Things." Organized in conjunction with the Council of Mu- 

 seum Education Directors and the Office of the Assistant 

 Secretary for Education and Public Service, the forum was 

 presented in a effort to stimulate collaboration on educa- 

 tional issues, including multicultural education. 



March 27 



U Grant The National Museum of the American In- 

 dian National Campaign announced that The George 

 Gund Foundation had made a contribution of $1 mil- 

 lion to the museum. The gift will be used for construc- 

 tion of the museum's building on the National Mall in 

 Washington, D.C. 



March 28-June 20 



■ Training Program The Center for Folklife Programs 

 and Cultural Studies conducted a 12-week training pro- 

 gram among scholars from African-born communities 

 of metropolitan Washington, DC., as part of the Afri- 

 can Immigrant Folklife Study. 



March 30- April 2 



■ Outreach At the annual meeting of the National Sci- 

 ence Teachers Association in Anaheim, California, the 

 National Science Resources Center exhibited its pro- 

 grams, conducted presentations, and gave workshops on 

 its Science and Technology for Children curriculum 

 units. 



Spring 



■ New Database The Office of Fellowships and Grants 

 put into effect a database management system for mi- 

 nority alumni of all OFG programs. 



Spring 



m Research The unusual orbital history of Comet Shoe- 

 maker-Levy 9, as well as the predictions of its collisions 

 with Jupiter, were established at the Smithsonian Astro- 

 physical Observatory. 



Spring 



■ Education The Science Media Group at the Smithson- 

 ian Astrophysical Observatory received a $2.6 million 

 grant from the Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project 

 to develop six interactive educational videos exploring 

 common student misconceptions in science. 



April-July 



■ Construction Eight 45-foot-tall towers were erected at 

 the National Zoo to connect the orangutans' living 

 quarters at the Great Ape House with Think Tank, an 

 exhibit under construction 500 feet away. The Orang- 

 utan Transit System, or O Line, is an innovative concept 

 in exhibit design that will allow the Zoo's orangutans to 

 "commute" between two physically separate facilities. 



April 



March 50 



■ Public Program The National Air and Space 

 Museum's Educational Services Department presented 

 the White Wings Airplane Contest. The day-long activ- 

 ity included demonstrations by museum staff and paper 

 airplane champions and a competition in the museum's 

 Air Transportation hall in which hundreds of visitors 

 took part. 



Spring 



■ Research A technique for obtaining spin-polarized 

 xenon atoms in a noble gas maser experiment was 

 shown to have the potential for improving magnetic res- 

 onance imaging (MRI,) of soft tissues by scientists at the 

 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and doctors at 

 Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. 



■ Publication Based on studies conducted between 1987 

 and 1993, the Institutional Studies Office issued a demo- 

 graphic profile of the millions of local, national, and in- 

 ternational visitors to Smithsonian museums and the 

 National Zoological Park, the first such compilation in 

 the Institution's history. 



April 



■ Neu- Research Vessel The Smithsonian Tropical Re- 

 search Institute's new 96-foot research vessel arrived in 

 Panama. This general-purpose vessel is equipped with a 

 laboratory, darkroom, scuba diving equipment, boats, 

 and the latest communication equipment. 



April 



■ Research Assistant Secretary for the Sciences Robert 

 Hoffmann, along with a dozen other museum research- 



*3 



