Blog: Partner Highlights
Partner Highlight: NanoDays Alive & Well in Wisconsin!
April 27, 2018
Christina Leavell
Once upon a time, during an NSF grant now far far away, there was a week-long celebration of all things nanoscience. This celebration was called NanoDays, and the good partners in the kingdom of the NISE Net (then the Nanoscale...
Partner Highlight: Montshire Talks Frankenstein, Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of a Classic
April 3, 2018
Trish Palao, Montshire Museum of Science
This year, in participation with the science education initiative Frankenstein200, the Montshire Museum of Science’s annual conversation series, Montshire Talks, focused on the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus. Through her seminal work, Shelley sparked the imaginations of generations who ponder the necessary balance between progress and ethics.
Partner Highlight: Perot Museum of Nature and Science Sparks Adult Engagement with Frankenstein’s Lab
March 6, 2018
Jessica Liken, Perot Museum of Nature and Science
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas was thrilled to bring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein back to life just in time to celebrate the groundbreaking novel’s 200th anniversary. On January 26, 2018, approximately 1,500 adults chose to spend...
Partner Highlight: NanoDays Transforms into MSU Family Science Night at Montana State University
March 6, 2018
Suzi Taylor, MSU Academic Technology and Outreach
What started as a six-station gathering in the lobby of a Montana State University academic building has grown into a university-wide event that fills the student union ballrooms and reaches more than 500 members of the community. Montana’s first NanoDays...
Partner Highlight: A Tale of the Twin Cities and Frankenstein
January 28, 2018
Christina Leavell, Science Museum of Minnesota
January 2018 marked the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s creation of science fiction, and the creature that has become a “living” legend. There are countless retellings of the original story that the then only 20-year-old Shelley wrote. The image of the monster is alive and well today in toys, TV, you name it - but what about the science behind this tale and the relevant connections to responsible innovation that still resonate today?
Partner Highlight: Outcomes from the American Chemical Society’s 2017 National Chemistry Week
December 28, 2017
Lily Raines, American Chemical Society
In 2017, the American Chemical Society (ACS) celebrated the 30th anniversary of one of our most successful outreach campaigns, National Chemistry Week. With a new theme each year, the overall goal of the program is to show the general public how chemistry is involved in every aspect of our daily lives, and so topics have ranged from chemistry in art, in food, in the movies, and in sports.
Partner Highlight: Children’s Science Center Explores Topography with Elementary Schools in Fairfax, VA
December 6, 2017
Laahiri Chalasani, Education and Program Manager
The Children’s Science Center, located in Fairfax, Virginia, provides Family Science Nights of interactive exhibits and hands-on activities to its Northern Virginia elementary schools. Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Center’s van rolls out filled with 12 activities designed to coincide with the curriculum taught in the communities’ schools. The activities, all manned by volunteers, were created to cater to all ages and minds in the school. Each school year, activities are updated and replaced to continue to broaden the scope of multiple STEM related subjects offered.
Partner Highlight: A Small Planetarium has a Big Reopening in Luling, Louisiana
December 6, 2017
Jason Talley, Planetarium Supervisor
After a year of renovations, the St. Charles Parish Library Planetarium reopened to record crowds with help from NISE Net's Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit in time for the 2017 solar eclipse. Since reopening, staff have integrated the kit's activities into the curriculum and improved upon them in some cases. In addition to some local media attention leading up to their eclipse event, planetarium faculty were also invited to speak at a local elementary school about observing the sky, which included a portable star project and several hands-on activities.
Partner Highlight: Celebrating the 2017 solar eclipse in the Valley of Sun
November 7, 2017
Rae Ostman, Arizona State University
NISE Net partners in the Valley of the Sun celebrated the 2017 solar eclipse in a big way! In a pre-eclipse party, almost 900 people visited the Arizona Museum of Natural History, co-hosted by Arizona State University, to help build excitement and awareness of the event in the Phoenix metro area. On August 21, the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU hosted a Solar Eclipse 2017 viewing event at the Tempe campus where thousands of participants turned up to view the partial eclipse through solar telescopes and solar-safe glasses, watch live NASA coverage, engage with interactive displays, and talk with ASU researchers about the science behind the eclipse.
Partner Highlight: The Children's Museum of Houston provides educational and emotional support to local communities during and after Hurricane Harvey
November 6, 2017
Jason Hammond, Children's Museum of Houston
Hurricane Harvey took aim at Houston dumping over 1 trillion gallons of water on the city - this is how much water is dumped over Niagara Falls in 17 days. The George R. Brown Convention Center was quickly set up as a relief shelter housing thousands of citizens, many of them children. Just before the storm had hit members of the Outreach Department at the Children’s Museum of Houston had created science kits that could be distributed to the shelters in case people were displaced. As Houston continues to rebuild after the hurricane, the Children’s Museum of Houston continues to provide educational and emotional support to families and students throughout the great city.