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The Cosmosphere: Inspiring tomorrow’s Einsteins today

Cindee Talley

When it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the United States is lagging behind.  Dr. Ed Berger stopped by the High Plains Public Radio studios, recently and shared that China has nine times, and India five times more engineering students than the U.S. 

Berger is the Chair of Revitalization Initiatives for the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.  He says it’s so important to increase the number of STEM students that the Kansas Board of Regents has invested $110 million in the university system to try and increase engineering numbers by 56 percent.

Dr. Berger says the Cosmosphere is reinventing itself to help positively impact that effort by working to inspire young people’s interest in the sciences.    

Berger traveled to Western Kansas reaching out to schools to build partnerships.  The Cosmosphere will tailor-make educational programs that meet the needs of teachers, expand accessibility for students, and make the facility a hands-on learning experience that makes abstract concepts real and understandable.       

The Cosmosphere has a world-class space artifact collection.  Only Moscow has more Soviet space artifacts, and the Smithsonian is the only place that has more U.S. artifacts. 

The reinvention process will happen over the next five years, and has an estimated cost of $15 million. 

If you'd like to learn more, head over to the Cosmosphere.