• MASTERMINDS 2023
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  • BRAIN BRIEFS
  • 2/23
STEM Ahead
STEM Ahead
A Multi-million Dollar Gift Expands Science Center

Photography by Robin Taber

Set to debut in 2025, the Cox Science Center and Aquarium will add an additional 130,000 total square feet of space for programming including science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) awareness and education, thanks to a $20 million gift made by Howard and Wendy Cox.

In 2019, the Cox Science Center and Aquarium opened a permanent exhibit called “Journey Through the Human Brain,” with Randy Blakely, Ph.D., exclusive director of the FAU Stiles- Nicholson Brain Institute serving as the lead scientific advisor.

The expansion plans include renovated spaces, a new three-story science pavilion visible from I-95, new outdoor exhibition spaces and one of Florida’s largest indoor aquariums.

Kate Arrizza, president and CEO for the Cox Science Center and Aquarium said, “The amount of life-changing philanthropic support we’ve received is indicative of the influx of new residents in our market and the need for the community to have a state-of-the-art science center. We are working with the industry’s top consultants and program developers. Plans include relocating our popular Journey Through the Human Brain exhibit, the most advanced of its kind created in partnership with the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, to the new building with increased square footage.”

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