Gina Winstead: A Great Idea
In June, McKeesport native Gina Winstead joined Carnegie Museums as its first vice president for IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility). Winstead was most recently assistant vice president of membership development and external relations at Vibrant Pittsburgh, a regional thought leader in workplace diversity and inclusion. Carnegie Museums President Steve Knapp says it was her “knowledge of the field, her collaborative style, her strong commitment to change, and her deep roots in Pittsburgh” that made Winstead stand out among other candidates in the nationwide search. “I think the world should be better connected to all of the resources Carnegie Museums has to offer, most notably its people,” Winstead says. “And I’m eager to help open doors and create greater access for those that have felt underestimated or underrepresented.”
Carnegie Science Award Winners Announced
Carnegie Science Center recently announced the winners of this year’s Carnegie Science Awards, including John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic Technology, winner of the 2022 Chairman’s Award, which recognizes an individual or organization that has made outstanding contributions in science, either through exemplary work in their field or through transcendent leadership, commitment, or achievement. Other award winners include Chartiers Valley School District teacher Denny Quinn for “Most Inspiring Educator,” and Mary Ellen Ramage, of Etna, for being a “Champion for Sustainability.” Socialize with the awardees and other regional innovators at the Geek Out Gala fundraising event on October 13.
“Changing place names is not about some people being offended or feelings being hurt; it’s about telling a more complete history of North America and the U.S., respecting Indigenous knowledge and acknowledging the sovereignty of Native American nations.”
– Bonnie McGill, former Science Communication Fellow in the Anthropocene Studies Section of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, writing in Scientific American about efforts to change derogatory place names in the United States.
The Warhol moves into Pop District: HQ
The Andy Warhol Museum staff who are leading The Pop District have moved across the street into the initiative’s new headquarters on the seventh floor of 106 Isabella St. The 9,400-square-foot space will be home to digital media-creation labs and classrooms, where young trainees will learn digital media-production skills and create content for the museum as part of The Pop District’s workforce development program.
Illustration: Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Dinosaur Discovered in Egyptian Oasis
A celebrated dinosaur fossil site in Egypt’s Sahara Desert has yielded yet another surprising discovery—a “bulldog-faced” species that is the first of its kind found in the desert’s Bahariya Oasis. “The Bahariya Oasis has taken on near-legendary status among paleontologists for having produced the first-known fossils of some of the world’s most amazing dinosaurs,” says Matt Lamanna, Mary R. Dawson Associate Curator and Head of Vertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. “But for more than three-quarters of a century, those fossils have existed only as pictures in old books.” Lamanna helped identify the still-unnamed species of carnivorous dinosaur that is the first known record of the abelisaurid group of theropods from the Bahariya Oasis, which dates to the middle Cretaceous Era approximately 98 million years ago.
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