As president and CEO of the Science Center of Iowa, Paul Jennings hears lots of stories about the life-changing “a-ha” moments that museums create for their patrons.

Jennings aims to create even more of those for Science Center visitors in the next several years.

“When people learn that I work in a museum of science, they will almost always share an experience about visiting a museum when they were very young,” said Jennings, who was hired for the top job at the Science Center of Iowa (SCI) in May 2009. “The detail is very graphic when they share that experience,” he said. “It was the moment that captured their imagination that led to what they’re doing today.”

On Oct. 2, SCI will debut “Da Vinci – The Genius,” the largest traveling exhibition it has ever hosted in is 40-year history. And yes, Jennings promises it will offer many “a-ha” moments.

“We wouldn’t typically start a major exhibition in the fall, but we wanted to start the 40th anniversary year with a bang,” Jennings said. “There aren’t too many bigger bangs than da Vinci. … The exhibition is really a celebration of the life of Leonardo da Vinci and the many aspects of this diverse man. He was a phenomenon and remains a phenomenon.”

October marks not only the beginning of SCI’s 40th year, but also the fifth year since its move to its downtown facility from its original location in Greenwood Park. As downtown Des Moines continues to reinvent itself all around the Science Center, so has SCI.

More blockbusters

To host the 15,000-square-foot exhibition, SCI undertook a significant remodeling of the museum’s ground floor. Construction workers were wrapping up that project last week, just as the huge crates containing the da Vinci exhibition pieces began arriving.

“The key thing in terms of managing this exhibition that’s three times larger than anything else we’ve ever hosted is that we had to change the flow of the center in a significant way,” Jennings said. Those changes included temporarily mothballing the popular “Science is Where You Find It” exhibit as well as removing the “Who Am I?” exhibit.

The enlarged space creates a chance to bring in more “blockbuster” exhibitions after the da Vinci exhibition ends in mid-January.

“I don’t currently envision the change in focus to be a permanent one,” Jennings said, “but it has the potential to help us be ambitious to bring in exhibitions you might expect to see in Chicago, Los Angeles or Tampa. My view is, why shouldn’t they come to the state?”

Jennings moved to Greater Des Moines last year from Scotland, where he led the Dundee Sensation Science Center for eight years. A native of Wales, Jennings was finishing a nine-month international leadership program for science center directors when a colleague in the program told him that SCI was seeking a new CEO. That program, the Noyce Leadership Program, focused on strategies for science centers to strengthen their impact on their communities, a mission that Jennings has taken to heart.

“I think many of us who operate science centers recognize that we do play an important role in the community, and we are viewed as good things for the community to have,” he said. “But how do we become a real partner in formal education? How do we partner other organizations that are trying to promote public engagement in science, or that have learning at their core? That’s the real challenge that we have over the next 10 years.”

Financially, SCI’s revenues have increased year-over-year for the past two years through a delicate balance of ticket sales, donations and other sources, Jennings said. At the same time, it has managed not to reduce staff, despite the recession.

“So we’re growing the funding on an annual basis,” he said. “But it has become more challenging. We’re finding that many of the sources of funding have fewer dollars to give.”

Local context

In addition to celebrating its 40th year, SCI is also nearing the end of the 10-year visioning process that led to the opening in 2005 at the downtown venue. It’s now in the early stages of shaping the next 10-year vision plan.

SCI, which has long-standing relationships with a number of Iowa technology companies, hopes to develop home-grown exhibitions that showcase the research taking place within the state, Jennings said.

“Whatever the cutting-edge research is, we’d like to provide a home for that and give it a context, because many people are unaware of the research going on locally,” he said. “Not many museums are doing that, so it would allow us to celebrate the science coming out of Iowa.”

Another model for public engagement has been SCI’s “Cafe Scientifique,” an off-site lecture series that Jennings instituted. Hosting experts in fields ranging from cancer research to black holes, the series has received “very positive feedback,” Jennings said, and could serve as a model for expanding SCI’s reach across the state.

At the Science Center, “a lot of the learning comes from people interacting with each other. There aren’t too many venues where families can go where that happens.”