MUSKEGON, Mich. – Muskegon is on a map with locations such as Oxford, Cambridge, San Francisco, and Tokyo. The map lists locations of Café Scientifiques around the world. With a $500 recognition grant from the WGBH Educational Foundation, the local, state, and even international outreach of Muskegon’s Café Scientifique is about to get even better. A Café Scientifique is a forum for the discussion of important and interesting scientific issues. They are designed to be informal and accessible - much more so than a public lecture, and are usually held in coffee houses or pubs. Muskegon’s Café Scientifique was begun in 2003, when Alan Steinman and Arn Boezaart believed it could help revitalize the redeveloping downtown of Muskegon by attracting a knowledge-based crowd to the area. Steinman, Director of the Annis Water Resources Institute of Grand Valley State University, had read about the Café Scientifique phenomenon in the scientific journal Nature, and discussed the venture with Boezaart, the Vice President for Grant Programs at the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, who enthusiastically supported the idea. Ben Wiehe, the Outreach Coordinator for the WGBH Educational Foundation who provides the grants, noted even though it is only three years old, the Muskegon Café is one of the oldest Café Scientifiques in the United States, and that they were pleased to help out the Muskegon effort. The grant funds will be used to further develop the website (http://www.muskegoncafescientifique.com/), which to date has been developed and maintained at no charge by Jason Piasecki at his company, Qonverge. The WGBH Educational Foundation, through NOVA ScienceNOW, an offshoot of PBS’s award-winning NOVA series, is playing an active role in helping support the development of Café Scientifiques across the United States through its grant making arm. According to Steinman, “this is a wonderful validation of Muskegon’s Café Scientifique. Most Café Scientifiques are located in cities with major research universities and that are world-renowned as centers of learning. It is very rewarding to look at the global distribution of Café Scientifiques, and see Muskegon, MI on that map”. The grant and attendant recognition is timely, with the Muskegon area currently increasing its focus on math and science education at the K-12 levels through projects such as Real Science and the Math & Science Academy at Muskegon Heights Public Schools. |
Alan Steinman, Ph.D. Annis Water Resources Institute
740 W. Shoreline Dr.
Muskegon, MI 49441
(231) 728-3601 or mailto:steinmaa@gvsu.edu | Arn Boezaart Vice President, Grants Program
Community Foundation for Muskegon Co.
425 W. Western Ave., Suite 200
Muskegon, MI 49440
(231) 332-4114 or aboezaart@cffmc.org |
