Brad McLain is an education PI at SSI with an interest in “pushing the educational envelope” and exploring new approaches to the way people learn. His work focuses on the development of innovative multimedia education projects, conducting social science research on learning theory, and documentary film production. With a background in biology and space exploration science, he has worked in concept, design, writing, producing, and presenting a host of innovative science communication projects.
For eight years he served as the lead life sciences educator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s Hall of Life, supervising the largest life and health science education outreach program in the country at the time. In this capacity he also regularly conducted teacher professional development courses and used his expertise in informal science education and facilitation to train and supervise a staff of 30 talented museum educators.
McLain also worked in the private sector for four years as a writer and producer of educational multimedia games and on-line courses for such companies as Firstnet Learning, Fusion Learning Systems, The Learning Company, and Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Joining forces with NASA’s Human Space Flight Education team in the mid ’90s, McLain directed the creation of a groundbreaking NASA interactive documentary for space shuttle mission STS 107, commissioned by NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research and made in cooperation with LucasFilm. Tragically, STS 107 turned out to be Columbia’s final flight. However, the project later became a laureate of the Smithsonian–Computerworld “A Search for New Heroes” Tech Innovation Honors.
Forming is own company shortly thereafter, he continued with documentary film production and conducting numerous education programs, special presentations, and professional development workshops for such organizations as The Space Foundation, The G-8 World Summit, The Center for Advanced Space Studies, several NASA centers, and for former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe and former Chief Scientist Shannon Lucid.
Since joining the SSI team in 2003, McLain has worked to develop the in-house video production capabilities with several exciting films, including the award-winning Alien Earths video short (Best Education Film of 2006, Sony / VideoMaker Competition), MarsQuest MER Update, Giant Worlds video short, Space-Faring: The Radiation Challenge (for NASA), and Weightless Flights of Discovery (for Northrop Grumman). McLain is also a Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership and Innovation and continues to work on projects after his passion, combining cutting edge multi-media technology, film, video, and animation with science-rich content and educational expertise and facilitation to bring the awe and wonder of scientific exploration to audiences everywhere.
