On April 4, word went out that the Exploratorium, a founding partner of howtosmile.org, had won the National Science Board’s 2011 Public Service Award. The National Science Board (NSB) is the 25-member policymaking body for the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The award celebrates the San Francisco-based museum’s efforts to increase the public understanding of science and engineering.
In a press release announcing the award, the NSB writes that “the museum is a mad scientist's penny arcade, an art studio and an experimental laboratory all rolled into one where visitors can touch, play and tinker with hands-on science. Behind the scenes are youth-development efforts, home-school and after-school programs, arts residencies, media experiments, teaching programs, informal education research and more.”
It was also recognized that, “for more than 40 years, [the Exploratorium has] promoted the engagement of scientists and engineers in public outreach and scientific literacy, contributed to the development of broad science and engineering policy and influenced and encouraged the next generation of scientists and engineers."