Content Collaborators

Bat Conservation International l Marshall Editions l National Institutes of Health l NASA l NSTA l Universal Studios Recreation Group l Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution l The Vatican l Smithsonian Institution l National Geographic Society l National Underground Railroad Freedom Center l The Whitehead Institute

Content Collaborator for "Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats"

The mission of Bat Conservation International is to protect and restore bats and their habitats worldwide.

BCI is committed to:

• teaching people to understand and value bats as essential allies through education;
• protecting critical bat habitats and encouraging others to join in our
  conservation efforts;
• advancing scientific knowledge about bats, their conservation needs, and the ecosystems that rely on them, through research;
• relying on nonconfrontational approaches to facilitate win-win solutions that help both bats and people.

We understand that the needs of wildlife must be balanced with the needs of humans and that increasing populations, poverty, and agricultural practices must be considered in meeting our goals. We also know that by safeguarding the future of bats and their habitats, we will help ensure the preservation of our planet's biodiversity, creating a healthier environment for both wildlife and people.

Dr. Merlin Tuttle, founder of Bat Conservation International (BCI), serves as scientific consultant to "Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats." BCI is recognized as the international leader in conservation and education initiatives that protect bats and their habitats. http://www.batcon.org/

Content Collaborator for "The Robot Zoo"

Marshall Editions has 20 years experience of creating high quality illustrated books for the international co-edition market. The company has a worldwide reputation as a book packager for both the adult and children's markets. As such, it conceives, edits, and designs highly illustrated reference and information books and sells the rights to publish them to major international publishers.

Marshall Editions was set up in 1977 by Bruce Marshall and Barbara Anderson. They brought together management, publishing and marketing skills acquired on both sides of the Atlantic in trade and direct-mail publishing. Since then, Marshall Editions has established an outstanding reputation for creative quality.

In 1996, Marshall Editions became part of MediaKey Plc, a group devoted to information, training, and consumer reference publishing in all media. In 1997, after 20 years as one of the United Kingdom's major international book packagers, Marshall is now publishing its books in the UK marketplace under its own banner: Marshall Publishing. As well as Marshall Publishing, Marshall Media and Marshall Editions are divisions of MediaKey Plc.

Publishing for children is the opportunity to create a lifelong bond with the pleasures and inspirations that come with reading. As publishers, we encourage this union through a commitment to the colorful presentation of ideas and information precisely tuned to ages and interests ranging from preschool to teenage.

But today's children expect interactivity, so we have found imaginative ways to give our books responsive personalities, through friendly characters they will want to know better, through tools and novelties that will engage and enlarge their interests, by simulating the reality of worlds beyond their experience.

Education Collaborator for "Space: A Journey to Our Future "

Since its inception in 1958, NASA has accomplished many scientific and technological feats in air and space. NASA technology also has been adapted for many non-aerospace uses by the private sector. NASA remains a leading force in scientific research and in stimulating public interest in aerospace exploration, as well as science and technology in general. Perhaps more importantly, our exploration of space has taught us to view the Earth, ourselves, and the universe in a new way. While the tremendous technical and scientific accomplishments of NASA demonstrate vividly that humans can achieve previously inconceivable feats, we also are humbled by the realization that Earth is just a tiny "blue marble" in the cosmos. www.nasa.gov

Content Collaborator for "Microbes: Amazing Allies, Brain, Genome,
Invisible Invaders"

The National Institutes of Health, serving as a partner in exhibition production and content collaboration, is the principal biomedical and behavioral research agency of the United States government and one of the world's foremost medical research centers. The NIH, comprised of 27 separate institutes and centers, conducts a wide range of brain-related research in areas including neurological disorders, substance abuse and addiction, and mental health disorders.

The following three institutes of the NIH provided access to research findings and world-renowned experts contributing to the exhibit's cutting-edge content on the brain.

• The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provides national leadership dedicated to understanding, treating, and preventing mental illnesses through basic research on the brain and behavior, and through clinical, epidemiological, and services research.
  
  
• The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) leads the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction through support and conduct of research across a broad range of disciplines and rapid and effective dissemination of results of that research to improve drug abuse and addiction prevention, treatment, and policy.
  
  
• The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) supports and conducts research and research training on the normal structure and function of the nervous system and on the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of more than 600 nervous system disorders including stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, head and spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease, and brain tumors. www.nih.gov

Education Collaborator for "Space: A Journey to Our Future "

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), founded in 1944 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is the largest organization in the world committed to promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. NSTA's current membership of more than 55,000 includes science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in and committed to science education. Learn more about NSTA on www.nsta.org.

Content Collaborator for "Theme Park: The Art & Science of Universal Studios Island of Adventure"

When Carl Laemmle cut the ribbon to Universal City in 1915, he probably never dreamed that one day his fledgling film studio would be home to the world's largest and busiest film and television enterprise. He also probably never conceived that his idea of having tourists sit on bleachers with box lunch and watch the production of silent movies (for which he charged them twenty-five cents) would one day evolve into Los Angeles' biggest tourist attraction.

It was the opening of Universal Studios Hollywood, the world's No. 1 motion picture and television-themed attraction, which literally put Universal City on the map. Since the debut of its behind-the-scenes Back Lot Tram Tour July 8, 1964, nearly 100 million people have stepped onto Universal's 400-plus acre lot to experience some of history's finest movie and TV moments and become immersed in the movie-making magic via live shows, jaw-dropping rides and blockbuster attractions.

It was from this initial foray into a "behind the scenes" tour that Universal Studios Recreation Group was created. Today, Universal Studios Recreation Group is a global leader in location-based entertainment. The division's properties include:

• The Universal Studios Escape resort destination, which includes premier hotels and two gated attractions--Universal Studios Florida and the most technologically advanced theme park ever created, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Universal Studios Escape also includes Universal Studios CityWalk, a dining, shopping and live-entertainment venue and expanded film and television production facilities.
• Universal Studios Hollywood. Located since 1964 in the heart of the world's biggest motion picture and television studio, Universal Studios Hollywood is the original film and TV-based live entertainment experience. Universal Studios Hollywood also includes the original and newly expanded Universal Studios CityWalk.
• Universal Studios Port Aventura, one hour from Barcelona, is Spain's largest and most successful theme park and features "Dragon Khan," the biggest roller coaster on the European continent and "Sea Odyssey," the most advanced underwater ride adventure ever created.
• Universal Studios Japan, scheduled to open in 2001, will combine the most popular rides and shows from Universal's Hollywood and Florida movie studio theme parks, along with all-new attractions designed specifically for Japan.
• The Universal Studios Experience, an indoor, location-based entertainment project, and the first retail/amusement presence in China by a major Hollywood studio, opened in Beijing in 1998.

Universal Studios, Inc. (www.universalstudios.com) is a unit of The Seagram Company Ltd., a global entertainment and beverage company. www.uescape.com/islands/homepage/

Content Collaborator for "Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss"

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is the largest private, independent marine research and engineering organization in the United States. Founded in 1930 in the Town of Falmouth on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the Institution has a staff of 850 plus 135 graduate students and an annual operating budget of approximately $87 million.

Nearly 350 research projects are conducted around the world each year in departments of applied ocean physics and engineering, biology, marine chemistry and geochemistry, geology and geophysics, and physical oceanography. Research is also conducted in the Institution's Rinehart Coastal Research Center and through its Marine Policy Center, which focuses on legal and policy issues related to society's use of the oceans. WHOI operates three global ranging research vessels (the 279-foot KNORR, the 274-foot ATLANTIS, and the 177-foot OCEANUS), as well as the deep-diving three-person submersible ALVIN and a variety of remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles and smaller boats for ocean exploration. Learn more about WHOI at www.whoi.edu.

The Vatican and Vatican Museums

Content collaborators and lenders for "Saint Peter and The Vatican: The Legacy of the Popes"

The majority of the works and documents have never been shown previously in exhibitions or have left the Vatican. This exhibition has provided an occasion for undertaking a careful restoration program campaign.

The following institutions have provided hundreds of historically significant objects, the largest collection from the Vatican ever to tour North America.

• The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff
• Reverenda Basilica of St. Peter's
• The Vatican Museums: Pio Christian Museum, Sacred Museum, Painting Gallery, and the Ethnological Museum.
• The Patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Basilica constructed during the reign of the Emperor Constantine above the tomb of St. Paul, near the place of his martyrdom.

The Archives of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, the Vatican office that since 1622 has had the responsibility to encourage missionary activity throughout the world. Its archives are among the most important in the world and the documents conserved there are fundamental for the understanding of the history of peoples from all continents. http://www.vatican.va

In communities across the nation, our programs offer the Smithsonian experience to adults and young people alike. Work of Smithsonian scientists around the globe contributes to what we know about myriad subjects. Creating lifelong memories of discovery for visitors is one of the principle goals of the Smithsonian. www.si.edu

The National Geographic Society was created in Washington, D.C., in 1888 for "the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge." The Society mirrors "the world and all that is in it"--through incisive magazines, maps, books, films and interactive media. www.nationalgeographic.org

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Content collaborator on "Inside Africa"

Content collaborator for "Genome: The Secret of How Life Works"

The Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research is an international leader in the field of genomics, the study of all of the genes in an organism and how they function together in health and disease. A flagship of the Human Genome Project, the Center today houses a broad range of thriving research programs combining structural genomics, medical and population genetics, and clinical medicine. The Whitehead Institute/MIT Genome Center is led by Dr. Eric Lander and employs 350 people, including scientists and medical researchers from Whitehead, MIT, and Harvard. www.wi.mit.edu/home.html