LIBN editorial

What will it take to draw a new generation of great minds into the fields of science and technology?

Certainly not the technology sector's recent performance in this choppy economy. It hardly has that get-rich quick aura about it at the moment.

Fortunately, there's a more fundamental way to appeal to the young: stimulate their curiosity and satisfy their awakening desire to "develop a gut feeling of how things work."

That's the goal of the proposed Long Island Museum of Science and Technology - LIMSAT - that could open as soon as next June on Museum Row in Mitchel Field.

The project has been on the drawing boards for more than a decade, and even now the plan is to move into modest, temporary space in Hanger 2, between the newly opened Cradle of Aviation and the Long Island Children's Museum.

“Long Island is in fierce competition with other areas to develop a high-tech critical mass. For that reason alone, it cannot afford to be left without a first-class science and technology museum that serves to stimulate the next generation of great scientists. “

That conservative strategy makes sense. The organizers say they're confident they can pack that 5,000 square feet of space with enough riveting exhibits to generate the public buzz and financial support needed to undergird a permanent science and technology museum that Long Island deserves. Those exhibits could include interactive links to remote locations such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, possibly opening a window on experiments at Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

Already, the Nassau County Industrial Development Authority has approved a $6.8 million loan for the LIMSAT project, and bonds could be issued by the end of the summer.

The next step is to gear up a corporate fundraising initiative to underwrite first-class exhibits that compete favorably with or surpass those at other science and technology museums that already stand in virtually every other high-tech region.

Long Island is in fierce competition with other areas to develop a high-tech critical mass. For that reason alone, it cannot afford to be left without a first-class science and technology museum that serves to stimulate the next generation of great scientists.

Corporate Long Island needs to step up to the plate now to make sure the new LIMSAT facility that eventually sits on the site of Hanger 2 fully matches the standard of excellence set by the Cradle of Aviation and the Long Island Children's Museum.

Time for LIMSAT