening in 2006, Kimura served as experience coordinator, designing and implementing educational programs and engaging the community in development of programs that met the needs of Hawaiian youth. In 2007, she was named associate director as part of the center’s commitment to developing native leadership and its larger sustainability plan.

Kimura was selected as an ASTC Diversity & Leadership Development Fellow in 2006, attending her first ASTC annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The ASTC Fellows experience was her first exposure to the larger science center field and the ASTC community. She notes that the program provided her the “opportunity to meet other Fellows who experienced similar challenges in their own institutions, understand informal science education on a higher level, and network with professionals in the community outside of educational programs and exhibit designers.” Kimura also acknowledges that the program provided guidance on how to be engaged in the conference, ask questions, network effectively, allowing her to enjoy a more nuanced conference experience.

Participation in the ASTC Fellows program opened the doors to other professional development opportunities, including the CAISE Fellows program. Participation in the 2008 program helped her overcome geographic isolation; network with diverse professionals from different informal science education sectors; and gave her insight into the priorities of organizations funding informal science education.

Reflecting on how these experiences have shaped her as a science center leader, Kimura notes, “Imiloa’s mission is to bring together culture in science to benefit all parts of its community, especially to engage youth as the next generation of STEM leaders. Coming to ASTC and CAISE has helped me understand what’s going on in the larger community, and the opportunities for contributions from ‘Imiloa on bringing together culture and science for the benefit of all communities.”

Last week, ASTC joined 937 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). In addition to a 200-booth exhibition, the conference featured hundreds of side events focusing on issues ranging from how climate change affects women to clean development mechanisms in developing countries.

One such event was an International Clim’Way Competition, organized by ASTC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ASTC brought together youth and educators from the Museum of Science, Boston; Experimentarium, Copenhagen; Cap-Sciences, Bordeaux, France; and COSI, Columbus, Ohio, to share their experiences playing Clim’Way, a free online climate change game designed by Cap-Sciences.

The science center participants discussed what they learned from the game with a panel of climate science and policy experts that included Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Walter Staveloz, ASTC; Ned Gardiner, NOAA; Eric Gorman, Cap-Sciences; David Noble, 2DegreesC; Bjørn Bedsted, Danish Board of Technology; and Hans Gubbels, Ecsite Executive Committee.

Perspectives on the game and on climate change differed from site to site, but all participants agreed on one thing: finding a solution to climate change, though difficult, is a challenge we must meet.

Photo by Ned Gardiner

In January, Bonnie VanDorn, ASTC’s executive director for 27 years, announced her retirement, saying: “Since its founding in 1973, ASTC and its members have been instrumental in laying the foundation and advancing the capacity of science centers to engage millions of curious minds globally. The next great step forward for our association responds to changing needs and builds on this history of incredible success. Science centers as a collective force, through ASTC, are now primed to learn together, develop new partnerships, act together, and communicate their impact in ways that will make them even more relevant and significant in their communities.”

Bonnie will continue to lead ASTC through this year’s Annual Conference, and she looks forward to welcoming a new chief executive officer who shares her enthusiasm about ASTC’s new strategic direction.

ASTC’s search committee has selected DHR International to lead the search process. The job description is available here.

Photo by Wendy Hancock