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Detroitman
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Username: Detroitman

Post Number: 922
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 216.78.40.180
Posted on Sunday, March 05, 2006 - 9:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Engineering the future
New Science Center president plans labs, exhibits to interest kids in tech careers
By Sherri Begin
• March 06, 2006
Designing labs and galleries for the New Detroit Science Center since 2004 has been like “being a kid in a candy shop” for Kevin Prihod.


But the former chief science officer, who took over as president of the center in January, has serious work ahead of him.
Prihod is overseeing a three-year, $11 million plan to build new labs and galleries and an interactive theater. The plan is designed to get children excited about engineering and technology careers to stave off the shortages of engineers the region already is seeing.

“This is not light-hearted, frivolous stuff; engineers do serious things,” said Prihod, 50. He replaces former CEO and President Shawn Kahle, who left the museum at the end of last year to return to the private sector in Chicago. “But we’ll convey those in an interesting, fun way.”


Launched last fall with a new astronomy lab, the center’s expansion plan includes three new galleries: space, transportation, and medical science and technology. They will contain close to 250 new exhibits, more than double the museum’s current number of life sciences and physics exhibits.


Each gallery will include several labs. The transportation gallery, for example, will feature fuels of the future, vehicle systems, infrastructure and manufacturing exhibits.


The “Fun Factory” simulates a manufacturing environment with conveyors, robots and real automotive parts. It will illustrate how math and science are applied to make consumer products and even include simple tests to determine the properties of various potential materials to be used in the manufacture of those products.


On March 30, the center will open 15 of the 100 planned exhibits in the medical and science technology gallery. The interactive exhibits will show visitors how they will look as they age, how arthritis makes dexterity more difficult and how human balance and hearing are affected as you age.


To date, the center has raised $2 million to $3 million of the project’s total estimated cost, Prihod said.


The Detroit Science Center reported total revenue of about $5.9 million in 2004, the year of its latest tax filing. It had a deficit of $523,982 for the year, reflecting $1.3 million depreciation of the science center and its exhibits, CFO Robert Seestadt said.


Without that depreciation, the nonprofit would have shown an excess of $787,000, he said.


Prihod plans to expand the center’s fundraising efforts to individual donors, to augment the corporate donations the science center primarily has counted on in the past. Each of the galleries and the labs within them will be available for naming rights, he said.


In 2005, the center received $250,000 from NASA. This year it expects to receive $900,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation, he said.


“There’s a lot of interest in the Senate offices regarding medical science; we’re hopeful we’ll get some additional funding for 2007.”


Prihod also plans to use competitive positioning to secure corporate sponsors and donations of the equipment and materials needed for the exhibits.


For example, plans for the center’s new medical and science technology lab call for adding X-ray machines and magnetic resonance imaging machines, he said.


There are only four manufacturers of that equipment in the world and the Detroit Science Center plans to approach all of them, Prihod said. “There is real marketing value (since) hundreds of thousands of people will walk by the exhibits every year.”


“They’re going to have an opportunity for their equipment (and name) to be seen, as opposed to their competitors,” he said.


The center also could offer sponsorships of various parts of the Fun Factory manufacturing exhibit to automotive parts-makers, Prihod said.


There are also opportunities and “a lot of interest” already in sponsoring the engineering careers theater, he said. The venue will feature three large screens, a rotating stage and active, programmable seating with built-in-speakers. Holograms of engineers from around metro Detroit will serve as presenters.


The goal is to have the new galleries and labs built and installed by 2008, Prihod said. “We should have telecommunications, nanotechnology and computers (exhibits) too, but we just don’t have the space.”


The museum will consider a physical expansion once it completes its current plan, Prihod said.


“If we’re going to be a tier-one science center, one of the top eight in the country, we’ll need larger floor space.”


The Engineering Society of Detroit and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers also are using hands-on programs to get children interested in engineering.


Their efforts are meant to stave off engineering shortages. Southeast Michigan already is seeing a shortage of manufacturing engineers because of attrition, according to SME, and the Dearborn-based organization projects that will become a nationwide problem by 2010.


“What the Science Center is doing serves the Detroit and Michigan community and reinforces the workforce-development programs we have developed,” said Barbara Gaston, a public-relations consultant for the SME Education Foundation.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/c gi-bin/article.pl?articleId=28 911
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Bibs
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Username: Bibs

Post Number: 465
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 152.163.100.8
Posted on Sunday, March 05, 2006 - 11:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm impressed that cultural attractions under the management of a non-profit organization can prosper so well. Another Detroit Crains article mentions that the management of the Zoo, Historical museum and Eastern Market are being transfered to non-profits. With this much competition for private funding, will all of them be able to succeed? I certainly hope so.
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 866
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.222.11.226
Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 1:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The people of this region needs to grasp these jewels and support them in a greater way than now. I contribute as best i can to the Arts.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3278
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 1:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The science center is great, and I'm surprised it's expanding...again, after such a short time since its last expansion.
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 873
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.222.11.226
Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 3:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, I agree Lmichigan. From my understanding the recent success of the science center has been phenomenal. Expanding it will only make it better. I have 2 free passes that I need to use, so I will be going soon. I was actually thinking about keeping the kids out of school for a day and take them on a cultural trip to the Science Center and DIA for the day.
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Mcp001
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Username: Mcp001

Post Number: 2042
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 69.14.135.95
Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 9:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't see why they shouldn't succeed?

TPTB will have all the more of an incentive to keep their facilities new and interesting to attract visitors when they have to stand on their own.

Personally, I think that they'll do fine.
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 3781
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 141.217.174.223
Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 10:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

YAY!! I glad to see that the Detroit Science Center went to a boring block of cube building of the late 70s to a hip cool futuristic fun. The expansion will work wonders so our American kids and teens will be able to explore the wonders of science.
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Bob
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Username: Bob

Post Number: 795
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 152.163.100.8
Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 9:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was there a few weeks ago on a Friday and it was packed. Glad to hear they are thinking expansion, it is a great thing for the area that should be marketed.

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