ScienceWorks Building and Plaza

About ScienceWorks

Our Story

ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum is an interactive science museum located in Ashland, Oregon, serving visitors of all ages throughout Southern Oregon and Northern California. Founded in 2002 as a private response to a crisis in public science education, ScienceWorks is committed to inspiring wonder and stimulating creative exploration through fun interactive science.

In 2001, through a cooperative arrangement with the Kirlin Charitable Foundation and Southern Oregon University, ScienceWorks began leasing the 26,000 square foot building previously occupied by the Pacific Northwest Museum of Natural History. ScienceWorks brought life and vitality back into the long-closed structure, giving the building a fun and exciting new look. Hundreds of volunteers retrofitted the building, built exhibits and began implementation of the strategic plan. Since opening in 2002, ScienceWorks has served nearly one million visitors and 100,000 K-12 students throughout Southern Oregon and Northern California, with 2,000 member households across the region.

Land Acknowledgement

ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who have lived here since time immemorial. The town now know as Ashland was once a centuries-old Shasta village called Where The Crow Lights.

In the 1850s, these Tribes were displaced when colonization and Gold Rush brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. Starting in 1853, treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together, who would be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe. 

These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return, they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from Western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation. 

Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area.  We encourage you to learn about the land you reside on, and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.

Resources

 

Join Our Team

We have postions open at the moment for a Bilingual Front Desk Associate, and a School Programs Educator.
 

People at interactive exhibit Mission and Vision

Mission: Inspiring curiosity and wonder through scientific exploration and interactive experiences.

Vision: To be a launchpad for the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers.

Get Involved

  • Cora Sievert

    Cora Sievert
    Operations Co-Director

    Knows a tiny bit about
    everything at SWx

  • Sarah Delong

    Sarah DeLong
    Operations Co-Director

  • Lindsay Campbell

    Lindsay Campbell
    Administrative Director

  • Ash Friend

    Ash Friend
    Education Director

    La Brea tar pits and Dinosaur Enthusiast

  • Finn Smith

    Finn Smith
    School Programs Manager

    ASTC Award Winning Facilitator

  • Johnnie Snow

    Johnnie Snow
    Public Programs and Camps Manager

  • Star Trek insignia

    Diane DeBruno
    Retail Coordinator

    Bring home science and fun with an item from our Explore Store.

  • Suzanne McQueen

    Suzanne McQueen
    Front Desk Associate

    Favorite Science: Connecting our body rhythms with nature's rhythms

 


Board of Directors

Jessica Murrey, President
Krynn Lukacs PhD, Secretary
Chris Brimhall, Treasurer
Cynthia Salbato, President of ART NOW
Piper Von Chamier
Cassandra Dexter, CPA CFP at Nagel & Padilla, LLC