Kirsten M. Ellenbogen, Ph.D. President & CEO, Great Lakes Science Center

Kirsten M. Ellenbogen, Ph.D.

A widely published science center veteran, Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen brings more than 25 years of experience to her role as the third president of Great Lakes Science Center. Dr. Ellenbogen’s energetic leadership during the last two decades has advanced informal STEM education through four grant-funded, national centers. Her leadership activities at Great Lakes Science Center have included the launch of a new strategic initiative, Cleveland Creates, developed in collaboration with regional workforce development leaders to change the community’s manufacturing narrative through STEM education opportunities for diverse middle-school youth and families.

Dr. Ellenbogen has worked at five museums during the past two decades and consulted for more than 30. She began her work in museums at the Detroit Science Center in 1987 and has worked as a demonstrator, hall interpreter, exhibit developer, evaluator, and researcher. Her leadership activities for the field include serving as a founding officer of the Informal Learning Environments Research SIG-American Education Research Association, senior chair of the Informal Science Education Strand-National Association for Research in Science Teaching, and training coordinator of the Visitor Studies Group (UK). She has been appointed to Section X of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and to the National Academy of Sciences' committee that produced the volume, Learning Science in Informal Environments. In 2007, she was elected treasurer and then president of the Visitor Studies Association, a national association dedicated to understanding and enhancing learning experiences in informal settings through research, evaluation and dialogue. She was selected to be a Noyce Leadership Fellow in the third cohort of the program, and led a strategic initiative focused on using the museum’s resources to help policy makers use scientific evidence to inform their decisions. She also served as co-principal investigator of the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education that works in collaboration with the National Science Foundation to strengthen and advance the field of informal STEM education. In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine appointed Dr. Ellenbogen to a new committee created to advance science communication nationally. Dr. Ellenbogen is one of only 16 national nonprofit, academic, public health, and journalism leaders in science communication appointed to the committee.

Dr. Ellenbogen's learning research focuses on measuring the community impact of science centers, understanding the role of museums in family life and the broader learning ecology, and facilitating digital environments to support STEM learning and scientific argumentation. Publications include articles in Curator, Science Education, and Environmental Education Research as well as chapters in “Handbook for Small Science Centers,” “In Principle, In Practice: Museums as Learning Institutions,” and, “Museum Informatics.”

Most recently, she is a founding leader of the Northeast Ohio STEM Ecosystem collaborative and has been appointed to serve on the Mayor’s Steering Committee on Sustainability, as well as the Planning and Urban Design Committee of the Group Plan Commission. Recent awards include the 2017 Crain’s Women of Note and the 2015 STEMCON Community Inspiration. She serves on the board of trustees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Cleveland Water Alliance, the Friends of MC2STEM High School, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers. She holds a Ph.D. in Science Education from Vanderbilt University and a B.A. from University of Chicago.

http://greatscience.com/


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