Supported Projects

Public engagement grants for scientists seeking to bring their work to a bigger audience.

The Public Engagement Grants program provides funding, mentoring and project assessment to American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) members interested in engaging with their community and gaining experience in public outreach. At the core of the program are grants of up to $35,000 pay for materials and supplies, marketing, and salary for public engagement projects. The goal is to help scientists reach public audiences to build trust in scientists, and to enable scientists to undertake a significant pilot/case study so that they can qualify for funding from other sources to sustain and even expand their project. The program also supports scientists who may want to transition to a career in public engagement or increase the professionalism of their approach to engaging the public. ASCB provides mentoring and networking opportunities to scientists who want to expand their public engagement work.

Mobile lab that brings hands-on science to underserved students in New York City, with a research lab base on the Lower East Side and in Harlem.

The Simons Foundation supports BioBus’s expansion of its community lab programs, which bring hands-on science to students in Harlem, one of Manhattan’s lowest-income school districts, where test scores lag behind citywide levels. The BioBus mobile lab and the BioBase brick-and-mortar lab offer research-grade laboratory experiences led by scientists, giving students from demographics that are underrepresented in STEM careers the opportunity to excel.

The BioBus parks at a school in the New York City area almost every day of the school year and provides an introductory lab course to K-12 students, typically with six classes and up to 180 students per day. BioBus students gain a more positive attitude toward science and are more likely to see themselves in a STEM career.

At the BioBase, students take in-depth classes and participate in after-school programs and summer camps, studying biological, environmental and materials sciences. By designing their own experiments, they gain a better understanding of the complex web of life. As students progress, some become interns and help to develop curriculum for future students.

BioBus hosts ‘science happy hours,’ in which scientists give talks aimed at a general audience, and attends public events to facilitate connections between scientists and the community.

Biodesign Challenge (BDC) is an international education program and competition that is shaping the first generation of biodesigners.

BDC partners high school and university students with scientists, artists and designers to envision, create and critique transformational applications in biotech. BDC’s goals are to create a community of collaboration among artists, designers and biologists; seed the first generation of biodesigners; and build meaningful public dialogue about biotech and its uses.

During the academic year, BDC’s staff works hand in hand with instructors to build curricula, give students a grounding in biotechnology and its current uses, and support the students as they embark on their own journeys within the world of biotechnology and biodesign.

For the 2020 cycle, BDC is working with Science Sandbox to provide travel awards to under-resourced schools to ensure that they can participate in our program and attend the BDC Summit. BDC is also offering the Science Sandbox Prize for Public Engagement to the participating team whose project best explores the multitude of impacts biotechnology can have on society. Teams competing for this prize will have special opportunities to present onstage at MoMA and Parsons.

Program for students in grades six to 12 that creates pathways for underserved students to study advanced mathematics.

The Simons Foundation supports Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM), an organization that enables low-income sixth- to 12th-graders to study advanced mathematics. Students attend intensive summer programs and have access to an advising program that helps them gain admission to top high schools, pass algebra in eighth grade and enroll in other enrichment programs. After 11th grade, they enter a summer ‘college prep’ program to prepare their college applications and study for the SAT. Through its work, BEAM gives students a realistic chance at the career of their dreams.

BEAM is unique in focusing on giving low-income students access to advanced material. STEM career professionals report having done extra coursework, summer programs and math contests growing up, but access to these extracurricular resources is deeply unequal. Only 3 percent of low-income eighth-graders score at the advanced level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared to 14 percent of affluent peers. BEAM has demonstrated that this inequality can be addressed by supporting low-income students who are ready for advanced work.

Funding from the Simons Foundation supports BEAM’s five-year growth phase, in which it will launch math enrichment for grades three to five in low-income neighborhoods in New York City as well as a number of pilot initiatives designed to reach more students.

The renowned Bay Area science museum brings citizen-science programming to after-school clubs across the country.

The California Academy of Sciences is a scientific and educational institution dedicated to exploring, explaining and sustaining life on Earth. Based in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, it is home to a world-class aquarium, planetarium and natural history museum — all under one living roof.

Designed by the academy, the Science Action Club (SAC) is a nationwide out-of-school program for middle school youth that transforms STEM learning. Through games, projects and hands-on activities, SAC participants investigate nature, document their discoveries connect with scientists, and design strategies to protect our planet — all through the lens of citizen science. SAC features three environmental science units focused on bugs, birds and clouds. Each unit includes 12 hands-on activities and citizen-science investigations designed for 60-90-minute club sessions led by educators, as well as a teaching kit and resources for extended learning. SAC sessions are designed to spark wonder and curiosity about the natural world and provide opportunities for youth to participate in STEM learning that is interesting and meaningful to their lives. SAC’s citizen-science projects have global reach and established longevity, and they take youth outdoors to explore their local environment. For example, the Cloud Quest unit connects students to Globe Observer, a project by NASA in which youth observe the sky to help scientists understand the connection between clouds and climate change; Bird Scouts connects to eBird from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and Bug Safari leverages academy research on arthropods, using iNaturalist. SAC educator are trained and supported through SAC’s blended learning professional development program. Training provides detailed guidance and support for all SAC activities, as well as background information on scientific content, how to do citizen science, and best practices for teaching STEM in an informal learning environment.

Inclusive theater company whose community reflects the vast diversity of the broader population

As a company whose motto is “theatre changing lives,” Chickenshed NYC is committed to theater’s transformative power for individuals and communities. The Chickenshed model is unique in that it brings together members who represent the mosaic of cultures, ethnicities, identities and disabilities that make up our world. Its no-audition policy and inclusive methodology of working with children and youth ensures that each participant can be a successful member of a theatrical community, regardless of differing abilities or societal hurdles.

Chickenshed’s science-influenced artistic program includes immersive musical performances (Adventures from The Shed) for preschoolers (ages 2–5) and their families, and age-grouped theater classes (Chickenshed Players) for children and youth ages 5–18.

Adventures from The Shed leads children through a journey of puppetry, song and movement with elements of American Sign Language (ASL) incorporated into the shows. Children’s love of both the arts and sciences can begin at an early age, and this show exposes young children to basic scientific concepts through the lens of an immersive theatrical experience.

Professionally trained teaching artists guide and empower Chickenshed Players to gain confidence in music, movement and scripting as they hone their performing skills. Chickenshed theatrical programs demonstrate how art and science are not only compatible fields; they can and do enhance each other. Guest scientists help students understand such concepts as biological diversity, habitat, endangered species, astronomy, oceanography and climate change, revealing how theater can be a megaphone for science and how science informs the art that is created.

Chickenshed NYC programs inject STEM elements into its creative practice to create equitable opportunities and explore in more depth what it means to add the “A” to STEM and create STEAM.

CienciaPuerto Rico is an organization that advocates for science in Puerto Rico and supports Puerto Rican researchers.

Their online community of more than 11,000 researchers, educators, students and allies work to show that science can empower people to improve their lives and society. In attempt to leverage public interest (as well as curb the spread of rampant misinformation), Ciencia Puerto Rico is working to develop “kits” for Puerto Rican communities to parse through information about the pandemic, as well as properly engage with news sources and information around COVID-19 and more. Ultimately, the hope is that this moment provides an onramp to continued engagement with science for Puerto Rico.

A science education initiative to engage high school students in studies of biodiversity in New York City.

The Urban Barcode Project (UBP) is a science education initiative that engages New York City high school students in the study of biodiversity using DNA. ‘DNA barcodes’ are short DNA sequences that can be used to objectively identify almost any plant, animal or fungal species. DNA barcoding can be mastered quickly and applied to many different questions, allowing students to reach a satisfying research endpoint within an academic year. Students can undertake individual projects to explore product mislabeling or contribute to distributed efforts to explore a local ecosystem, museum collection or conservation issue. These projects stimulate independent thinking across different levels of biological organization, linking molecular genetics to ecology and evolution.

UBP is one of several efforts by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNA Learning Center to promote original research by high school students. To participate, students are required to complete two courses: Conservation Genetics and DNA Barcoding and Bioinformatics. Students who complete both courses are invited to apply at the beginning of the school year, and 40 students are selected to participate in teams of two students matched with scientist mentors. Mentors guide the students through all phases of the research process, from project design and culminating in poster and oral presentations at a research symposium. Students gain knowledge, confidence and interest in science while studying the interaction of biodiversity and human well-being.

New initiative developed by education-focused entrepreneurs connects lifelong learners and educators of all ages to provide education-based programs, products and services.

The Design to Disrupt (D2D) and Reimagine Education initiative began during the U.S. lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic as an inclusive space for K-12 education stakeholders to provide information, and contribute to, the future of education. Since the group’s establishment, D2D roundtables have served as an entry point for essential conversations about race, racism and the digital divide. Central to these dialogues are the many intersections of one’s identity and social-emotional awareness.

These conversations, known as the Edupreneur Roundtable, are run by community and organizational leaders, and engage a wide community, inclusive and intersectional regarding gender and ethnic diversity, to impact the progress of civic engagement through education. Together they leverage social capital, as a method to provide education-focused entrepreneurs an on ramp into EDTECH and the education service marketplace. By sharing tangible tools, steps and strategies to address the needs of modern education, the roundtable disrupts the traditional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education marketplace to serve as an entry point that reimagines where, when and how learning happens.
With intention, D2D disrupts and re-envisions a path that advances equity through the development of future-minded educational environments.

Community-focused program that provides extraordinary opportunities for under-recognized and underrepresented youth

Created by Dr. Whitney Gaskins and the Gaskins Foundation, EPICC STEMulate gives youth resources at many stages of their academic careers, as well as their creative lives. Comprehensive programs are offered to help develop and foster skill sets needed to accomplish a brighter future. The program’s mission is to present, engage and prepare students of all ages to become leaders in STEM using algebra, programming and design concepts.

Empowering Parents in Community Churches (EPICC) STEMulation is designed to transform church meeting spaces into a STEM learning environment. The goal of EPICC STEMulation is to equip church leaders and parents from underrepresented backgrounds with the tools to deliver STEM content contextualized to the lived experiences of those who attend the partner churches. Black churches have traditionally served as places for creating individual, systemic and political change within their communities. Churches utilize their position in the community to train and support those in the most need. As a result, Black churches are ideally situated to offer a new place of STEM learning for the communities they serve.

The organization started as the brainchild of Dr. Whitney Gaskins, 2009’s Miss Black Ohio USA. As Miss Black Ohio, Whitney chose as her platform to increase STEM education for underrepresented youth in our communities. After her tenure, she began conducting STEM workshops throughout the state of Ohio. In 2013, she officially chartered the Gaskins Foundation.

Contributing to a sustainable ecosystem that gives folks in under-resourced communities new opportunities to explore educational and career pathways into STEAM fields

Growth in well-paying jobs in STEAM is unparalleled, yet Black and Latine youth and women are severely underrepresented in these fields. Two senior faculty of the City University of New York, Stan Altman and Brian Schwartz, wanted to understand why, despite significant work in this area, there has been little progress in diversifying these fields.

Modeled on the successful approach employed by Trinity College’s Science Gallery Dublin and its offshoot Science Gallery International, Science and Arts Engagement New York, Inc. (SAENY), a not-for-profit, established and created the Harlem Gallery of Science (HGS) to address the unique needs of 11- to 24-year-olds growing up in inner city neighborhoods of New York City.

Pursuing STEAM educational and career pathways is challenging for these youth, who all too often attend under-resourced schools, have limited afterschool resources to support them in exploring these fields, and see few role models who look like them in positions of achievement in STEAM fields.

The HGS has demonstrated that its approach is effective and engaging its target population through its interactive STEAM exhibitions on basketball and music, and programs inspiring youth to imagine their future possibilities. Two of these programs are its successful peer-mentoring program with the National Society of Black Physicists, which pairs college students of color with middle- and high school students in West Harlem; and a digital game-design initiative involving the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, City College and Urban Arts Partnership to prepare Black and Latinx youth for careers in the growing video-gaming and creative arts industries in New York City.

To house its exhibits and programs, SAENY is raising funds for a permanent home for the gallery to serve as a convening place for students, community members, college faculty, business and civic leaders, as well as tourists.

A collaborative program that implements informal, out-of-school STEM learning for youth in high-need communities across the country.

Solving the STEM crisis is too complex a challenge for any one organization—school, cultural institution, or community-based center— to tackle alone. In response to this need, four of the nation’s largest and most experienced youth development organizations came together in 2015 to launch Imagine Science, an initiative that harnesses and unites the distinct expertise and resources of each organization: YMCA of the USA, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Girls Inc., and the National 4-H Council.

Imagine Science combines the national resources of these four collaborative partners and jointly implements high-quality informal STEM learning during out-of-school time with underrepresented youth in high-need communities around the nation. The initiative follows a common standard of ‘essential program elements’ rooted in evidence-based STEM and out-of-school youth development practices.

Imagine Science (I/S) is the first-ever jointly operated national effort to design and implement high-quality, out-of-school STEM programming for underserved youth. Together, the four partners reach 18 million young people annually in every U.S. state and territory. Their combined assets include more than 110,000 program sites, over 75,000 full-time employees, and 1 million volunteers dedicated to reaching youth.

Following three successful pilot-site launches, Imagine Science is now focused on expanding its national scaling efforts. With philanthropic support from the Simons Foundation, Imagine Science aims to build capacity through additional sites and create a STEM resource repository for broader distribution of quality STEM curricula and activities.

Organization that pairs scientists and filmmakers to tell stories of current research through innovative artistic techniques.

Imagine Science Films (ISF) promotes a high-level dialogue between scientists and filmmakers. The Symbiosis competition pairs active scientists with diverse filmmakers, who create short films on condensed production schedules during Imagine Science film festivals.

Since 2014, Symbiosis competitions at New York, Paris and Abu Dhabi festivals have showcased the power of concentrated exchanges between working scientists and filmmakers. ISF structures the program with an eye towards facilitating this exchange and the emergence of new forms of science cinema.

Symbiosis films serve not only to capture specific aspects of current research but also to embrace an artistic quality with an emphasis on innovative storytelling. Participating filmmakers with a wide range of interest and expertise in areas such as animation, commercial, documentary, experimental, fiction and virtual reality, music video) provide their own sensibility and filmic influences to these science film projects. Working scientists contribute by sharing personal stories of their research and facilitating access to research spaces.

Scientist-filmmaker pairs work closely with ISF team members and festival alumni, who serve as mentors. By working directly with mentors and being part of all discussions before, during and after the creative process, scientists gain an appreciation for the full power of sharing science through the filmic lens. It is said that people fully integrate new knowledge when they explain it to another. Through filmmaking, scientists complete the process of learning and integrating their area of scientific inquiry by teaching it to others. For their part, filmmakers learn how to document and create narratives about the scientific research process and humanize science.

A biennial international convening of practitioners, trainers, researchers, educators, funders and others who work across diverse disciplines to prioritize inclusion, equity and intersectionality in all forms of science communication

Metcalf Institute is a University of Rhode Island program that supports an international network of science communicators through the biennial Inclusive SciComm Symposium. The symposium and broader inclusive science communication (ISC) movement aim to shift science communication toward a new paradigm grounded in inclusion, equity and intersectionality, and to dismantle the exclusive legacies and structures of science.

In 2021, Metcalf launched the inaugural Inclusive SciComm (ISC) Community Cohort, sponsored by Science Sandbox. This initiative seeks to be in solidarity and community with those who are on the ground floor of advancing and realizing equity: community-engagement practitioners. Through the cohort experience, Metcalf highlights community-developed knowledge, alignment and action, and identifies ways to welcome and support these on-the-ground community leaders by amplifying their contributions, providing an opportunity for community engagement practitioners to connect with one another and the ISC movement, and highlighting the knowledge, strategies and lessons of community-engagement practitioners, activists and organizers.

Metcalf Institute provides education, training and resources, with a focus on equity and inclusion, to journalists, scientists and science communicators across career stages, with the aim of engaging diverse public audiences in evidence-based conversations about science and the environment. Its goal is to ensure that all perspectives are valued in the process of identifying and solving environmental challenges. Since 1999, the Metcalf Institute’s proven training model has had a significant multiplier effect, helping millions of news consumers worldwide access accurate, contextual environmental news coverage that connects science and environmental justice and sparks essential conversations about these complex issues.

Pen-pal program that connects students in under-resourced schools with STEM professional mentors for a snail-mail letter exchange during science class.

Letters to a Pre-Scientist (LPS) pairs students in U.S. under-resourced communities with a worldwide network of STEM professionals for a yearlong pen-pal program during science class. Pairs explore STEM careers, higher education journeys, and overcoming obstacles. LPS aims to broaden students’ awareness of what STEM professionals look like and do at work.

Talent and potential are equally distributed in society, but opportunity is not, and students cannot aspire to careers they don’t know exist. Science has never been more important, and society needs all types of people and perspectives to solve the challenging problems of today and tomorrow.

LPS’s mission is to facilitate one-on-one connections between students and STEM professionals in order to demystify STEM career pathways, humanize STEM professionals, and inspire all students to explore a future in STEM.

During the 2021–2022 school year, LPS works with 20 teachers and 850 students in five states.

A weeklong summer camp offering hands-on STEAM education for underprivileged youth in Queens, NY.

The Tinker Lab Summer Camp at Lewis Latimer House Museum offers no-cost, hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) education to underprivileged youth through a partnership with the Latimer Gardens Community Center — a New York City Housing Authority residence named after the African American inventor.

Each summer camp session features an in-depth weeklong project introducing students to coding, robotics,engineering and art. Parents and guardians are invited to attend a culminating showcase, where campers proudly present their finished projects.

Lewis Latimer House Museum is a New York City landmark, and the historic house of the African American inventor, humanist and son of fugitive slaves, Lewis Howard Latimer. Among his numerous inventions, Latimer invented a method of producing carbon filaments that made the production of light bulbs both practical and affordable for the average household. He worked with Alexander Graham Bell on the patent for the telephone in 1876, and was one of the original 28 Edison Pioneers. The Museum calls attention to Latimer's and other people of color's contributions to technology and American life through multilingual tours, permanent and special exhibitions, literature series, community events and Tinker Lab STEAM educational programs. Latimer’s life story is used as a point of departure from which to examine issues of race, class, immigration and contemporary events.

Strategy and coaching firm focused on science communication and sensemaking

Founded in the summer of 2020 by Liz Neeley, Liminal Creations is a strategy and consulting firm focused on science communication, especially in moments of transition.

2022 will be the inaugural year for the Liminal Fellowship, one of Liminal’s first flagship programs. The fellowship is committed to making up to five unrestricted gifts of $5,000 each to diverse, talented individuals working in research, communication and the expressive arts who share the goal of engaging audiences in “deeper than usual” cognitive processing about important issues in science, technology and nature. The fellowship has a cohort-based structure aimed at creating community and organic peer-mentoring, with Fellows gaining valuable access to four mentors selected for their expertise in their individual fields. Fellows will also experience many professional development opportunities that will inspire bigger ambitions, greater confidence and a more strategic vision when it comes to science engagement.

Devoted to the production and presentation of contemporary performance by artists whose work advances and challenges multidisciplinary artistic practices

THE STARS (We Won't Be Here Anymore ...)The Stars is a new time-based light and sound installation for one person, or one small group of people, at a time, developed by Andrew Schneider. The Stars' unseen narrator guides each attendee through their own individual journey of a precisely programmed installation. More than 8,000 individually reactive points of light and a 327-channel sound system envelop each audience member. The Stars invites viewers to become active experiencers, as they explore the traces of themselves in light, the universe and those who have been here before us.

Andrew Schneider is an OBIE award–winning, Drama Desk–nominated performer, writer and interactive-electronics artist creating original works for theater, dance, sound, video and installation since 2003. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Schneider creates and performs original performance works, and builds interactive electronic art works and installations. Rooted at the intersection of performance and technology, Schneider’s work asserts that the phenomenological impact of art is no different from any other category of lived experience.

An international convening of artists, scientists, influencers and machines.

MAX 2021: The Neuroverse, a live arts festival will engage questions about neuroscience, artificial intelligence and the emergence of diverse intelligences. Take a roller coaster ride through newly discovered territories, from the creative minds of humpback whales to the black box of machine learning. The Neuroverse will open up new vistas and expose deep ravines in the exponential changes to our lives brought on by science and technology. Explore questions of consciousness, machine learning, humanness and decision-making with artists, neuroscientists, engineers and technologists who break boundaries and challenge assumptions. Examine the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, sparking dialogue across disciplinary boundaries about this revolution in the human-machine collaboration and its impact on our lives and our role in the universe.

A series of six-foot-tall science museums that offer the joy of discovery in unexpected places — from hospital waiting rooms to the DMV.

Micro introduces people to fundamental scientific principles in the places where they least expect it.

Founded in 2016 by computational ecologist Amanda Schochet and producer Charles Philipp, Micro brings together designers, scientists, storytellers and artists to squeeze the best parts of museums into boxes that can go anywhere.

Traditional brick-and-mortar museums make visitors come to them. Micro is a distributed museum. Its fleet of six-foot-tall science museums finds people where they already are, from hospital waiting rooms to the DMV, and connects communities by fostering a common conversation around science.

Micro’s fleet introduces viewers to the core sciences, with a museum on a new topic released every six months. Its first museum, the Smallest Mollusk Museum, debuted in 2016 and is about to be released around New York City. It uses 15 exhibits, five screens, eight sculptures, three optical illusions, a giant hologram and a liter of slime to tell a story about natural selection and environmental systems spanning millions of years.

Science in Vivo “meets people where they are” by bringing science to unexpected venues.

The Science in Vivo project fosters the integration of science into settings where people are not expecting it. The overall goals of the project are to inspire experimentation with — and advance the understanding of — such work. Over the course of three years the project will support teams at 24 sites that bring science experiences to “where the people are.” Nine of these sites will host an observational visit from other science engagement professionals, enabling them to better understand the dynamics at work in these settings. The project incorporates several mechanisms for sharing findings, including the annual Science Events Summit.

The MIT Museum engages the wider community with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s science, technology and other areas of scholarship in ways that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Mouse is a national nonprofit organization that empowers all youth and educators to engage with computer science and creative technology to solve real problems and make meaningful change in our world.

Mouse designs computer science and STEM curricula on our online learning platform, trains K–12 educators, and engages students through its Design League and maker events.

Mouse Design League is a design and technology after-school program in which high school students create inventions to make a positive impact on the lives of others. Design League members develop creativity, problem-solving and collaboration skills, and build confidence in designing technology with purpose. Over the course of the Design League program, our youth use human-centered design to brainstorm, prototype and present assistive technology and projects designed to improve the lives of others. Design League is comprised of high school students with diverse interests and backgrounds, who gain applied design, technology, workplace and leadership experience.

Against a backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic’s racially disparate effects and world-wide protests against racial injustice, the Museum of Science is taking a hard, inward look at how science and museums have contributed to systemic racism in the United States.

Through this series, the Museum will leverage its power, privilege and platform to amplify the Black voices, research, actions, movements and policies that are leading the charge against racism — both locally and nationally. In collaboration with Black leaders and organizations, this series tackles historic racism in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It highlights the work of Black scientists both historically and presently, and shares the stories of Black luminaries, public figures and everyday citizens to examine racism through a social-science lens in order to help actively re-shape the racial discourse in our country. The audience is challenged to open their eyes, engage and teach themselves how to actively build an anti-racist society.

An art/design incubator that brings scientific research into mainstream dialogue, translating complex issues for the general public.

The Creative Experiments Track at NEW INC, the New Museum’s art/design/technology incubator, supports ideation and prototyping of new applications for science through the lens of art and culture. Creative practitioners who are exploring artificial intelligence, robotics, biotech, digital manufacturing and other science-based areas of research through their practice are supported for a 12-month period, with a bespoke development program that leverages the tools of entrepreneurship to help realize their ideas and maximize potential for impact and sustainability.

Practitioners gain access to NEW INC’s shared workspace, hands-on support from NEW INC staff and external mentors, participation in the NEW INC community, and a robust roster of professional development programs and events — including opportunities for networking with the Science Sandbox community and collaboration with MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative. A focus within Creative Experiments is to increase public engagement with science. Through diverse art and design projects, members of this Track bring scientific research into mainstream dialogue, translating complex issues for the general public, and making visible ways that these projects leverage emerging technology, scientific thinking, and creative problem-solving. Projects include innovative approaches to materials and green infrastructure, artworks that engage space, geography and physical senses in surprising ways, and research that interrupts conventional scientific narratives.

Initiative to develop a creative interdisciplinary approach to STEM learning that can be implemented in immigrant communities.

The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) received a five-year grant from the Simons Foundation to launch Queens 20/20, a multifaceted initiative to provide creative STEM educational opportunities for young people and families in Corona, Queens, a neighborhood that is home to many Latino immigrant families. This population represents the largest and fastest-growing ethnic minority group in the country, but it is vastly underrepresented in science and technology disciplines. Support from the foundation will fund the Science Ambassadors program, which forms the centerpiece of Queens 20/20.

The program will enable NYSCI to make educational resources, exhibits and programs available to students and families in the school district throughout the academic year. Over the next five years, working in partnership with a network of schools in the community, NYSCI will offer programs — based on its signature Design-Make-Play approach to STEM learning — that support out-of-school STEM opportunities and parental engagement. NYSCI will also provide career resources and conduct evaluation and research. The museum’s goal is to serve as a neighborhood hub, offering a much-needed resource for children and their families, teachers, and other members of the community. NYSCI hopes that Queens 20/20 will serve as a model for other organizations and communities serving immigrant families across the country.

Hugely popular YouTube series featuring ‘numbers people’ discussing unorthodox, cutting-edge or recreational topics in mathematics.

Numberphile is a series of films on YouTube dedicated to mathematics and to people with a passion for numbers.

Video journalist Brady Haran collaborates with mathematicians and other experts from around the world, creating videos that range in length from two to 20 minutes. Topics range from the profound to the quirky, and from cutting-edge research to recreational puzzles.

Recent films have included interviews with world-class mathematicians and other math professionals. But the series also features memorable set pieces, including one film in which the first 1 million digits of pi were printed on a mile-long piece of paper, which was then unfurled on an airport runway.

Numberphile is aimed at viewers of all ages and levels of expertise. It has become one of the most popular ‘edutainment’ channels on YouTube, with more than 2 million subscribers and over 250 million views.

Award-winning science radio program that employs high-quality storytelling and sound to engage audiences.

Radiolab is a two-time Peabody Award-winning national public radio program that celebrates curiosity and nurtures engagement with science in millions of listeners nationwide and around the world. Co-hosted by executive producer and MacArthur ‘genius’ Jad Abumrad and veteran science journalist Robert Krulwich, Radiolab approaches broad and diverse topics across science from the ground up.

Radiolab’s non-didactic treatment of science — in which the hosts exhibit curiosity and wonder and ask questions — makes challenging science concepts accessible and encourages a feeling of emotional investment and a sense of discovery within its listeners. By positioning science as a living process — one that requires a range of approaches, an ability to grapple with unknowns, and a willingness to experiment — Radiolab’s hosts draw listeners into stimulating, powerful conversations about science, scientific inquiry, and the scientific process. The program makes scientists out of laypeople as they venture into Radiolab-guided explorations that emphasize a feeling of personal connection through a highly crafted use of sound and story.

To foster public engagement with science and scientific inquiry, Radiolab produces and distributes a selection of science programming to national and international audiences via multiple platforms including original digital podcasts, a weekly hourlong radio broadcast, science communication lectures and live events, and the cultivation and promotion of new Radiolab talent. After over a decade of production, Radiolab is broadcast on 596 public radio stations across the country and averages 3.4 million monthly podcast listeners.

A paid internship for students who conduct research under the mentorship of environmental scientists.

Rockaway Waterfront Alliance’s Environmentor is a science research mentoring program for high school sophomores and juniors. Environmentors participate in an intensive paid environmental science internship in the spring and summer, conducting original research under the mentorship of field scientists from the City University of New York, Hofstra University, the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, and other institutions. Students research complex issues that affect the Rockaways’ urban waters, particularly Jamaica Bay, and present their research in the community and at the American Museum of Natural History. Past interns have conducted research on salt marsh restoration, eel identification using environmental DNA, and microplastics in oysters.

Through their participation in the program, students develop science research skills while enjoying the unique experience of conducting field research in their own communities. Students learn about local ecology and environmental justice issues and become familiar with data collection, scientific equipment, crafting research projects, formulating questions based on raw data and observations, and reading, writing and presenting on scientific topics. Students also participate in leadership training and summer activities including surfing, kayaking and swimming.

Rocking the Boat brings positive impact to the high-need youth of the South Bronx by using activities centered on small boats and local waters as unique vehicles for teaching foundational STEM skills and valuable youth development lessons.

The organization engages high school students in three challenging and dynamic program tracks: wooden boatbuilding, sailing and environmental science. All three deliver hands-on technical education to a population often lacking access to both extra-curricular activities and to STEM-related studies and careers. The Environmental Science Program in particular makes science relevant and fun by grounding lessons in exploration of the participants’ neighborhood river, the Bronx River, and giving them an important role in its restoration. Through hands-muddying activities in student-built boats, the Environmental Science Program nurtures a budding interest in the biodiversity of the Bronx River and trains students in the tools and methods used in environmental research. Students then use those skills to take part in research and restoration projects that partner with local, state and national organizations. In one of a slate of ongoing projects, the students are helping the New York City Audubon Society and the U.S. Forest Service monitor the region’s wading bird population; performing multisite water-quality testing and microplastics research in conjunction with the Bronx River Alliance; managing the Bronx River oyster reef with the Billion Oyster Project; and contributing to the upkeep of a New York City Department of Parks and Recreation restored wetland. Environmental Science Program participants are proud that the data they collect on water quality, oyster growth and bird activity is shared with our distinguished partners and is personally presented to their neighbors at public events.

The Science Gallery Network consists of leading universities united around a singular mission: to ignite creativity and discovery where science and art collide.

HOOKED explores the complex world of addiction and recovery. Artists, scientists and healthcare professionals will consider how we manage our emotions and how external forces affect our choices and decisions. Examining addiction as a fundamental risk of being human, HOOKED argues it is a global health issue rather than a moral failing. It explores the multiple forms that humans — regardless of age, class, gender or ethnicity — are vulnerable to addiction and asks how we might need to reshape society to address this grave concern. Amidst the backdrop of the criminalization of drugs and the addictive nature of new technology and social media, HOOKED also asks visitors to challenge stigmas and explore how recovery can take many forms.

National nonprofit organization established on the premise that exposure to the STEM community is critical to K-12 students pursuing STEM careers.

Founded in 2005 by Tokiwa T. Smith in Atlanta, SEM Link has as its mission to strengthen the self-efficacy of K-12 students to pursue STEM careers by exposing them to positive adult role models from the STEM community that increase students’ awareness of STEM careers and encourage their participation in STEM Research through digital learning and hands-on activities. SEM Link has a two-core program model, Experimental Design Program, and Math and Science Career Academy, in which more than 500 STEM professionals have exposed over 15,000 youth to over 50 different STEM career paths, and also supported hundreds of young STEM research trainees.

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Journal Club, a program of SEM Link’s Experimental Design Program, aims to develop STEM literacy skills in metro Atlanta high school students from ethnic and racial communities with historically low participation in high-level STEM research competitions. Participants engage in scholarly research; read and analyze STEM literature; and gain exposure to relevant concepts to spark their interest in STEM Research. The journal club curriculum is a “hybrid” journal club model focused on teaching students how to critically, read, dissect, analyze, evaluate and discuss research articles while incorporating social media and small group discussions. The journal club also trains students on communicating STEM topics to diverse audiences with the creation of a podcast episode based on a STEM journal article as the students’ final project for the journal club.

A massive cultural center dedicated to experimentation, education and production across disciplines, housed in a converted warehouse in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Pioneer Works is a center for art, experiment, research, education and science. Located in a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the facility houses artist studios, exhibition and performance spaces, a science lab, a recording studio, and more. The floor plan is open and flexible, encouraging a collaborative environment in which international artists, musicians, scientists and educators can create together.

Pioneer Works encourages its artists and scientists to focus on their own disciplines and not feel pressured to cross over into others, although collaborations often erupt spontaneously. What the organization offers to all of its inhabitants is the opportunity to live in a bigger world and play the most important part they can play on that larger stage.

With support from the Simons Foundation, Pioneer Works is rebuilding its science studios. It is also continuing its popular live science events, which are free and open to the public, and producing podcasts to disseminate its programs to a wider audience. In the later phases of its expansion, Pioneer Works will offer specially tailored scientific residencies and workshops and an incubator space. Pioneer Works hopes to become a model for the natural integration of science into a cultural organization.

Two- week programs, for girls to create a collection of technology-infused dances, to inspire them to consider joining the STEM workforce.

STEM From Dance (SFD) envisions a world in which Black and Latina women are represented equitably in the STEM workforce. To this end, SFD empowers underrepresented minority girls to prepare for a STEM education that excites them — through the creative and confidence-building aspects of dance.

Black and Latina women comprise 15% of the American population but occupy only 4% of the STEM workforce. The STEM workforce features some of our country’s most high-impact and lucrative jobs, but women of color are deterred from entering STEM fields due to lack of confidence, readiness, and awareness. SFD breaks down each of these barriers using dance as a “hook” and an environment where girls of color can grow their STEM skill set and sense of possibility that STEM can be an option for their futures. Over the past six years, SFD has impacted the STEM awareness, ability and confidence of over 400 participants across a variety of school and community sites.

In partnership with Science Sandbox, SFD piloted a summer program in July 2018 to reach girls from schools across NYC in our target population, creating an opportunity to serve more students and further the mission of preparing girls for a future in STEM. Over two weeks, girls create a collection of technology-infused dances that awe and inspire, while learning about computer science, electrical engineering, choreography and how they all work together.

Tackling the issue of inclusivity in STEM by providing best-in-class, hands-on programming to girls from low-income communities.

Techbridge Girls excites, educates and equips girls from low-income communities to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers and to attain economic mobility and better life chances. Today, many girls are locked out of STEM and have to work twice as hard to get half as far. Overwhelming odds are stacked against them: They live in low-income communities, go to high-poverty schools and experience bias due to their race, class and ethnicity. Techbridge Girls aims to level the playing field and empower girls from low-income communities to achieve upward mobility and financial stability.

The ChangeMakers^TM program uses research-based practices and rigorous evaluation to create a year-long program with an engaging curriculum to introduce middle-school girls to a wide array of STEM skills and concepts via "hands-on, minds-on" activities. Girls then use their STEM skills to create original Community Impact Projects. Community-centered Showcase events are held at the end of each program year to celebrate girls’ Community Impact Projects with families, teachers and supporters. Examples of past projects include an app that addresses Islamophobia with profiles of Muslim people in the local community as well as highlighting the similarities between Islam and other religions, and a backpack with sensors and LED lights to increase safety for girls who walk home. ChangeMakers also integrates role-model visits from STEM professionals and field trips to STEM employers and the girls' families.

Pilot project aimed at stimulating interest in STEAM among students in under-resourced communities in Texas via “worldbuilding.”

Texas A&M University’s ETx STEAM project, facilitated by the university’s Institute for Applied Creativity and Department of Visualization, aims to stimulate the interest of middle school-aged under-represented minorities to engage with science, math and computing through exploring digital worldbuilding. This pilot project exists within a multi-pronged, collective effort involving public and private partners, all focused on the ultimate goal: empowering youth with greater confidence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) skills.

Students are guided by “Near Peer Mentors,” undergraduates and graduate students at Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M Universities who will take part in coursework at their respective institutions focused on developing cultural awareness, technical knowledge and mentoring skills required to be successful as mentors to middle school students.

High school and college-aged students become expert facilitators, leading the next generation of science enthusiasts.

The Children’s Education Program at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) offers a wide range of structured, programmatic experiences for schoolchildren, educators and families. NYBG staff make use of the institution’s one-of-a-kind learning facilities and its 250-acre campus to stimulate visitors’ interest in plant science and ecology and to enable them to experience the excitement of scientific discovery.

The Explainer Program — an integral part of the Children’s Education Program — is an innovative internship program for urban teens and a prime example of NYBG’s commitment to nature-based science learning. Founded in 1998, the program trains high school and college students to become expert facilitators in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden (ECAG), leading hands-on, inquiry-based educational activities for visiting children, families and school groups. For many of the students, the program is also their first professional experience.

The Explainer Program improves participants’ understanding of scientific concepts through hands-on, inquiry-based lessons; cultivates their understanding and stewardship of the natural world; and enhances their communication skills and self-confidence. Through professional development in science pedagogy and citizen science field experiences, Explainers become expert facilitators in ECAG. They lead educational activities that encourage children and family visitors to think and act like scientists as they learn plant science and ecology concepts.

The program’s tiered structure provides opportunities for advancement and increased responsibility, motivating the students to stay with the program and grow professionally. Explainers are promoted to more expansive leadership roles as they develop expertise in teaching methodologies and demonstrate a commitment to the program. The possibility of clearly attainable advancement provides an incentive for Explainers to work toward becoming mentors and eventually toward assisting with the development and day-to-day operations of the program.

A massive learning space in San Francisco, offering revolutionary ‘tinkering’ studios and engaging outdoor exhibits.

The Exploratorium is a public learning laboratory that enables visitors to explore the world through science, art and human perception. The Exploratorium’s vision is a world where people think for themselves and can confidently ask questions, question answers and understand the world around them. Here, artists, scientists, educators, and designers work alongside one another to envision new ideas and directions for learning about the natural world. Their common goal: to support a culture of experimentation and collaboration, inspire curiosity and understanding, and stimulate fresh ideas and directions.

The Exploratorium Studio for Public Spaces (SPS) transforms public spaces into culturally productive places to learn about natural phenomena and human behavior. Working at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, art and education, SPS creates beautiful and engaging outdoor exhibits and environments that encourage the public to ask questions, make discoveries and test those discoveries. By designing and building spaces where people can pause, observe, experiment and explore the science of natural and social phenomena in everyday life, SPS is creating a new type of social and educational urban space, a public platform for the integration of STEM education into the fabric of urban life and reaching people who don’t think science or science museums are for them.

The Exploratorium was an early pioneer of ‘tinkering’ (also known as ‘making’) as a uniquely engaging approach to STEM learning. Tinkering at the Exploratorium is a carefully but loosely structured process in which scientific concepts and phenomena are positioned as the tools for learners to realize their creative goals.

Tools and resources to help science, environmental, and health journalists at all levels of experience to sharpen their skills.

The Open Notebook provides in-depth articles and other tools to help science journalists improve their skills. They support and encourage high-quality science journalism that has the power to engage wide audiences.

The Diverse Voices program comprises a series of feature-length articles that examine the experiences and perspectives of minority science journalists, who are significantly underrepresented in the science journalism community. Lack of diversity in science journalism is a problem not only for science journalism as a profession but also for readers — and thus for public understanding of science. The people who tell science stories influence whose stories get told (or left untold) and, therefore, how accurately the reading public perceives the scientific enterprise and the opportunities within science for people from diverse communities. What’s more, a science media landscape that is not diverse is missing opportunities for engaging communities of readers who may be interested in science and its role in society.

Diverse Voices, a partnership with the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) Diversity Committee, will bring greater visibility to journalists from underrepresented groups and to scientific and journalistic issues of special relevance to minority communities.

The Diverse Voices program is an extension of The Open Notebook’s broader mission to strengthen science journalism by helping science writers sharpen their craft.

A live event and podcast series that encourages scientists to engage with the public through powerful, personal science storytelling.

The Story Collider is a science storytelling show dedicated to the idea that true personal stories are a powerful tool for science engagement. Its founders believe that everybody has a story about science, because now, more than ever, science is a part of everyone’s life. Since 2010, the Story Collider has showcased those personal stories in its many live shows and in its weekly podcast. The organization also teaches science storytelling workshops.

At the Story Collider, the audience hears from scientists about all the times things went wrong in their labs, but the show also presents stories from people who haven’t had a formal connection to science since high school. Storytellers have included physicists, comedians, neuroscientists, writers, actors and doctors.

The Story Collider presents its flagship show monthly in New York City and also hosts shows in Boston, Washington, D.C., and other cities across the U.S. and in the U.K. Its podcast is available on SoundCloud, iTunes and the NPR One app and passed 5 million downloads in 2016.

An immersive installation by the Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and writer Mala Gaonkar is a journey inside the human brain.

“Theater of the Mind” is an immersive 15,000-square-foot installation, co-created by Talking Heads frontman and artist David Byrne and writer Mala Gaonkar, that takes its audience on a sensory journey through the human brain. Small audiences — only 16 at a time — are led through a complex participatory experience of narrative storytelling. Sensory experiments, developed in consultation with neuroscientists, are conducted in real time.

Anchored in the Bronx, the birthplace of the culture, the museum provides a space for audiences, artists and technology to converge, creating unparalleled educational and entertainment experiences around hip-hop culture of the past, present and future.

Hip-hop culture possesses a unique ability to connect with people, providing the means to reach across entrenched barriers to introduce concepts and ideas to broad audiences. The artistic elements of sound, movement, art and knowledge create common ground. In the Universal Hip Hop Museum, exhibits, installations and salons intended to be visceral audiovisual, VR and AI experiences will reveal the hidden codes of scientific and technological innovations built into the fabric of hip-hop culture. The Universal Hip Hop Museum and the lab of Dr. Stephon Alexander are creating Hip Hop Science, a phased partnership with the Simons Foundation in the real and digital worlds leveraging our unique abilities to empower young people and demonstrate that scientific inquiry and innovation is intrinsic to the various dimensions of hip-hop culture. The creators of hip-hop were not merely consumers of technology but visionaries of technology, with scientific and futuristic imaginations that are now part of our STEM ecosystem.

Hip Hop Science will bring a series of experiential exhibits, installations, salons and lectures aimed to transform the public’s perception and shine new light on the myriad ways science, technology and hip-hop are integrated. Hip Hop Science will also engage youth through consistent programming, lectures and projects, giving them the opportunity to be the next architects of scientific inquiry, innovation in the spirit of their predecessors — a Hip Hop Science Academy.

Hip Hop Science will be a hands-on interactive exploration of the key elements of the living science in hip-hop, meeting our intended audiences on terrain that is familiar and welcoming. Hip Hop Science will uniquely address a local and national issue concerning youth of color in STEM, understanding the importance for students to interact with and see scientists from their shared background.

A paid internship program that allows students to conduct fieldwork that improves the environment through ecological restoration.

The Woodland Ecology Research Mentorship (WERM) program is a 14-month internship (July through August of the following year) focused on urban ecology that pairs 10-12 high school students with working scientists. The program targets economically diverse communities that have a demonstrated need for science enrichment programming. WERM utilizes Wave Hill’s woodland as a living laboratory and provides paid internships for students to engage in fieldwork and academic coursework. These internships promote personal and career growth as students improve the environment through ecological restoration. This internship is often their introduction to scientific research and practical work experience. Students receive a stipend based on hours of participation and performance.

WERM interns take two academic courses: “Restoration of NYC’s Natural Areas” and “Mapping NYC’s Urban Environment: An Intro to GIS.” “Restoration of NYC Natural Areas.” The course goals are: learning the science of ecological restoration; enhancing data literacy; developing technical skills; and understanding the role of public policy; and land management. “Mapping NYC’s Urban Environment: An Intro to GIS” offers students an introduction to cartography and the use of geographic information systems, a technology designed to store, analyze, manage and present geographical data. Both courses were created by Wave Hill’s Educators with experts in the field and enable interns to earn college credits.

Interns are assigned to a site in Wave Hill’s woodland to collect data and perform ecological restoration. Working in groups, students are assigned a scientist mentor who helps them develop a substantial research project that demonstrates their ability to conduct high-level research and communicate scientific findings. Projects have included “Habitat Use and Activity Patterns of NYC’s Urban Wildlife” and “New York Botanical Garden Forest Damage Assessment.”