About the initiative | ORGANIZING TEAM
The Evolving Culture of Science Engagement initiative is a collaboration between Culture Kettle, a nonprofit whose mission is to explore big-picture questions about pubic engagement with culture, broadly defined, and several departments and units at MIT led by the Program in Science, Technology & Society and the MIT Museum. The organizers are:
David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science, Director of the Program in Science, Technology & Society, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
John Robert Durant, Director of the MIT Museum and Adjunct Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Peter Linett, Founder of Culture Kettle, Chairman & Chief Idea Officer of Slover Linett Audience Research, and Associate of the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago.
Thomas Levenson, Professor of Science Writing and Director of the Graduate Program in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ben Wiehe, Manager of the Science Festival Alliance (MIT Museum).
We can be reached collectively at team [at] cultureofscienceengagement.net.
For the first phase of the initiative—the September, 2013 gathering—we benefitted from the counsel of a number of colleagues in the US and UK, including Tiffany Lohwater, Director of Meetings and Public Engagement at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which assisted MIT and Culture Kettle in convening the workshop, as well as an advisory committee that included:
- Brian Greene, Columbia University
- Ben Lillie, The Story Collider
- Bruce Lewenstein, Cornell University
- Tom Rockwell, Exploratorium
- Meena Selvakumar, Pacific Science Center
- Bruce Sherin, Northwestern University
- Martin Storksdieck, Oregon State University
- Kathy Sykes, University of Bristol (UK)
- Peter Ward, University of Washington and University of Adelaide (Australia)
- Carl Zimmer, New York Times and Yale University
Alan J. Friedman, 1942–2014. Photo: Lisa Abitbol
The advisory committee also included the late Alan J. Friedman, science museum consultant and former director of the New York Hall of Science, who was an early and influential supporter of the initiative and an eloquent participant in the workshop.
Read more about Culture Kettle and the MIT units involved in the initiative.
