Board meeting Day

Yesterday was the NSRC board meeting. It was a long day, with zero breaks, but lots of good food, and some interesting discussion topics. It was very similar to the CAA board meetings, but somehow, I think, more effective, and probably more interesting. THe room was filled with some huge names in Science Education:

D. Carr Thompson
Senior Program and Communications Officer
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Research Triangle Park, NC

Jorge E. Allende
ICBM - Programa de Biología Celular y Molecular
Facultad de Medicina - Universidad de Chile
Santiago, Chile

Cathleen Aubin Barton
US Education Manager
Intel Corporation
Chandler, AZ

Elwyn Berlekamp
Professor, Department of Mathematics
University of California, Berkeley

Diane Bernstein
President
Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation

Sandy Dust
Manager of Education Initiatives
Pre-College Education
The Dow Chemical Company
Midland, MI

Guillermo Fernandez de la Garza
Executive Director
US-Mexico Foundation for Science
Col. Del Valle, Mexico

Randolph J. Guschl
Director
Center for Collaborative Research & Education
DuPont
Wilmington, DE

Samuel H. Houston, Jr.
President and CEO
North Carolina Science, Mathematics and
Technology Education Center

Stephen P. Klein
Senior Research Scientist
RAND

Elizabeth Lodal
Principal
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science
and Technology, Virginia

Kenneth Miller
Alumni, Co-Chair, Education Committee
Smithsonian Institution National Board

C. Ford Morishita
Biology Teacher, Clackamas High School
Clackamas, OR

Kerstin Reimstad
Assistance Program Manager
Science and Technology for All Program
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering and Sciences
Linkoping, Sweden

Cristián Samper
Director, National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution

Dennis Schatz
Vice President for Education
Pacific Science Center

Richard D. Stephens
Senior Vice President, Internal Services
The Boeing Company
Seal Beach, CA

John D. Tully
Director, Community Relations
Michelin North America

Meredith (Peggy) Harris Willcuts
Science Coordinator/Science Specialist
Walla Walla School District
Walla Walla, WA

Anyway, so after shmoozing with all of these people for 8 hours, I feel like I could get a job in almost any state, Mexico, or even Sweden if I wanted one. Yea, life is good. They talked about the issue of evolution in national science classrooms, we talked about what new partners to NSRC wants to get involved with, we talked about endowments. Some of it was interesting, some of is forced me out of my coffee withdrawal for the summer just to stay awake.

Then last night I spent the night reading and watching TV, trying to stay awake until my laundry was done at like 10pm. Yea, it was a long first week, but I am loving it, and so glad I am here. There is just so much going on in this town, everyone is working toward a goal, something that helps a cause. People have real passion, they really care about what is going on around them. And they really believe they can make a difference. It is really inspiring.