Who We Are

Shawn Lani is a practicing artist, educator, and curator dedicated to engaging people in public spaces. Over the last 20 years, he has created interactive installations for more than 50 national and international museums and public settings. He currently holds a senior position at the Exploratorium, where he founded the Studio for Public Spaces and directs the studio in its work, generating new ways to apply the Exploratorium’s inquiry-based learning theories to a wide range of public landscapes. Shawn is the recipient of a National AIA award and was the Principal Investigator on the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant-funded project Ciencia Pública: Agua. In this initiative, the Exploratorium collaborated with a San Francisco Boys & Girls Club to teach design skills to students as they created a parklet in the city’s Mission district. Shawn received his BA in English (Creative Writing) and Art History from Davis in 1992, and his MA in Museum Studies—specializing in educational design—from JFK University in 1995.

Steve grew up building skateboard ramps, doodling imaginary landscapes, and challenging teachers with unconventional homework. He earned a BS in mechanical engineering from UW Madison, where he also studied art and printmaking. After a stint working on autos and aerospace materials, he came to the Exploratorium in 1999. Here, he has designed and fabricated exhibits and managed projects that placed science exhibits in institutions around the world. Steve helped establish the Exploratorium’s Science of Skateboarding program and has continued to develop this topic in a series of exhibits and programs. On sabbatical in 2005–06, he worked at Pèndulum leading exhibit development and design for Jardi de les Percepcions, an outdoor exhibit area in Spain. On return to the Exploratorium, he managed a National Science Foundation project to build and study 20 outdoor exhibits at San Francisco’s Fort Mason. He enjoyed this effort so much that he has worked since for the Studio for Public Spaces, leading teams creating social learning environments in public spaces. He especially appreciates the potential of site-specific exhibits to reach a diverse group of people and ignite their interest in the world around them.

Josh’s vocation is to understand how people and their environments maintain vitality and thrive on this planet. As an undergraduate, he studied environmental science and physical chemistry at UCSB. Not convinced that a strict science career would be the best way to understand how complex biological systems operate within their environments, he went on to study architecture. He earned a master's degree from the University of Colorado, Denver, and studied municipal and urban space design in Finland and Italy. On return, he served as head designer for a $7.5 million municipal police station in Denver that earned AIA and industry design awards. This design success reawakened his interest in science, and cross-fertilization between science and design led him to a rigorous theory about how life systems can maintain vitality in context of their places. In joining the Studio for Public Spaces, he found a great opportunity to try implementing these ideas in the public realm. Working with the studio, he most recently served as Design Lead on the first Living Innovation Zone.

After joining the Exploratorium in 1999, Eric worked as an exhibit developer on a succession of four National Science Foundation–funded grants. He went on to be Project Director of the Studio for Public Spaces as the team began planning for the Exploratorium’s move to Piers 15/17. In this role, Eric oversaw a team of designers, engineers, content and visitor specialists, and fabricators, both staff and contractors, as they created 20 exhibits for outdoor spaces at the new site. He also helped spearhead connection and collaborations between the Exploratorium and local community-based organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club and the Jamestown Community Center. He was a main project initiator behind the NSF-funded Ciencia Pública: Agua and was the Project Director through its completion. Most recently, Eric has taken on the role of Director of Exhibit Development at the museum, where he is working across projects to create systems and organizational models that take advantage of the extremely talented and diverse staff of the Exploratorium.

Jesse is a prototyper, designer, and builder with the SPS team. Jesse came to the Exploratorium in 2007 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS in Mechanical Engineering). Here he has designed, built, and maintained science exhibits for museums worldwide. He is facile with a suite of computer design, engineering, and documentation tools. As a builder, he brings skills in wood, metal, electrical, and water systems to creating technically complex products from prototypes to finished exhibits.

Jesse believes in sharing his knowledge with others as a teacher and collaborator. He has mentored students building robots and Rube Goldberg machines, and has taught young designer-builders. He collaborates with scientists, design partners, and Exploratorium staff in his work. Jesse cherishes the teaching and learning moments in the SPS prototyping process and he blogs regularly to share what he learns. Complementing his work at the Exploratorium, Jesse has found the bicycle to be another great machine for learning. He discovers new roads regularly with the San Francisco Randonneurs.

Adam has been at the Exploratorium since 2007, working on exhibits as a designer, engineer, woodworker, and technician. In that time he has traveled to public science institutions around the country and the world, from a summer science festival in Saudi Arabia to a mid-winter museum event in Anchorage, Alaska. He worked as part of the SPS team building outdoor exhibits for the Exploratorium’s new Pier 15/17 home.

Grounded as an engineer, Adam also turns to the stars. As a student at the University of Vermont (BS, Mechanical Engineering), he designed, fabricated, and tested an exercise device on NASA’s zero-gravity plane. He worked as a project lead at the National Space Society, meeting with lawmakers, astronauts, and students learning about space. At the Exploratorium, he conducts frequent sidewalk astronomy viewings, combining his astronomical interest with a desire to find ways of injecting observational science into social settings.

Bryce Johnson is a scientist-teacher with a background in environmental science and a love of inquiry, hands-on learning, and teaching. He studied mechanical engineering at UC Santa Barbara, earning BS and MS degrees, then completed a PhD in civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley. He worked as a scientist for the California Environmental Protection Agency on water-quality issues related to mercury contamination, and was a post-doctoral fellow in a marine chemistry lab at Texas A&M University. At the Exploratorium, Bryce has worked with teachers, artists, and exhibit developers on investigations of the San Francisco Bay, with an emphasis on the connection between humans and their impact on aquatic environments. This work has led to new professional development workshops for teachers and several new exhibits at the museum.

Bryce also lived and worked in Dharamsala, India, for two years, where he helped launch the Science for Monks program. He continues to work on this program, which trains Tibetan monks and nuns who are emerging leaders of science education within their community.

Twin themes of nature and narrative run through Eileen’s work. Growing up, she spent much of her time outside but also read voraciously. She studied zoology and marine biology, then attended the Science Communication program at UC Santa Cruz. As a science writer, she has worked extensively with museums, connecting people to the world around them via exhibits and other media. On staff for 10 years at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, her projects included the world’s first major jellyfish exhibit (Planet of the Jellies) and the aquarium’s new wing. Since then she has developed ways for people to engage with animals (Lemur Forest at the San Francisco Zoo), explore wine country geography (a book, Carneros: travels along the edge), and understand evolution via story (NSF-funded exhibit Charlie and Kiwi: an Evolutionary Adventure and resultant book), among many other projects. She joined the Exploratorium before its 2013 move to Piers 15/17 to work on outdoor installations with the Studio for Public Spaces.

Veronica’s scope of evaluation work at the Exploratorium includes exhibit development, public programming, orientation and wayfinding, and audience engagement. Before joining the Exploratorium in 1997, Veronica was a museum educator at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles. She went on to receive her MA in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University in Education and Public Programming, where she investigated how museums can create effective partnerships with urban Latino families. Veronica continued this focus on Latino engagement and inclusion as Co-Principal Investigator and evaluator on the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant-funded project Ciencia Pública: Agua. She also led and researched a mobile multilingual exhibit interpretation approach that provides exhibit access in Spanish and Chinese while allowing multilingual visitors to engage socially and remain in their respective roles.

Sue feels privileged to be a graphic designer in service of the forces of good. For many years, Sue was lucky to work mostly with musicians, dancers, and activists to help them communicate their passions. Now, having landed her dream job at the Exploratorium. She serves scientists, artists, and the people who love them. The best thing about her job is working in cross-disciplinary teams, always learning from the smart and creative people around her. She loves helping to solve a problem. When designing, she tries to create a comfortable starting place in the familiar, a toe-hold, and from there encourages exploration of the unfamiliar. She tries to put people (the visitor, the community) at the center of design decisions. To do this, she keeps stretching, observing, questioning, and listening to stay in touch.