On March 1, the Noyce Foundation, in collaboration ASTC and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), announced the fourth cohort of Noyce Leadership Fellows.

Through their Fellowships, 18 senior level managers from science centers and related institutions will increase their capacity to lead effectively; to advance innovation in their institutions and communities; and to act as change agents at the crossroads of societal trends, global issues, and informal science. The Noyce Leadership Institute (NLI) provides access to knowledge, tools, best practices, and professional networks through a mix of face-to-face sessions, executive coaching, peer learning, and audio conferencing over a year, followed by ongoing Fellow alumni activities.

Primary funding for NLI comes from the Noyce Foundation, with additional support to date from IMLS, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation.

Congratulations to the 2011–2012 Fellows (in bold) and their Strategic Initiative Sponsors:

• Jeff Barnhart, Lindy Hoyer, Omaha Children’s Museum, Nebraska
• Marcie Benne, Ray Vandiver, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland
• Dan Bird, Goéry Delacôte, At-Bristol, England, United Kingdom
• Scott Carter, Ron Kagan, Detroit Zoological Society, Michigan
• Greg DeFrancis, David Goudy, Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, Vermont
• Sean Duran, Gillian Thomas, Miami Science Museum, Florida
• Andrea Durham, Paul Fontaine, Anne Cademenos, Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts
• Amito Haarhuis, Michiel Buchel, Science Center NEMO, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Joan Hoge-North, Geoff Halfpenny, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware
• Eva Jonsson, Olle Nordberg, Teknikens Hus, Luleå, Sweden
• Diane Perlov, Jeffrey Rudolph, California Science Center, Los Angeles
• Gail Ringel, Carole Charnow, Boston Children’s Museum, Massachusetts
• Tom Rockwell, Rob Semper, Exploratorium, San Francisco
• Patricia Verheyden, Eric Jacquemyn, Technopolis, Mechelen, Belgium
• Johannes Vogel, Sharon Ament, Natural History Museum, London, England, United Kingdom
• Stacy Wakeford, Denise Amyot, Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, Ottawa, Ontario
• Shari Werb, Cristián Samper, Claudine Brown, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Karen Wise, Jane Pisano, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California.

On February 21, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand—the second major earthquake to hit the city in six months. ASTC-member Science Alive, damaged in the first quake on September 4, 2010, suffered additional damage to its building, but all staff and visitors were evacuated safely.

CEO Neville Petrie reports: “Science Alive withstood the quake with damage obvious under the steel framing and plywood that encased our clock tower after the first quake, but very little other damage. All staff were able to evacuate the tenants and visitors. We had no injuries, for which we are very grateful. It will be a long healing process. Financially this will be very hard for us. We were only just starting to return to our normal visitor numbers after six months of hard work, and we had some major exhibitions planned for later in the year and these plans will have to be reconsidered.

“We are encountering some severe aftershocks, some up to 5.7, making it very unnerving, and there was very little sleep last night. Geologists are saying this will continue for a while, so I anticipate that Science Alive is going to be closed for a while so that staff can clean up their homes, and then we will look at where we go from there.”

About the image: Following the September 4 earthquake, Science Alive’s damaged clocktower was encased in steel and plywood. The clock stopped when that first quake hit at 4:35 a.m. Photo by Flickr user Cafe Cecil

Thousands of scientists, educators, and decision-makers from around the world have converged on the U.S. capital this week for the 177th American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting. In honor of the conference, which explores “Science Without Borders” with representatives from more than 50 countries, ASTC invited participants to spend yesterday evening at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences.

The crowd included representatives from diverse organizations interested in the role of science centers and museums in engaging the public in science, from the National Science Teachers Association to the Embassy of Sweden. After a welcome by Koshland Science Museum director Patrice Legro, ASTC CEO Bud Rock and Martin Storksdieck, director of the Board on Science Education at the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, led participants in a dialog on how science centers support the integration of informal learning into our lifelong learning paths.

The science center community aren’t the only ones celebrating science this week, though. AAAS will host its Family Science Days February 19 and 20 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. This community science showcase features a broad range of educators, including several ASTC members, working to promote an interest in science among the general public. The event is free and open to the public.

About the image: Bud Rock, Francis Eberle, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, and Martin Storksdieck attend the ASTC reception at the Koshland Science Museum.

ASTC-member MadaTech—Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, located in Haifa, is working to help those affected by the fire that broke out in the nearby Carmel Forest on December 2. The fire raged for four days, killing more than 40 people, displacing 17,000 residents, and destroying 10,000 acres of forest.

Ronen Mir, MadaTech’s general director and CEO, writes, “MadaTech opened our doors free to families who were evacuated, and we sent our science vans to places where the evacuated were housed to entertain the kids. We also held a two-day camp for 120 kids of the police force.”

Several MadaTech employees and Board members were evacuated from their homes, but none lost their property in the fire.

Mir notes, “We are now operating as usual, though the green Carmel mountains around us are black.”

About the image: MadaTech staff members perform a demonstration for children who were evacuated from their homes due to the fire in the Carmel Forest. Photo courtesy MadaTech

Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, was presented with a 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama at a White House ceremony. The award is given annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to museums and libraries in recognition of their extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental, and social contributions. IMLS is the primary source of U.S. federal funding for museums and libraries.

The ceremony highlighted how the awardees’ programs have benefited individual community members. By partnering with Explora, Sara Keeney has discovered new passion and possibilities for education. As principal for the past 10 years of Los Padillas Elementary School—located in a semi-rural area where families struggle—Sara has found fresh approaches for engaging teachers, students, and their parents by working through inquiry-based programs at Explora. Teachers comment that Explora’s unique professional development opportunities have changed their classroom methods and activities. Families rave about Explora Family Science Night, the school’s best-attended family event. Watching families interact in thought-provoking experiments is deeply meaningful to Sara, who knows these activities will ripple throughout the child’s life in family conversations, learning potential and career choices. Most of Sara’s work has been in minority and high poverty schools like Los Padillas where 60 percent of the students are English language learners, and the school qualifies for 100 percent free lunches. According to Sara, “Our families are engaged in survival, but Explora helped us reach out to them in ways we hadn’t thought of.”

In addition to the National Medal, each awardee institution receives $10,000 and visit from StoryCorps, an independent, nonprofit, oral history project that records conversations with community members that can be shared through a free CD and are preserved at the Library of Congress.

About the image: Community member Sara Keeney and Explora director Patrick Lopez accept the National Medal from U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. Photo courtesy IMLS