President & CEO

Emlyn Koster, PhD

Emlyn Koster, a science museum CEO for the past two decades, is at the helm of one of the museum field’s most relevancy-minded institutions. Internationally experienced and dedicated to improving the links between science and society, he is a prominent writer and speaker about the external responsibilities of science museums, as well as an active contributor to their main professional bodies.

President and CEO of Liberty Science Center since 1996, he has led the institution in a demand-driven $109 million capital project under the banner of Connections: Our Community, Our World. In partnership with the region's public and private sectors, this encompasses major expansion and renovation as well as extensive exhibition and program enhancement. New Jersey’s most visited museum and one of the New York City metro region’s top-rated cultural destinations, Liberty Science Center is in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, next to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Opened in 1993 and reopened on July 19, 2007, its innovative benchmarks for the science museum field feature inclusive approaches to audience, regional relevancy of exhibitions, offsite and online content, extensive involvement with preK -12 education and teacher professional development, and instructive applications of videoconferencing and cell phones. Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Center assisted in a wide variety of emergency roles that went on to shape thinking in the museum field about different roles when disaster strikes.

Born in Egypt’s Suez Canal Zone and then moving to England, he earned a BSc in geology at the University of Sheffield. In 1971, he immigrated to Canada and earned his PhD in geology at the University of Ottawa. Faculty positions in Montreal and Saskatchewan followed. After coal exploration and dinosaur fieldwork in a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta and in China’s Gobi Desert, his career focus shifted to the public’s view of science. From 1986-91, he directed a new natural history museum near Calgary with Queen Elizabeth II bestowing royal appellation upon it in 1989. From 1991-96 as CEO at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, a pioneer among interactive museums, he led a major facility and exhibition renewal program. In 1994, he was honored by the Government of France with a Chevalier Medal in the l’Ordre des Palmes Academique and in 1996 was elected by the Geological Association of Canada as its 50th anniversary president.

His learning experiences include travel to over 50 countries on all continents. Past and present appointments include the International Council of Museums board of the American Association of Museums, Committee on Public Understanding of Science and Technology of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the boards of the Giant Screen Cinema Association, Institute for Learning Innovation, Challenger Center for Space Science Education and Association of Science-Technology Centers. His 45 publications in the museum field address topics he believes ought to be at the forefront of its leadership thinking - namely, relevancy to social and environmental opportunities and challenges. The latest contributions are an invited essay entitled “The Relevant Museum: a Reflection on Sustainability” in the centennial issue of Museum News of the American Association of Museums and an invited opening article for a special commemorative issue of Curator: The Museum Journal. Recent invitations for speaking engagements have brought him to Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Japan. Invited facilitation and resource roles in strategic planning recently include museums in Australia, Canada, Japan, UK and the USA.