News

10.21.2005

Groundbreaking

Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration

HARTFORD, CT – (October 21, 2005) – Hundreds gathered today to witness the groundbreaking ceremony for the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration. Overlooking the Connecticut River in downtown Hartford, the new landmark will bring the world of science to the center of Connecticut, with innovative hands-on exhibits and programs. The approximately 140,000 square foot facility will be both a destination attraction and a state-of-the-art science learning institution. The Center today also unveiled its exhibit plans, including the new Future Capsule, and added four prominent leaders to its Board of Trustees.

“This groundbreaking exemplifies our ongoing efforts to strengthen Connecticut’s leadership in science and education,” said Governor M. Jodi Rell, honorary co-chair of the Center’s Board of Trustees. “The Center will be a new symbol of innovation, learning and vitality, inspiring the next generation of researchers, discoverers, inventors, healers, and leaders.”

Once built, the Center and its exhibits will encourage visitors to learn science by asking questions, testing solutions, and discovering the relevance and potential of science in their lives in work, at play, or at school.

“This is a significant milestone in the evolution of this project,” said Hank McKinnell, chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc and co-chairman of the Board of the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration. “As the building emerges from this site, it will send a message that science is interesting and engaging and a vital component of the future of Connecticut.”

The Center will be a major family destination, attracting hundreds of thousands of people each year to its interactive exhibits, presentations, programs, theaters, café, gift shop and education facilities.

“The capacity of our children knows no boundaries, and we are creating an environment where they can stretch their curiosity and hunger for learning to new and exciting levels” said Dr. Theodore S. Sergi, president and CEO of the Center. “As it begins to rise from this place, our building will immediately begin its life as a teaching building, by inviting people to learn what it is about, and to look forward to what will be inside.”

A visit to the Center will begin in a soaring, public exhibit area called Science Alley, that will also serve as a vital new pedestrian connection between the new Adriaen’s Landing development and the Riverfront park system.

Exhibit Concept Plan
Meeting in Hartford this morning, the Center’s Board of Trustees adopted a new Exhibit Concept Plan, organizing and describing exhibit topics and areas throughout the Center’s six major exhibit areas and four floors.

Level 1: Science Alley, Children’s Gallery
Level 2: (North) Physical Science and Art, Music & Culture
            (South) Human Health and Sports Science
Level 3: (North) Space Science and Connecticut Inventions
            (South) Traveling Exhibits Gallery
Level 4: (South) Earth Science, Connecticut River, Clean & Efficient Energy

With written descriptions and conceptual renderings of how the exhibit areas will be presented, the Exhibit Concept Plan provides exciting new details about what the Center will actually look like, and what experiences it will create for visitors.

For example, in a description of the Center’s Human Health Gallery, the plan puts the reader in the position of a visitor who is using an interactive personal conditioning exhibit: “I’m standing in front of a mirror holding onto a pair of silver handles. My image becomes transparent, and I can see my entire circulatory system beneath my skin and I can see my heart beating.”

The plan also introduces the Education Center, a decidedly “not school as usual” combination of classroom spaces arrayed along the Center’s Columbus Boulevard storefront. These rooms, designed more like black box theaters than classrooms, will facilitate deeper exploration of topics found elsewhere in the Center, such as forensics, and astronomy. A themed café, science gift shop, and Giant Screen Theater are also planned, as well as continually evolving exhibits and presentations on new science topics and discoveries. Descriptions and renderings are available at the Center’s website.

Next, the exhibit planning team will begin detailed design of each exhibit area, in preparation for fabrication. The exhibits will be installed in the Center towards the end of its construction.

Future Capsule
The Center today also unveiled the new Future Capsule, an interactive exhibit concept that will be a feature of the new facility’s Science Alley. The Future Capsule, part of an evolution of the traditional time capsule, will be a living electronic repository of ideas, displayed as part of a permanent interactive exhibit in the Center. To commemorate the groundbreaking, students from Two Rivers Magnet Middle School and Norwich Free Academy inaugurated the Future Capsule by depositing their predictions about future science discoveries. Their predictions will be joined by thousands of ideas, which are being collected from all over the world starting today, via the Center’s website www.ctcse.org.

“The Future Capsule is another way we are engaging our community in thinking about and participating in science,” said Dr. Sergi. “It is a truly exciting concept to say that this stream of ideas will represent an evolving, collective vision for a future imagined by each new generation, and displayed right here in our science center.”

New Board Members
The Center today also welcomed four new prominent leaders to its Board of Trustees.

Dean Kamen
Inventor of the Segway personal transportation device and many other innovations, he is also founder of the FIRST Robotics competition for high school students. As an inventor, he holds more than 150 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for significant medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care and the quality of people’s lives worldwide.

Joseph Lacher
Executive Vice President and CEO of Personal Lines for St. Paul Travelers. In addition to leading his division’s steady growth in profitability and employees in Hartford, Mr. Lacher has helped substantially increase volunteerism throughout his organization, leading record-breaking volunteer and charitable initiatives in the company’s Hartford community.

Anthony March
President of Tony March Automotive, the national automobile dealer network, sponsor of learning incentive programs in the Hartford Public Schools, and leader of the Jobs Funnel skills development program for the Six Pillars renaissance projects in Hartford. Mr. March began his career as an engineer for General Motors, winning several patents for improvements to automobile electrical systems.

Walter Wick
World renowned photographer and co-author of the educational I-Spy book series and many other educational books for children and adults. Mr. Wick is fascinated by the science of visual perception, and has taken this work to new levels with games, puzzles and books which teach by stimulating the imagination. He recently relocated his headquarters to Hartford, where his works are now created in a firehouse converted to a state-of-the-art studio.

“Virtual Science Center” Online
The Center today also launched its new website, giving the community an online window into the Center’s planning and construction process. The website, www.ctcse.org, offers details and renderings of the facility and exhibits, the online Future Capsule, and educational resources for teachers. In addition to proving access to the latest information about the Center, the website also invites public comment and ideas.

The Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration will spark creative imagination and an appreciation for science by immersing visitors in fun and educational hands-on, interactive experiences. The Center, which is planning a state-of-the-art science center facility as part of Hartford’s downtown and riverfront development initiative, is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing science education throughout the state of the Connecticut, providing learning opportunities for students and adults of all ages, and engaging the community in scientific exploration.

Photos

	Govenor M. Jodi Rell, Honorary Co-Chair of the Center's Board of Trustees, emphasizes the importance of science education at the Center's groundbreaking ceremony.  Click here to download
	Dr. Henry McKinnell, president and CEO of Pfizer and Chairman of the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's Board of Trustees, speaks about the importance of maintaining U.S. competiveness in the fields of science and technology. Click to download
	Dr. Theodore Sergi, president of the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration, thanks donors and state officials for their continued support.  Click to download
	Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration prepares for groundbreaking. Click to download
	Students from Two Rivers Magnet Middle School are joined by Governor M. Jodi Rell and Dr. Henry McKinnell, president and CEO of Pfizer Inc and Chairman of the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's Board of Trustees, in unveiling the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's Future Capsule.  Click to download
	Teachers involved in the Center's statewide teacher development program take part in the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's groundbreaking. Click to download.
	Dr. Henry McKinnell, president and CEO of Pfizer and Chairman of the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's Board of Trustees, Governor M. Jodi Rell & Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez break ground at the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's future home.  Click to download
	Artist's Rendering of Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration's Earth Science Gallery.  Click to download
	Architect’s Rendering of Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration.  Click to download
	Artist’s Rendering of Connecticut Center for Science& Exploration’s Connecticut Inventions Gallery.  Click to download