Once a month we will update you with snapshots of the many exciting things happening at AMSE and the K-25 History Center. Please read the sections below and click on the links provided to find more information, and thanks as always for your support of our museums.
We hope to see you soon and often.
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DIRECTOR'S NOTE
EVENTS
VOLUNTEERS
EXHIBITS
ART CONTEST
EDUCATION
STEM of HISTORY
DISCOVERY SHOP
DOE PUBLIC BUS TOUR
K-25 HISTORY CENTER
PROGRAMS
MEMBERSHIP
SUPPORT
HOURS OF OPERATION
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As we begin 2023, I want to thank everyone for your support of the AMSE Foundation. We are able to accomplish our vital mission only because people like you support us in so many ways. With the new year, we promise to continue finding innovative ways to make your visits fun and educational and to inspire the next generation of leaders in STEAM. I send my sincere thanks, and I wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Please come see us soon and often at AMSE and the K-25 History Center. | |
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AMSE and K-25 History Center Director:
Alan Lowe
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New Permanent Gallery Addition in January | |
This January 27th at 11:00 AM we will be opening a new permanent gallery area at AMSE dedicated to space exploration. More about this stunning space in the EXHIBIT portion below. | |
Mark your calendar for Feb 24th and a day of games!
| That afternoon we will open our new Electronic Game Exhibition in the Innovators’ Gallery. Later that evening we will be hosting our second Family Game Night. |
Save the Date - April 22nd
| On April 22nd we will our annual AMSEF Gala at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Ridge. This year sees the premier of our AMSE Excellence Award, as well as an exciting Art Contest. It will be an exciting and fun night – please come support our important mission. | |
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As NASA prepares to return to the Moon the American Museum of Science and Energy’s 2023 Summer Camp will explore and share what it’s like to survive in space and martin terrain. Space campers will immerse themselves in hands-on experiments and experiences to replicate the astronaut experience.
Special guests, exciting experiences, captivating experiments, NASA trained instructors, and so much more!
Campers will spend one week from June 19th to June 23rd from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm at the American Museum of Science and Energy. Fees registration will be posted soon.
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We are always looking for eligible volunteers for AMSE/K-25 History Center as well as the DOE Public Bazus Tours, if you are interested please contact Matt Mullins at mmullins@amse.org. | |
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We would like to take a moment and introduce our new Volunteer and Program Coordinator, Tony Schnadelbach. A native of Clarksdale, Mississippi and a Mississippi State University alumni, Tony has spent the last 5 years at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, joining as part of their opening team for their Two Mississippi Museums in 2017. He has served as their outreach coordinator and curator of interpretation for the museums before serving as the department's volunteer and internship coordinator and most recently their public program manager. Tony, along with his wife Barbara and their hound dog, is excited about moving to East Tennessee and becoming a part of the AMSE team.
"I'm over the moon (pun intended) to be joining AMSE as the next volunteer and program coordinator. Having worked with volunteers for several years, I truly believe that they are the backbone of the museum world. These individuals give their time to help share our story and mission with guests from around the world, we as museum professionals rely on this essential work. I'm delighted to begin working with the AMSE volunteers as well as begin planning public programs for the future."
We are looking forward to Tony’s arrival in February and encourage everyone to introduce themselves to him.
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The world of astronomy has been revolutionized by the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). To give the public a glimpse of the groundbreaking technology behind the telescope, AMSE will soon open a new exhibit featuring the JWST, an updated Sounds of the Universe, and the Smells of Space. The exhibit covers the telescope’s history, its cutting-edge technology, and its mission to explore the universe. Visitors to the exhibit will use a NASA kiosk to get an in-depth look at the technology used to build the telescope, from its 18 hexagonal gold-coated mirrors to its revolutionary sunshield. They can also learn about the amazing science the telescope will be used for, such as searching for the first galaxies, studying exoplanets, and looking for evidence of the first stars. The exhibit provides a unique opportunity to learn about the world’s most powerful space telescope and get a glimpse of the amazing science it will uncover.
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(As a footnote, our collections manager Quinn Argall was recently requested to take inventory of some donated materials. When asked to put together his experience in a “brief yet colorful collection of thoughts” to share this was the reply. Ladies and gentlemen, in its purest form, a glimpse into the mind of our Collections Manager. A place we should hope to revisit often.) | |
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“The lusty Canadian gales strafed the lacustrine shales of St. Claire with waves below and torrents above. Safe and dry in a Grosse Pointe mansion lay the legacy of the ravenous intellect of William C. Rands III. The hobbyist pilot and electrical engineer had accumulated over the course of his seven decades an unequaled library of science and engineering and an archive of historical and modern electronic instruments. Our heroes, the AMSE collections director Quinn Argall, physicist Dr. John Rather, and a crew of volunteers from across the United States combed through the estate with the blessing of Rands' children, Barbara Valente and Bill Rands. There the museum representatives liberated a treasure consisting of hundreds of oscilloscopes, pattern generators, and voltmeters that will soon be shipped to AMSE for exhibit and education purposes as the William C. Rands III Collection.”
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AMSEF’s first annual Art Contest is open and ready for participants and applicants! | |
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All entries should be directed to the attention of Cindy Lemons and must be submitted by February 1, 2023, along with the entry form. Email Cindy for additional information at clemons@amse.org Submissions must be brought or sent to the American Museum of Science and Energy at 115 Main Street East, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830. | |
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The educators, volunteers, and floor staff make all the difference to our visitors, guests, and outreach participants. We are proud of all they do to make AMSE and the K-25 History Center fun, educational and inspirational for all our visitors! | |
This year we have gone into 16 different schools in the region providing hands-on, interactive, in-person classes to over 400 students and teachers! We are really excited about our Virtual Interactive classes. Our first three Virtual Classrooms have featured live interactive experiments and instruction between educators at AMSE and students wherever they may be! We send supplies to participating schools, schedule the time and create our virtual classroom together. These classes have reached 64 classrooms and a combined total of 2291 students and teachers. | |
Combined with our new experimental STEAMer Traveling Trunk, Oak Ridge National Laboratory grants have allowed AMSE to reach just under Total All Combined attendance 2957 students and educators across the region! | | |
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Educators had the opportunity to showoff our 3D Printed, fully electric car to the Freshmen Academy's Career STEM event at Karns High School. |
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Our featured commentator this month is Chandrakant Patel. | |
In this episode, Mr. Lowe and Mr. Patel began by talking about the person most inspirational in Patel’s life – his father. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, he served as a civil structural engineer and oversaw the building of a suspension bridge over the Mississippi River that was built in the 1950s and is still utilized today. And as Patel points out here in discussing his father’s achievement, “We don’t even think about it. And yet, if we didn’t have the bridge or we didn’t have the water system, we would seriously miss it.” Engineering in the service of society is how Mr. Patel views his chosen profession. Mr. Patel goes on to discuss his work at the National Academy of Engineering and their mission of “taking | |
on grand challenges.” He has certainly done that in engaging in engineering research endeavors that benefit and inform our lives and those of generations to come. | |
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The STEM of History (SOH) is a podcast produced by the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation (AMSEF) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with funding support from Humanities Tennessee and the National Endowment for the Humanities. This series examines the intersection of science with history. It focuses on tracing how scientific inquiry is interpreted in the historical record, and in turn, the impact of historical analysis to informing scientific inquiry.
This fascinating glimpse into how Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) has been present throughout history shows no great feat has ever been accomplished without the aid of these four key elements. Listen to an amazing list of guests and contributors in original interviews “talk shop” about how the world goes round and attempts to improve itself with every spin.
The STEM of HISTORY has been developed with a generous grant from Humanities Tennessee and the National Endowment for the Humanities. https://amse.org/stem-of-history/
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Family Game Night is coming up and we’ve got just the thing to get you in the mood for fun! | There are 4 kinds of Karma cards in the game. You can play them like wild cards, but be sure to use them wisely because in this game “What goes around, comes around”! In this game there are multiple winners. For ages 8+. | |
Find your angle to make the best Zangle and be the first to go out. Play together or challenge yourself with this brain-twisting shape-building game. Zangle fascinates players of all ages. | |
The family game of visual perception. Race to be the first player to see a set. You can play solo or with at many people as you want. For ages 6+.
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S
PUBLIC FACILITIES BUS TOUR
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We would like to share a few notes about this season's bus tours which we would consider a tremendous success in total we shared the DOE facilities and histories with 1185 guests!
Of the 650+ surveys that were returned we received results in the high 90s of approval in all of our categories: Recommend tour to others, Learn something new, Good value, Knowledgeable guides, and Tour length.
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[Rn] 5f3 6d1 7s2 (A Photography Exhibition of Uranium Enrichment of Oak Ridge) is now available for viewing at the K-25 History Center. | |
New AMSEcast episodes premiere this month. Click below to listen before the episodes are released to the public. | |
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There's a lot to learn in this world and AMSEcast is a feast for the curious. | |
Join the American Museum of Science and Energy's exciting virtual "Race to Space" and receive a custom t-shirt. This race encourages everyone to walk or run to the International Space Station virtually. As participants log and report distances to AMSE, we will send out fun 3D printed medals at each atmospheric milestone. The race is completed at the participant’s pace. | |
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Did you know you could walk Oak Ridge’s North Boundary Greenway once
(about 12.7 miles) to earn your Troposphere medal (reach 10 miles)? Explore
an older part of Oak Ridge and stop by AMSE’s sister Museum, the K-25
History Center just down the road. Or explore the Ijams Nature Center and
walk the Gravel Rd, Hayworth Hollow, and Imerys Trails to be on your way to
earning your Troposphere medal.
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We encourage folks to get to know our Race to Space sponsor,GEM Technologies, Inc., and visit our Race to Space partners, the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department and the Ijams Nature Center. | |
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January 2023:
American Prometheus:
The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
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We recently recorded an interview with Kai Bird for AMSEcast. | |
SPONSORED BY AMSE is very proud to have Terra Integras, LLC. as a sponsor for AMSE’s Online Book Club! We sincerely appreciate their support, and we hope that all of you join the book club and check out the amazing things going on at Terra Integras. | |
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AMSE is proud to partner with the Oak Ridge Public Library, Clinton Public Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries, and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park for our online Book Club.
We encourage our Book Club members to visit AMSE’s online “The Discovery Shop” to buy this month’s book or borrow a copy from our Oak Ridge Public Library or Clinton Public Library partners.
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Why? Seriously, being a member of
the ASTC Travel Passport Program
gives members free general admission
to participating science centers and
museums outside their local area. Join
the savviest of science-loving families
and adults and visit more than 350
science centers and museums in 20
countries around the world! As an
AMSE Membership holder you also
can get huge discounted rates at ANY
Smithsonian Affiliate Museum.
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Created in the midst of the pandemic
and supported by initial funding from
our partners at ORNL, our virtual,
hands-on classes have been recognized by the Tennessee Association of Museums with a Certificate of Excellence. Since we began offering these innovative classes, nearly 700 students have taken part. Our original topics are States of Matter, Electricity, Bees and Pollination. The newly established 117 Society allows each member to donate one of the original, virtual hands-on Periodic Table classes we are creating to a school of the member’s choice,
free of charge. There will be a Periodic
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Table class for middle school students, and another appropriate for high school students. These classes will be available starting in the fall of 2022. | |
Please consider a gift to the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation (AMSEF), a 501(c)(3) organization. Last year was a big year for AMSEF – we proudly operate both the American Museum of Science and Energy and the K-25 History Center. We need your help to ensure the success of both those wonderful institutions and to help us accomplish our vital mission of STEAM education. | |
There are many ways to give – please consider a one-time gift, an individual or family membership, or becoming part of our new 117 Society. Or you can always send your gifts to 115 Main St. East, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Thank you for your support and we hope to see you often in 2022 at AMSE and the K-25 History Center.
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American Museum of Science and Energy
& K-25 History Center
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Monday through Saturday:
9AM – 5PM
Sunday:
1PM – 5PM
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AMSE address:
115 Main Street East
Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
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K-25 address:
652 Enrichment Street,
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
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You can always reach us by calling
+1 (865) 294-4531 or emailing us at
info@AMSE.org.
Check us out online at
amse.org and
k25historycenter.org.
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Come see us soon at AMSE and the K-25 History Center! | |
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American Museum of
Science and Energy
AMSE.org
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