MathWorks donates $10M for museum exhibit

PHOTO/COURTESY MathWorks' headquarters in Natick.

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By Zachary Comeau

Natick computer software developer MathWorks will gift $10 million to the Boston Museum of Science, the museum announced Thursday.

The gift will fund the development of a new exhibit set to open in 2020 to be part of a 100,000-square-foot project at the museum.

The new exhibit will provide a permanent home for a popular program -- Engineering Design Challenges -- and feature hands-on engineering activities. The exhibit will focus on drawing girls and women to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields.

“As visitors work together to solve challenges, they will recognize that they are using many of the same skills engineers and computer scientists use, including creativity, collaboration, and learning from failure,” the museum said in a press release.

The gift from Mathworks, which has sponsored the museum since 1991, will fund the design, fabrication and construction of the exhibit, as well as an endowment to ensure the exhibit is maintained and updated regularly.

Construction is expected to begin in 2019 with the opening eyed for 2020.

“MathWorks is committed to helping students discover their passion for STEM subjects. To complement classroom learning, they need to experience working hands-on to explore, experiment, model and build,” said MathWorks CEO Jack Little in a press release. “The Museum of Science shares in this approach to education, and we are very happy to expand our partnership through the Blue Wing transformation and creation of the MathWorks exhibit.”