Guests are educated and entertained by BMC members. Photographs by Tony Rinaldo LLC.
On Saturday, February 11, 2023, BMC members David Babik, Pam Chamberlain, Nicki Croghan, Janna Harris, Jonathan Kranz, Ellen Penso, Don Pfister and Mae Rusconi represented the science of mycology at Harvard Museum of Natural History’s “I [Heart] Science” festival.
The first Museum science festival since the imposed confinements of COVID 19, I [Heart] Science drew more than 1,200 visitors to its assemblage of tables and exhibits representing multiple natural sciences discipline. The BMC mycology table, hosted in the Museum’s Zofnass Family Gallery of New England Forests, drew visitors of all ages and many different languages, including Japanese and Hungarian.
Ellen brought a comprehensive set of winter mushroom specimens that could be examined through a dissecting microscope on the table. Other popular activities included a fungal treasure hunt, spore print examples, and provocative discussions on food, toxicity, and New England habitats.
Many thanks to Wendy Derjue-Holzer, Education Director, Harvard Museum of Natural History, who invited the BMC to the event, to our whole enthusiastic and knowledgeable team, to David Babik, who organized us, and to our club’s advisor, Harvard Professor Don Pfister, who is always willing to support interested young people.
