Dave Duncan, manager of TI's DLP Cinema® Professional Display Business, is shown seated at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Standing is Aaron Heidgerken-Greene from the Science Museum of Minnesota, which helped build the displays for the new museum.

As the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science opened recently, TI and its employees were directly involved, welcoming visitors to the TI Engineering and Innovation Hall and promoting learning science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in fun, interactive ways.

The TI Hall in the new museum is one of only a very few locations that bear TI's name outside of the company. The TI Foundation helped support the new museum, located in downtown Dallas, to inspire innovation and to serve as a resource for STEM students and teachers in North Texas schools.

"We hope to introduce more children to engineering and inspire the next generation of innovators," said Trisha Cunningham, TI's chief citizenship officer. "We want to prepare the next generation to become engineers, scientists, inventors – or any one of a thousand other careers that need math and science for today's tech-savvy world."

In the 5,500-square-foot gallery, for example, visitors can explore more than a dozen interactive exhibits while pondering the various technologies at play in everything from robotics to digital music-making.

The museum gives students a different perspective about STEM.

"It's really important to get out of the classroom and into an environment like this so you can realize the importance of science. Things start to make sense here," said Dave Duncan, manager of TI's DLP Cinema® Professional Display Business.

Duncan said the U.S. has a shortage of students pursuing careers in STEM, and he hopes places like the Perot museum can help change that trend.

"What are we missing in the U.S. that's not inspiring kids to go into math and science? Maybe a building like this can help," he said.

Duncan feels so passionately about the museum that he serves on its board of directors and spends much of his spare time at the museum. He encourages other TI employees and retirees to get involved as volunteers.

TI engineer Gregory Duperon, one of the opening day volunteers, said, "When I served on the United Way's Community Impact Grants Panel, the Perot Museum was one of the proposals we considered for funding. The main selling point was that it had the potential to become the go-to reinforcement for STEM learning in North Texas. And, that it is! There are so many exhibits with which children can interact to augment the education they receive in the classroom. To see the looks on the faces of the children as they built robots and controlled objects with their brain waves was priceless!"

DLP presence
The museum includes several displays based on TI's DLP® technology, including a "vein viewer" that uses infrared energy to sense temperature and project images of your veins onto your skin, as well as a digital "wooden mirror" that works like a giant DLP chip to display viewers' movements.

The life-sized piece uses wood tiles and technology to create images. A microprocessor and a tiny camera at the center of the sculpture interpret a person's image as an assemblage of white, black or gray spots – or pixels. Tiny motors then tilt each tile so they catch just the right amount of light to mirror what the camera sees.

Mark Dahlager, director of design and development science learning at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), designed and helped build the entire TI gallery. Several SMM representatives were on hand to demonstrate the wooden mirror and other displays.

"It's a playful engineering piece," Dahlager said of the wooden mirror. "You can go from this to much more advanced engineering and robotics displays on the same floor."

The gallery is designed so that children can explore problem-solving using engineering and technology.

"We are giving students a feel for how technology impacts their lives. Things like music can help," Cunningham said, referring to an exhibit where visitors can create their own digital music compositions using analog and digital technology.

Many of the displays involve hands-on engineering activities, such as building and testing a bridge design or constructing electric circuits. At the center of the TI Hall, visitors can design, build, program and run robots through challenge courses created by museum staff.

"At TI, we have relationships with every major robotics competition, which makes this technology real to students," Duncan said, as he programmed a robotic toy to navigate through a maze.

Also in the TI hall, a prominent display showcases local companies, people and universities that innovate and inspire math and science.

The "North Texas: A high-tech hot zone" exhibit shows how innovators such as Jack Kilby's integrated circuit changed the world. It shows the simple sketch of Jack's notebook that led to the revolutionary IC, or microchip, and highlights photos of Jack and other Dallas-area Nobel Prize winners.

"This museum helps us showcase TI innovation within our community," Cunningham said. "It is a testament to why it's important for local companies to invest in arts institutions. It makes a statement about our commitment to the community."

About the TI hall
The naming of the TI hall recognizes a multi-million-dollar leadership gift from the TI Foundation (TIF), as well as decades of volunteer and financial support provided by the TIF, TI and its employees. (See a related article.)

Learn more about the museum. Also, get a peek of the various exhibit halls at the museum.