About Us
<— Sally Bensusen, Founding Director
Sally Bensusen discovered a lot as a child about how the world works through observation and drawing and subsequently fell in love with science. In her early adult career, Sally was a staff astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. During the following 25 years, she was a published scientific illustrator. Her work has been used by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and Scientific American magazine, among many others. For the past 18 years, she was a senior graphic designer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Currently, Sally gives presentations and workshops for the Smithsonian and at conferences, advocating for the partnership between art and science.
Nate Erwin, Science & Training Advisor —>
Entomologist Nate Erwin works with clients "bugscaping" their properties to increase insect diversity, consults with museums on exhibit and program development, and lectures on insect natural history. After five years as a forest pest entomologist with the State of Maryland and four years as staff member with the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., Nate managed the Smithsonian Institution’s Insect Zoo from 1992-2012, located in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
In addition to caring for the many-legged residents of the Insect Zoo, Nate conducted workshops for teachers on how to use natural history objects in classroom teaching.
<— Jessie Nathans, Education Advisor
Jessie Nathans teaches middle school art and sculpture at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD. Before becoming an art educator, she was a senior associate art director at Scientific American magazine. Jessie is passionate about process-based art-making for all students and educators across many curriculum subjects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has learned how to engage students through distance learning by creating hands-on projects that can be done at home.
Jessie has a Graduate Certificate as a STEM Master Teacher from George Washington University, holds a Masters Degree in Communication Design from Pratt Institute, and Bachelor’s Degree from University of California, Berkeley. "Working with color, layer, and line lets the inner mind unfold, liberating new thoughts and connections."
Jonathan Tourtellot, Editorial Advisor —>
Jonathan Tourtellot, a senior editor at the National Geographic Society for over 30 years, has covered geography, science, and the environment. For one of his first jobs there, a children's atlas of the universe, he created imaginary creatures to illustrate the properties of solar system planets.
He has edited and contributed writing to numerous books at National Geographic and was Senior Editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine. He currently edits the online Destination Stewardship Report.
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Be a Contributor
Take a look at our activities on our "Downloads" page. Review a couple. Think about activities you have used in your own classroom that help develop observation skills.
Contact us with your idea. If your activity is a good match for this project, we would like to post a downloadable PDF version in our library and list your name below, along with your affiliation and contact information.
Join Us!