The Director's 2020 highlights

One-hundred-sixty-one years ago this month, in early September 1859, a powerful magnetic storm generated by the sun collided with the Earth. The interaction triggered a worldwide event.

1. My Sky Tonight (pre-K) Figuring out how to best engage young children in science topics can be intimidating. Luckily, the My Sky Tonight project can help.

Though you may not realize it, as you scroll through the morning's headlines on your smartphone, you hold in your hands the culmination of years of federally funded academic research.

You open a letter from your grandmother. No money falls out, but you keep reading anyway.

This field trip has gone horribly wrong. A school bus full of third graders sits stranded, submerged in a dense, sticky substance with no way to escape. Then someone comes up with an idea.

You’re going to live in a quantum future.

1. Rather than choose between pursuing a career in chemistry or the arts, Madeline Corona pursued a role where she could do both.

In 1983, fresh out of college with a bachelor’s degree in biology, my first job focused on science education, which enabled me to address the issue of limited access for groups historically…

As the gears of war slowed, the din grew quiet. World War II was ending and Vannevar Bush recognized that the United States stood at a crossroads.

He speaks in terms like "inspiration," "creativity," "innovation mindset," and "the science spirit." Sethuraman Panchanathan grins as he describes himself: "I'm an eternal optimist." He goes by…