California Science Center Spokespeople

Jeffrey N Rudolph

President and CEO
California Science Center

Biography:

Jeffrey Rudolph is the President and CEO of the California Science Center. For more than 40 years, he has provided the leadership for the planning, design, fundraising, and implementation of the California Science Center’s three-decade Master Plan which transformed the California Museum of Science and Industry into the world-class California Science Center and created an award-winning Exposition Park Master Plan to guide the redevelopment of Exposition Park in South Los Angeles.

Rudolph received an M.B.A. from Yale University and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rudolph is Past Chair of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM); having served as Chair from 2004-2006 and as Chair of the AAM CEO Search Committee from 2006-2007. Rudolph is Fellow and Past President of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC). He is a member of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board Executive Committee and the Board of the Los Angeles Tourism Marketing District. He is a Senior Fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology. He has previously served on the Museum Trustees Association Advisory Council of Directors, as a member of the Board of the California Association of Museums, the Organizing Committee for the World Congress of Science Centers, Science Museum Exhibits Collaborative, the National Health Science Consortium, and the National Academy of Science's Defense Reinvestment Advisory Board.

 

Kenneth Phillips, PhD

Curator, Aerospace Science

Biography:

Kenneth Phillips has served as the California Science Center’s Curator for Aerospace Science since 1990 and is responsible for the vision that shapes the exhibits and programs in aeronautics and space exploration, including the 200,000 square-foot Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center addition. He serves as principal contact with the Smithsonian Institution, NASA, and the United States Air Force Museum for the acquisition and conservation of artifacts from the national collection. In 1990, Phillips envisioned the display of a flown space shuttle orbiter and in 2009 authored the proposal that resulted in NASA’s award of space shuttle Endeavour to the California Science Center in 2011. The new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will feature Endeavour in launch position along with 100 other major artifacts and 100 hands-on exhibits in the field of aeronautics and space exploration.

Phillips is also an Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Physics and Astronomy in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California where he teaches the freshman seminar titled “The Space Shuttle and Our Place in the Universe” and a course titled “Introduction to Astronomy” in the USC Prison Education Program. He has taught middle-school courses on living and working in space in the Science Center’s Hands-On Science Camp along with courses in astrophysics and planetary geology to high school students from the New Village Girls Academy.

Phillips received his B.S. in Physics from North Carolina A & T State University, M.S. in General Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University.

 

Perry Roth-Johnson, PhD

Curator of Science & Technology

Biography:

Perry Roth-Johnson is an aerospace engineer and informal science educator. He joined the California Science Center in 2014. As a curator, he makes new exhibits and takes care of artifacts for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the future home of space shuttle Endeavour. He holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from UCLA and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley.

 

Liz Roth-Johnson, PhD

Curator of Life Sciences
World of Life Gallery

Biography:

Liz Roth-Johnson is a scientist turned science communicator with more than a decade of experience making complex scientific ideas accessible and compelling to broad audiences and is working on plans to update and renew the World of Life gallery. Prior to her tenure at the California Science Center which began in 2020, Liz created popular online food science content, reported science stories for KQED Science, consulted for the Autry Museum of the American West, and designed introductory biology courses for undergraduate students at UCLA.

Liz earned her PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA and received her BA degrees in Molecular & Cell Biology and Music from UC Berkeley. In addition to her scientific expertise in molecular biology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Liz has a strong foundation in pedagogy and educational psychology from her postdoctoral work as a Discipline-Based Education Research Fellow in the UCLA Department of Life Science Core Education.

 

Georgina Diaz

Director of Guest Services and IMAX Operations
Bilingual - English and Spanish

Biography:

Georgina joined the Science Center in 2009, initially as volunteer manager where she increased the number of active participants in Living Collections and Air & Space programs. For the space shuttle Endeavour’s three-day transport through city streets, she recruited and managed over 600 volunteers who answered questions and interacted with literally millions of people who gathered to witness the move. In 2013, she was promoted to director of Guest Services and IMAX Operations where she oversees a staff of 120 and works to make sure guests have a seamless and inspiring experience.

Born in Jalisco, Mexico, Georgina’s family immigrated to the United States when she was one-year old.  She graduated from Manual Arts High School in 1994 and in 1998 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American Studies from Pomona College in Claremont.