All Osher Fellows

Orna Cohen has studied theater, learning research, and psychology. Born in Israel, she moved to France as an adult and created the children's area of the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie, which opened in 1986. She moved on to all-ages exhibitions with the very popular "Me Games" exhibition then worked with Dialogue Social Enterprises in developing "Scenes of Silence," which is designed to bring together deaf and hearing worlds. She developed and taught a post-grad course on child and adolescent psychology with the perspective of cognition and museography, and has developed instruments for visitor evaluation and research.

She is currently developing Dialogue of Generations, a program similar to Dialogue in the Dark and Scenes of Silence that will bring together individuals of all ages with elderly guides. This program will offer perspectives from the elderly on their lives, values, and insights, promoting dialogue and helping to dispel stereotypes or similar negative assumptions.

A longtime science writer for the Los Angeles Times, K. C. Cole is a professor at USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism and the author of eight nonfiction books, most recently Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the World He Made Up. A former staff member and longtime friend of the Exploratorium, K. C. worked with its founder, Frank Oppenheimer, in the 1970s. During this fellowship she worked with exhibit-development teams on the Seeing and Matter/World projects, and helped advise the media and editorial staff in developing museum content and programming for the Exploratorium’s Web site.

Jim is a physicist at the University of California at Berkeley, and research professor with the Santa Fe Institute, a research institute for studies in nonlinear dynamics and complex systems. During his fellowship, he served as senior advisor for the development of a special exhibition entitled Turbulent Landscapes: The Natural Forces that Shape our World. He was highly effective in helping the exhibition team develop a series of communication goals for the overall exhibition, and also helped ensure accuracy in the content of the information conveyed to the general public through various interpretive materials. Jim was instrumental in securing a donation of a special "Netra Server" from Sun Microsystems, enabling the Exploratorium to enhance online programs, and to accommodate the numerous visitors to the Exploratorium’s Web site. Jim also spent many hours in lengthy conversation and interviews to aid in the development of a random-access audio tour developed for the exhibition.


Professor of engineering in nonlinear/complexity interactions at the University of Pennsylvania, Joe is interested in the humanistic aspect of engineering, and has created a center for art and technology at his university. He worked on exhibit prototypes in complexity with two of the graduate students he brought with him. The prototypes explored how research processes can be effectively presented in a public learning institution such as the Exploratorium.

Christian de Duve, a pioneer of modern cell biology and cell fractionation techniques, is the discoverer of lysosomes, cell organelles specialized for recycling and waste disposal. For his discoveries, Professor de Duve shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1974. In recent years, Professor de Duve’s investigations have shifted from biochemistry and cell biology to the mechanisms whereby life arose on our planet almost four billion years ago and evolved to produce all extant living organisms, including human beings. He is particularly interested in the manner in which chemistry and natural selection joined to produce the first living cells and in the significance of those events as they relate to the place of life in the universe, including the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Professor de Duve proved to be a brilliant scientist, a gifted and engaging communicator, and a delightful and generous human being. While in residence at the Exploratorium, he met with staff from the life sciences department, gave an in-depth brown bag on his work on the origins of life, and sat down for an audio interview of his life’s work for a future podcast. Professor de Duve also presented a lecture on the origin of life at Meet the Minds on November 14, 2006.

Eleanor is a cognitive psychologist, educational theorist, and constructivist educator. A former student, colleague, leading translator, and interpreter of Jean Piaget, as well as renowned Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, she is one of the leading progressive educators today.

As a teaching researcher and reflective practitioner, she is especially interested in teaching and in the experience of learners and teachers of all ages, both in and out of schools. She applies Piaget’s pioneering observations on intellectual development directly to her research in the development of ideas and to teaching and training prospective and experienced teachers at Harvard University and on many continents. Eleanor has also been an elementary school teacher. Her participation in the 1960s curriculum development projects Elementary Science Study and African Primary Science Program was a germinal experience that led to her insights and practices in exploratory methods in teaching and learning. She has conducted teacher education and program evaluation in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Canada.

Hubert Dyasi is a professor of science education at City College (City University of New York), where he has served as director of the City College Workshop Center for 20 years—a school and science teacher development institution at the college. In August 2006, he continued his fellowship, meeting with Exploratorium staff, including Director Dennis Bartels, and gave a brown bag lecture on “America’s Lab Report,” a National Research Council report of which he is an author. On an ongoing basis, he will serve as an advisor to our visioning project, helping to prepare the museum for its move to the piers.

Liza Fior is founding partner of muf architecture/art, which negotiates between the built and social fabric and  public and private spaces, generally in urban areas. She was recently involved in the national Reimagining Children's Museum project, and, prior to that, part of the design team for Pittsburgh Children's Museum Charm Bracelet project. Though based in the UK, she has taught as a Louis Kahn visiting assistant professor at Yale University, leading an advanced design studio and seminar. She has consulted, had academic appointments, and participated in seminars in seminars in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Scotland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Latvia, the United States, and Canada. Liza's architectural, installation, exhibition, and advisory work includes: “Villa Frankenstein,” the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2010, which took Ruskin and Venice itself as a means to examine how detail can inform strategy. It also includes Wick Green, a park, playground, and mixed use outdoor space; and interactive learning center “Colour and Line: Turner at the Tate,” which includes color experiments, touch-screen kiosks, and sketching workstations.

Larry Friedlander teaches Shakespeare, drama, and acting courses at Stanford University. For many years, he has explored the intersections of art and technology, and he works with major research groups and museums to study the use of technology in education, research, and public spaces. As codirector of the Interactive Shakespeare Research Group—based mostly at MIT, where a digital Shakespeare archive is being created—Friedlander pursues his vast interests in theater and performance and interactive technology. He also serves as codirector of the Stanford Learning Laboratory, a center for research, development, and implementation of innovation in technology and learning, and as codirector of the Wallenberg Global Learning Network. During his fellowship, Friedlander experimented with different ways to involve the general public using multimedia technologies.

Arthur Ganson is an artist-in-residence at MIT, a self-taught engineer, and the creator of intricate, whimsical machines that gesture. An entire gallery is devoted to his works at the MIT Museum; many more are displayed in galleries around the world. Art first came to the Exploratorium to create Chain Reaction. He invited staff to create elements in the chain, each of which triggered the next kinetic sculpture. On the night of Chain Reaction, the museum filled to capacity: the staff and public were transfixed. While working as an Osher Fellow, Art also met with the teaching staff about the relationship between art and science, and explored the nature of creativity with them. In addition, Art set up a mini-exhibition of his mechanical sculpture. Even after he left, he continued to send some of his pieces to the Exploratorium for display.

Michael H. Glantz is a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and director of the Center for Capacity Building in the Societal-Environmental Research and Education Laboratory (SERE), where he works with museums on public outreach and develops ongoing education programs for scientists and college students. He is interested in how climate affects society and how society affects climate, especially how the interaction between climate anomalies and human activities affect quality of life issues. His research relates to African drought and desertification, and food production problems and prospects; societal impacts of climate anomalies related to El Nino events and the use of El Nino–related teleconnections to forecast these impacts; developing methods of forecasting possible societal responses to the regional impacts of climate change; and the use of climate-related information for economic development. He has also coordinated joint research in the Central Asian Republics of the former USSR.

Louis M. Gomez is an associate professor of Learning Science and Computer Science at Northwestern University. He codirects The Learning Through Collaborative Visualization Project (CoVis) at Northwestern, focusing on bringing next-generation computing and communication technologies, along with open-ended scientific inquiry, to high school classrooms. During his initial visits, Louis met with research staff and their colleagues on a broad range of research topics, including informal learning theory and practice, mobile and online learning, digital fluency, and museum schools. He gave an insightful and well-attended brown bag discussion on his experiences with the Chicago schools to increase basic literacy as a step to facilitate science learning and the useful partnerships that can be developed with commercial companies, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Louis was invited by Dennis Bartels to participate in the visioning process in anticipation of our move to the piers. He was also the featured speaker at the January 2007 Meet the Minds, in which he challenged the education field and social science researchers field to create more effective and targeted research programs for improving public education in urban school districts.