Chronology 



143 



was a major milesrone. Through direcr inreracrions wirh the 

 students and teachers, the NSRC curriculum developers ob- 

 tained insights about students reaction to the module 

 activities that were invaluable to the development process. 

 By then meeting with advisory committees to review the 

 feedback, rhe NSRC ensured that the recommended changes 

 would also continue to comply with the National Science 

 Education Standards. The developers conrinue to work with 

 technical advisors to conduct final reviews of rhe lessons for 

 scienrific accuracy and pedagogical appropriateness as mod- 

 ules are readied for commercial publication. 



April 



■ Exhibition "Nuestras Voces en Washington, D.C.," an ex- 

 hibition that is part of the Latino Community Heritage 

 Center, opened after long collaborations between the Latin 

 American Youth Center, the Center for Folklife and Culrural 

 Heritage, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. 



April 



■ New building Completion of Phase IV of the expansion of 

 SERC's CM. Mathias Laboratory building. 



April 



■ Partnership The Smithsonian American Art Museum 

 signed an agreemenr with the Principal Financial Group, 

 headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, for a Narional Visibility 

 Partnership in conjunction with the museum's upcoming 

 tour called "Treasures to Go," eight nationally circulating 

 exhibitions based on the museum's permanent collection. 

 The S3.75 million will go toward producing a series of na- 

 tional cable television specials, a syndicated program for 

 broadcast on a network affiliate in each city visited by the 

 tour, public relarions, advertising, and media partnerships 

 with national publications. The "Treasures to Go" tour be- 

 gins January 7, 2000. 



April 



■ Research Dr. Tim McCoy, Associate Curator in the De- 

 partment of Mineral Sciences at the National Museum of 

 Natural History, published findings from his research on rhe 

 Martian meteorite Zagami. McCoy has been studying how 

 lava flows on the surface of Mars by studying the meteorite. 

 He has recognized that Zagami contains different layers that 

 record a lava flow being emplaced on the surface of Mars and 

 then fractionating during its long cooling history. The pres- 

 ence of differenr rock layers in this rock, one of only 1 3 

 meteorites known to come from Mars, suggests that this 

 may be a common process and future Mars explorers (robots 

 and humans) might encounter such diversity. 



theory rhat the centers of galaxies (including our own Milky 

 Way) contain black holes with as much mass as a billion suns. 



April 2-August 22 



■ Exhibition "Picturing Old New England: Image and 

 Memory," a ground-breaking exhibition organized by the 

 Smithsonian American Art Museum, grouped masterworks 

 and images from popular culture to explore, for the first 

 time, the ways in which New England was depicted in 

 American art from 1865 to 1945, and how New England 

 subjects addressed broader cultural currents in the country. 



April 5 



■ Donation and award Announcement of a $2.5 million gift 

 to found the Ikuo Hirayama Program for Conservation of 

 Japanese Painting at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. 

 Sackler Gallery. Hirayama, president of the Japan Art Insti- 

 tute, Tokyo, was also inducted into the Order of James 

 Smithson for his contributions totaling $11 million to the 

 Freer and Sackler galleries. 



April 5 



■ Easter Monday The National Zoo's Easter Monday plan- 

 ning committee again hosts a day of festive activities for a 

 long-standing community gathering at the National Zoo. 



April 6-9 



■ Professional institute The Smithsonian Associates' Na- 

 tional Outreach program presented a World Affairs Institute 

 for Indiana University entitled "Southeast Asia: Winds of 

 Change." Participants represented state leaders in education, 

 business, politics, and economics. 



April 6, June 24-25, July 8-9 



■ Strategic planning meetings The Program for Asian Pacific 

 American Studies organized three meetings involving Asian 

 Pacific American scholars, civic leaders, and arrs organiza- 

 tions to inform the Program's strategic planning process. 



April 8 



■ Agreement The Tropical Research Institute signed the 

 Biological Prospecting Agreemenr with the Panamanian 

 Authority for the Environmenr (ANAM) to initiate a pro- 

 gram designed to link conservation of Panamanian 

 biodiversity with bioprospecting for novel products for med- 

 icine and agriculture, for five renewable years. Funding for 

 the project was provided by the National Institutes of 

 Health through the International Cooperative Biodiversiry 

 Groups program (ICBG). 



April 



■ Research results SAO astronomers studying galaxies in 

 their X-ray light find additional evidence supporting the 



April 8 



■ Leasing contract The Tropical Research Institute signed a 

 five-year renewable contract with the Panamanian Authority 



