ST. PETERSBURG \u2014 From the day he saw an Alka-Seltzer tablet fizz in a glass of water at age 3, Damian Rouson was hooked on science.<\/p>\n
That fascination led him to build rockets and learn computer programming in middle school through programs at the St. Petersburg Science Center.<\/p>\n
After earning bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s and Ph.D.s from Howard University and Stanford University, Rouson now works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, which has been home to 17 Nobel Prize winners over the past 90 years. He leads Berkeley Lab\u2019s computer languages and systems software group.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Darryl Rouson vividly remembers how the west St. Petersburg building shaped his brother. So when former council member Robert Blackmon reached out seven years ago with an idea to resurrect the Science Center, Darryl Rouson had a four-word response.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I help?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was my first call,\u201d Blackmon said. \u201cI said, \u2018This is what I want to do,\u2019 and he said, \u2018I\u2019m in.\u2019 He had talked to his brother. A generation of leaders started here at the Science Center.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Jan. 9, elected officials including former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, members of the St. Petersburg Group and other builders and developers broke ground on the expansion of the St. Petersburg Science Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Bay Vista on the south side, and we scheduled a class trip to visit and be inspired,\u201d Crist recalled. \u201cThat memory has never left me. When Robert asked for funding, there was no way I could say no. I\u2019m pleased that my colleagues in Congress agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crist backed Blackmon\u2019s initial $500,000 in funding with $3 million more in seed money through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were off to the races,\u201d Blackmon said.<\/p>\n
Perseverance pays off<\/p>\n
Besides Blackmon and Rouson, St. Petersburg Group co-founder Joe Hamilton received credit for seeing the project through. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch described him as \u201cthe definition of perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton and his group have raised approximately $16 million, with a capital campaign aiming to push that total to $25 million. About $7 million has come from the state.<\/p>\n
The design calls for two additional floors. Square footage is expected to double to 50,000, according to Sean Williams of Carbon Design & Architecture.<\/p>\n
The St. Petersburg Group and its project partners, collectively known as St. Pete for STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts & Math), plan to renovate the existing rotunda, restore the historic mosaic trail and build a new modern facility.<\/p>\n
With a renewed focus on innovation, education and community engagement, the foundation of the facility will be its Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence.<\/p>\n
To help ensure sustainability, the Science Center also will have office space, a cafe, event rental space for weddings and a hybrid auditorium with virtual as well as physical seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s never been done before,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n
The building is slated for completion in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe essence will remain the same,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cAI will be our focus from a positioning standpoint. That\u2019s what we\u2019ll shout the loudest about, even though the physical space for it will be less than half of the traditional uses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton and others envision the Science Center hosting TED Talks, lectures, meetings, online classes and summer camps. An economic developer at heart, he also hopes it develops as an AI incubator to teach young students, creating collaborations with colleges, universities and potential employers.<\/p>\n
The Rousons said they hope the center will inspire students to become astronauts, researchers, educators, doctors and engineers \u2014 just as it inspired them and so many others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about you, Damian, and those who came after you,\u201d Darryl Rouson said. \u201cThank you, Robert, for getting me involved early, and thank you, Joe, for carrying on the dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother challenged me. And I never back down from a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG \u2014 From the day he saw an Alka-Seltzer tablet fizz in a glass of water at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2872,820,113,596,3349,202,204,203,199,201,200,56653],"class_list":{"0":"post-112386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-darryl-rouson","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-pinellas-county","12":"tag-robert-blackmon","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news","19":"tag-st-petersburg-science-center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}