Welcoming Rita J. King and Joshua Fouts to Science House
Science House and the Science House Foundation are thrilled to announce two new hires: Rita J. King as Executive Vice President of Business Development and Joshua Fouts as Executive Director of the Science House Foundation.
Rita and Joshua are longtime collaborators who join Science House from Dancing Ink Productions, a company Rita founded in 2006 to work toward a new global culture and economy in the Imagination Age. Dancing Ink Productions has worked around the physical world and across the digital culture at the forefront of illuminating new ways to understand the evolution of technology, science, art and culture in a 21st century framework.
Their most recent project, “IMAGINATION: Creating the Future of Education & Work,” is a how-to guide for educators filled with high impact insight about virtual worlds, digital platforms, games and technology. Presented in a visual, interactive format, IMAGINATION is divided into short, useful segments such as “#17: Focus on STEM,” featuring a video presentation from Robert Lindberg the President and Executive Director of NASA’s think-tank, the National Institute of Aerospace, illustrating the critical difference between the Scientific Method and the Engineering Design Process.
“These new additions to our team are significant steps to move Science House on to the next level and help us spark the imaginations of future scientists and entrepreneurs all around the world,” says Science House Founder and CEO James Jorasch. “To have found just one person with passions and skill sets so closely aligned with our mission is incredible, to have found two such people who are already collaborators feels like serendipity.”
Rita J. King
Rita, a former investigative journalist with a focus on the nuclear industry, has been developing the concept of the Imagination Age since 2006, when she sought to frame the current fleeting period between the fading Industrial era and the nascent hybrid reality still ahead.
“I was instantly hooked when I first learned about the three core elements of the Science House mission,” says Rita. “The Science House Foundation sparks the imaginations of people, particularly children, around the world, gives them robots and microscopes and other equipment and ideas. “
“The community connects,” she continues, “through Science House Network, one of the most vibrant communities I’ve ever seen in action. Our Director of Operations Megan Kingery curates provocative events. Science House Capital invests in early-stage science-driven ventures. When James told me that his long-term plan is for those kids who become inspired to one day come back to Science House Capital and request funding for their own startups, I instantly committed.”
Joshua Fouts
“The Science House Foundation requires a unique set of skills to run effectively, and Josh’s background will undoubtedly help us move into the next phase of development for our projects,” says James. “He brings nearly 20 years of experience working at the forefront of technology and science across government and education. He is a veteran not-for-profit executive who founded and directed two innovative think tanks at the University of Southern California on subjects that were years ahead of their time. His passion and entrepreneurial spirit will be a great asset to the Science House Foundation.”
Joshua has spent his life immersed in the sciences. As a teenager he collected chimpanzee sign language data at his parents’ primate research lab, which led to a lifelong passion for anthropology and the science of culture.
“We’re very happy to continue collaborating with each other and with Science House,” Rita says. “Many of our clients, partners and collaborators also welcome this relationship and look forward to the work, fun and future ahead.”
Science House couldn’t be more thrilled with these two new additions to the team. Welcome Rita and Josh!
Welcome to our two new hires!
Tags: business, foundation, James Jorasch, Joshua Fouts, Megan Kingery, Rita K. King, science house, Science House Foundation
May 9th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Top duo! Looking forward to seeing their imagination fuse at the Sci House.
December 1st, 2011 at 6:53 pm
While studying Fine Art at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art I had, for one distinct moment, an absolutely clear insight into the similarity, rather than the difference, between scientists and artists. In my mind I saw them standing together on the pilot-plow of a speeding locomotive, overlooking vast nothingness, the Promethean fires of their imaginations forging thought into matter and laying conceptual tracks across the void. I understood with clarity that it is on these tracks which the train of human thought — and consequent experience — chugs along, religious in its tenacity for retrospection yet less inclined to look ahead at the actual miracle keeping them in perpetual motion.
I was reminded of this personal revelation when I met Josh and Rita nearly a year ago, who are the very definition of dynamism, both individually and as a system. Congrats to all.