Dr Linda Silver's passion for science and technology is infectious and it is something she clearly hopes will rub off on Emirati children as the fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi Science Festival is now under way.
ABU DHABI // When Dr Linda Silver was chief executive of the Great Lakes Science Centre in the United States, she often used to test new exhibits on her children.
“They had no way out of it,” the California native says with a laugh. “When they were growing up they were forced to test every exhibit before we opened it. They were forced to go to every summer camp, every science spring break camp.”
Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that just a few years later her 15-year-old daughter, Caroline, has her sights on becoming a chemical biologist; her 12-year-old son, Brad, has dreams of working as a paleontologist or geneticist.
“I’m thrilled that they both have developed a love of science and I don’t think I’ve shoved it down their throat that much,” says the proud parent.
As the associate director of content, science and technology for the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC), Dr Silver is now charged with helping to spark a love of science and technology among thousands of other children across the emirate through her work with the Abu Dhabi Science Festival.
She is also part of the team behind the Abu Dhabi Science Centre, which will open in Masdar City in 2017, and she helps run a number of TDC’s informal science education initiatives.
“I just loved this idea of being able to make science exciting and accessible for students and to present it in a way that was so different than the way that they were used to studying and experiencing science in their classrooms,” said the 46-year old, who trains Emirati science communicators and develops the workshops and exhibits for the science festival and other educational outreach programmes.
Her love for science was ignited not in a classroom but through her experiences growing up in the San Francisco area, where she was exposed to a diverse and unpredictable natural environment, as well as its myriad of exciting museums.
“There’s incredible geology around that area, it’s very active from the tectonic standpoint. It’s very active, so you get fossil upwellings and you get earthquake cracks, so just being out of doors you get an appreciation for some of the geological sciences around you.” As a youngster, she also spent a lot of time at the Chabot Space and Science Centre, the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences.
“Kudos to my parents, who took me to a lot of those places and then kind of put me into the programmes where you get messy and you’re really hands-on and you don’t have to worry about getting the right answer or making sure your answer matches what’s in the book,” says Dr Silver.
“It’s those kind of open-ended, kind of free experiences that really helped me kind of build a love for science.”
While an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr Silver began working in museums. Once graduated, she worked with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles developing educational programmes, working her way up to become vice-president of the organisation. She then went on to lead the Great Lakes Science Centre in Cleveland, Ohio, as its president and chief executive for eight years.
“It’s those kinds of experiences that drove my love and that’s what we want to replicate here in Abu Dhabi, to share science with the community here,” says Dr Silver, who moved to the emirate with her family five years ago to work for TDC.
“I also love that Abu Dhabi has chosen to invest in something that I’m still passionate about, science education. The fact they have been willing to invest in so much and we’ve been able to accomplish so much in a mere five years, that’s, I think, professionally and also very personally very rewarding.”
The Abu Dhabi Science Festival runs until November 22.
rpennington@thenational.ae
