Professional Summary

Experienced museum exhibit professional with a multi-disciplinary approach to developing content through the practical application of learning research, strategic community partnerships, and collaboration with content experts and researchers.

Core Skills

· Co-developing content with researchers

· Managing multiple complex projects

· Communicating STEM topics to a general audience

· Front-end and formative evaluation; iterative prototyping

· Writing and editing exhibit labels, articles, and grants

· Start to finish exhibition project management

Experience:

Collaborative Developer of Informal Learning Experiences 2019 – present

expLoring exhibits & engagement, LLC

Provide project management, staff training, interpretive planning, content development, educational goal setting, formative evaluation, iterative prototyping, writing and editing.

Director of Exhibits and Facilities 2013 – 2018

Worcester Natural History Society, d.b.a. EcoTarium – Worcester, MA

Oversaw Exhibits, Collections, Wildlife, and Facilities departments at 40-acre science and nature museum. Managed $ 1.5 million operating budget and capital project with budgets up to $3 million.

Highlights:

Led the renovation of 60% museum’s middle floor with 30 original exhibit components developed by a four-stage prototyping process, involving 20 subject matter experts and 70 community partners.

Directed Exhibit Lab project, conducting five professional development workshops, leading 15 multi-day hands-on meetings, facilitating 16 staff exchanges, administering all grants and contracts.

Served as spokesperson in media interviews and donor meetings, worked with Institutional Advancement department to develop marketing and communications plan and media content.

Manager of Exhibits 2004 – 2013

EcoTarium

Managed department responsible for all exhibit development, evaluation, and maintenance. Managed $500,000 operating budget, capital projects up to $1 million and grants up to $900,000.

Highlights:

Lead writer and editor of six exhibition scripts, fabricated and tested 50 of prototypes, managed up to ten contractors per exhibition.

Managed the renovation of museum’s top floor, including new guest services desk and 2000 square-foot original permanent exhibit experienced by 1.1 million visitors.

Implemented a model of collaborative exhibit development, overseeing prototyping at four museums to produce five 2500 square foot hands-on exhibits in five years, which have been experienced by over 5 million North American visitors.

Project Manager (contract) 2002 – 2004

EcoTarium

Managed installation of traveling exhibitions, refurbished preschool discovery area, created outdoor meadow interactives, and updated campus way finding system.

Research Project Leadership Experience

Co-principal investigator; Collaborative Research: Functional and evolutionary bases of substrate-specificity in wood-decaying basidiomycetes [NSF IOS-1456777] 2014 – 2018.

Co-principal investigator; From the Lab to The Neighborhood: An Interactive Living Exhibit For Advancing STEM Engagement With Urban Systems In Science Museums [NSF AISL-1323168] 2013 –2015.

Project Director; Exhibit Lab: Developing a Community of Practitioners. [IMLS award# MP-00-11-0049-11] 2011 – 2014.

Field Leadership Experience

Co-Moderator, Exhibits Community, Association of Children’s Museums’ Groupsite, 2020-present

Co-Chair, Exhibit Professional Affinity Group, New England Museums Association; 2018 – present

Co-Leader, Small Museums Community of Practice, Association of Science and Technology Centers; 2013 – 2017

Other Experience

Exhibit Researcher; Museum of Science, Boston, MA; 2001

Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator; Massachusetts Audubon Society, Boston Nature Center; Boston, MA; 1998 – 2001

Compost Program Coordinator;Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Office of Environmental Coordination; Providence, RI; 1988 – 1991

Deputy Recycling Director; Regional Planner; Massachusetts Department of Quality Engineering, Division of Solid Waste Management; Boston, MA; 1986 – 1988

Recycling Consultant; Recovery Sciences, Inc.; Del Mar, CA; 1982 – 1986

Education

Stanford University, Stanford, CA. B.A. distinction; 1981

Major: Human Biology, an interdisciplinary program using biological, behavioral, social, and cultural perspectives to study health, environmental, and other public policy issues influencing human welfare.