$20 Million from National Science Foundation to a Consortium Lead by
Museum of Science, Boston; the Exploratorium; and
Science Museum of Minnesota,
For Public Understanding of Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology

The National Science Foundation is making a $20 million bet over the next five years that science museums have ways to visualize an unseen world that will enable the public to understand and think critically about nanoscale science, engineering and technology. The Exploratorium in San Francisco; the Museum of Science, Boston, and the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul have been jointly selected to lead this multi-million dollar effort to develop and distribute innovative approaches for engaging Americans in this developing field. Ultimately, the Nanoscale Informal Science Network (NISE) created by these three museums will include 100 partner science centers and science research facilities.

In this core triad, the Exploratorium’s key role as the network’s Center for NISE Research, is to develop the tools to give the public the direct experience of this unseen world, both in person and online. As soon as summer 2006, the Exploratorium’s Visualization Lab and associated Website will enable the public to explore nature at the nano scale—a billionth of a meter—smaller than anything that can be seen with optical microscopes. It will provide an experience of a very different world—one that is dynamic because things don’t stay still, one where materials take on properties that seem surprising (e.g., water is sticky, not fluid, and benign static electricity becomes a huge issue). The Visualization Lab will experiment with ways in which the public will be able to experience the unseeable through tactile devices that allow them to drive their hands across nanoscopic surfaces, through movies of the nano structures of materials and through dynamic animations.

In addition to the research and development work in the visualization of nanoscale science and engineering, the Exploratorium will create an online professional resource center, host public forums and establish an annual Institute. The Institute will bring together a cross-section of people and organizations—scientists, artists, museums, researchers, libraries—to cross-fertilize the public understanding of a developing field.

The Museum of Science, Boston, will both administer the entire National Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE) project and lead the Center for Public Engagement, which will focus on the creation of an informal science education media network and adult education and forum programs for adults and older youth with an emphasis on discussion, dialogue, and deliberation of the issues raised by the emergence of nanotechnologies. The Science Museum of Minnesota will lead the Network’s Center for Exhibit and Program Production and Dissemination.

The NISE Network is part of NSF’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education portfolio, which is designed to support opportunities for education and public engagement within the $1 billion annual National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The NNI is a federal program established to coordinate the efforts of 24 federal agencies in nanoscale research.