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Opening up the World for Others ‘We Do Still Exist, and We’re Thriving.’ Creative ConnectionsGiving Forward
Who:
Frank Lucchino
What he supports:
Carnegie Science Center, through the Lucchino Science Inspiration Fund
Why it matters:
“We’re looking for young people who enjoy science, and we want to help them improve their lives through science-related activities that they otherwise would not have access to in their public school education.” – Frank Lucchino
Frank Lucchino’s favorite days at Carnegie Science Center are the noisy ones.
“I love being there when all the school kids are there,” Lucchino says. “Just the action and the noise and the activity of those kids keeps me going.”
Lucchino, 84, dedicated his life to the law and public service as a judge and controller of Allegheny County, but science is where he draws inspiration.
Even today, when the state legislature is mired in political stalemates over important policy questions, Lucchino looks to the scientific advances that give him hope for humanity. Visits to the North Shore, especially when the school buses are parked outside, are the moments when he can imagine a better future.
Four years ago, Lucchino established a fund to ensure that Pittsburgh-area middle and high school students, particularly those from economically disadvantaged schools in Western Pennsylvania, had access to Science Center programming so that they might be inspired, too. In 2019, he worked with Science Center educators to establish the Lucchino Science Inspiration Fund.
The Lucchino Science Inspiration Fund provided support for 496 underserved students during the 2020-21 school year and 629 students during the 2021-22 school year. Lucchino is trying to grow the fund to support even more students this year. Nine districts have been identified as qualifying for coverage, and Science Center educators hope to expand that number in the coming years.
“Science provides nearly boundless opportunities for individual and societal benefit. Our role is to ensure that these opportunities are afforded to all students from communities and neighborhoods from across the region,” says Jason Brown, the Henry Buhl, Jr., Director of Carnegie Science Center. “The investment and continued advocacy by Judge Lucchino ensures that there will always be resources available to share those opportunities with the most underserved kids and school districts.”
A lifelong Pittsburgher who grew up in Greenfield, Lucchino’s relationship with Carnegie Science Center and its predecessor began nearly 50 years ago. In 1974, he joined the board of trustees of the Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, then continued on the Science Center advisory board when Buhl merged with Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. He remains an emeritus advisory board member for the Science Center and Carnegie Museums trustee, demonstrating an “unflinching focus on educational equity and accessibility,” Brown says.
“He is also a wealth of historical knowledge about the Science Center and its predecessor, the Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science,” Brown adds. “Anytime I have a question about something that happened in the past, Frank can be counted on to not only have the answer, but the entire context surrounding it.”
The world has changed a lot in Lucchino’s lifetime. The global population has more than tripled to 8 billion, raising questions of housing and food insecurity. But Lucchino says he maintains hope for the future, citing evidence from the new Mars exhibition at the Science Center.
The exhibition considers what a settlement on Mars would look like, and how settlers could grow food under inhospitable conditions. It also offers lessons for how humans might address these problems on Earth.
“It makes you think about what the possibilities are and what could be done,” he says.
The possibilities will be explored by younger generations, and Lucchino wants to boost the chances that they’ll find the solutions.
All the region’s schoolchildren—not just those from affluent schools that can afford trips to the North Shore—must have an opportunity to engage in STEM programming, the science fair, and all the other opportunities that the Science Center provides, he says.
One of those kids might help address complicated scientific questions like climate change. But that’s not Lucchino’s primary aim. Regardless of whether a student goes on to a career in science, he wants them to have experiences that will spark their imagination and deepen their engagement with the world. In describing his ultimate goal, Lucchino refers to the iconic slogan from UNCF: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
“We’re not looking to just have people who will win the Nobel Prize for science,” he says. “We’re looking for young people who enjoy science, and we want to help them improve their lives through science-related activities that they otherwise would not have access to in their public school education.”
To learn more about giving opportunities at Carnegie Museums, contact Beth Brown at brownb@carnegiemuseums.org or 412.622.8859.
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