Speaker Details

Shirley Malcom is Head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The directorate includes AAAS programs in education, activities for underrepresented groups, and public understanding of science and technology. Dr. Malcom serves on several boards—including the Heinz Endowments and the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment—and is an honorary trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. In 2006 she was named as co-chair (with Leon Lederman) of the National Science Board Commission on 21st Century Education in STEM . She serves as a Regent of Morgan State University and as a trustee of Caltech. In addition, she has chaired a number of national committees addressing education reform and access to scientific and technical education, careers and literacy. Dr. Malcom is a former trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She is a fellow of the AAAS.

Presentation Abstract:

Science Centers: Making Connections. Science centers the world over have taken on the responsibility of building critical links between science and people. This takes different forms in different communities: • Demonstrating how science is connected to local and regional culture; • Utilizing new knowledge to encourage and support discourse around old controversies; • Supporting engagement with science by families as a route to establishing possible connections to commerce and/or for education and careers; • Assisting in the larger goals of capacity building, such as in teacher training, workforce development and student internships; Examples will be provided of where science centers have taken on these additional roles, beyond that of making the ideas of science and technology generally accessible.

Status: Confirmed