Tinkering Staff Member: Ernest Aguayo

As a kid, I pored over the seemingly cryptic engineering schematics and equations at my father’s desk and asked him to help me make sense of it all. I would take apart (and sometimes even put back together) various household gadgets to try to figure out how they worked and I would implore my parents to drive me to library after library to get my hands on any science book I hadn’t yet read. My love of science led me to eventually pursue my bachelor's in aerospace engineering and my master’s in science education. Later on, when I first set foot inside the Exploratorium, I immediately realized it was the museum I had always dreamed of. I could not get enough of the interactive, endearing, and elegant exhibits that would completely blow my mind, make me laugh, teach me something new about the world or about myself, or all of the above. Now as a staff member, I love seeing museum guests of all ages have similar experiences for themselves. I especially enjoy hearing others’ perceptions and questions about science and finding new ways to empower visitors and educators to discover or express ideas in a playful and informal learning space.