In a room overlooking the San Francisco Bay skyline, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and Exploratorium CEO Dennis Bartels joined dozens of faculty and staff from both institutions on May 2 to celebrate a formal partnership.

The Exploratorium and UC Davis have agreed to work together to incorporate the latest scientific innovations into the museum’s exhibits and programs, as well as open opportunities for educational exchanges.

“UC Davis is on the leading edge of some of the most important issues to the human species that we want to talk about here [at the Exploratorium],” Bartels told attendees.

Some of those issues and topics include sustainable agriculture and food science, coastal and marine science, the environment, energy efficiency, and data visualization.

Katehi spoke about how, growing up on a small island in Greece, “the only place science existed was in our hopes and teachers trying to help us imagine what it is.”  She praised the Exploratorium as a place where children of all ages can come to experience science in hands-on and often simple but powerful ways.

“If we were to give opportunities for our children to not only imagine what science can be but also experience it … that’s what drives people to become scientists,” she said. “These early experiences are important.”