New York Hall of Science Receives NSF Grant to Develop Wild Minds Exhibition

Press Release

New York Hall of Science Receives NSF Grant to Develop Wild Minds Exhibition
9-21-09

Queens, N.Y. — The New York Hall of Science, the Institute for Learning Innovation and Hunter College City of City University of New York have been awarded a three-year grant of $2.1 million by the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund the research-based traveling exhibition, Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think. The project’s goal is to provide awareness of the evolutionary and cognitive links between animals and humans, as well as promote interest in the welfare of both wild and domestic animals.

During its initial tours in New York, Oregon and California over three years, Wild Minds will reach at least 1.5 million people. The exhibition will educate audiences of all ages on the cognition in various animals, provide strategies and materials for joint programs with zoos, and offer a family guide to animal behavior.

The project will be led by Martin Weiss, Ph.D. of the New York Hall of Science, John Fraser of the Institute for Learning Innovation and Diana Reiss, Ph.D. of the Psychology Department at Hunter College who will the head the exhibition’s convent development and serve as chair of an advisory panel of specialists in the field of animal cognition and evolutionary biology. A consortium of five regional science center and zoo partnerships will advise and implement the joint programs of science centers and zoos.

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