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ST. PETERSBURG — From the day he saw an Alka-Seltzer tablet fizz in a glass of water at age 3, Damian Rouson was hooked on science.
That fascination led him to build rockets and learn computer programming in middle school through programs at the St. Petersburg Science Center.
After earning bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D.s from Howard University and Stanford University, Rouson now works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, which has been home to 17 Nobel Prize winners over the past 90 years. He leads Berkeley Lab’s computer languages and systems software group.
State Sen. Darryl Rouson vividly remembers how the west St. Petersburg building shaped his brother. So when former council member Robert Blackmon reached out seven years ago with an idea to resurrect the Science Center, Darryl Rouson had a four-word response.
“How can I help?” he said.
“He was my first call,” Blackmon said. “I said, ‘This is what I want to do,’ and he said, ‘I’m in.’ He had talked to his brother. A generation of leaders started here at the Science Center.”
On Jan. 9, elected officials including former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, members of the St. Petersburg Group and other builders and developers broke ground on the expansion of the St. Petersburg Science Center.
“I went to Bay Vista on the south side, and we scheduled a class trip to visit and be inspired,” Crist recalled. “That memory has never left me. When Robert asked for funding, there was no way I could say no. I’m pleased that my colleagues in Congress agreed.”
Crist backed Blackmon’s initial $500,000 in funding with $3 million more in seed money through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“We were off to the races,” Blackmon said.
Perseverance pays off
Besides Blackmon and Rouson, St. Petersburg Group co-founder Joe Hamilton received credit for seeing the project through. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch described him as “the definition of perseverance.”
Hamilton and his group have raised approximately $16 million, with a capital campaign aiming to push that total to $25 million. About $7 million has come from the state.
The design calls for two additional floors. Square footage is expected to double to 50,000, according to Sean Williams of Carbon Design & Architecture.
The St. Petersburg Group and its project partners, collectively known as St. Pete for STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts & Math), plan to renovate the existing rotunda, restore the historic mosaic trail and build a new modern facility.
With a renewed focus on innovation, education and community engagement, the foundation of the facility will be its Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence.
To help ensure sustainability, the Science Center also will have office space, a cafe, event rental space for weddings and a hybrid auditorium with virtual as well as physical seats.
“That’s never been done before,” Hamilton said.
The building is slated for completion in 2027.
“The essence will remain the same,” Hamilton said. “AI will be our focus from a positioning standpoint. That’s what we’ll shout the loudest about, even though the physical space for it will be less than half of the traditional uses.”
Hamilton and others envision the Science Center hosting TED Talks, lectures, meetings, online classes and summer camps. An economic developer at heart, he also hopes it develops as an AI incubator to teach young students, creating collaborations with colleges, universities and potential employers.
The Rousons said they hope the center will inspire students to become astronauts, researchers, educators, doctors and engineers — just as it inspired them and so many others.
“It’s about you, Damian, and those who came after you,” Darryl Rouson said. “Thank you, Robert, for getting me involved early, and thank you, Joe, for carrying on the dream.
“My brother challenged me. And I never back down from a challenge.”
