2021 - 2025

The STEM Research Center is collaborating with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on a research in service to practice project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning project to support the Modeling Zoos and Aquariums as Inclusive Communities of Science for autistic individuals (MoZAICS) project. MoZAICS focuses on developing an evidence-based framework of inclusive practices for zoos and aquariums to support science learning for individuals with autism across the full zoo/aquarium experience including the general visit, programs, exhibits, internships, volunteering, and employment opportunities. The project will also support the building of a community of practice of zoo/aquarium practitioners dedicated to the comprehensive inclusion of autistic individuals and toward building an overall strategy of inclusion across the AZA community.

MoZAICS is developing a research-informed framework, tools and strategic vision for zoo/aquarium practitioners and institutions to support autistic individuals across the full spectrum of the zoo/aquarium experience including the general visit; exhibits; programs and events; and volunteer, internship and employment opportunities. The MoZAICS project represents one of the first of its kind to support autistic audiences within the zoo/aquarium context and is the first to look at the full experience of autistic patrons to zoos and aquariums across programs/events, exhibits, volunteering, internship, and employment opportunities.

Partner Institutions:

• Association of Zoos and Aquariums
• Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Center Team: