Ray Ann Havasy, founder and director of the Center for Science Teaching & Learning, in Rockville Centre, has built a multifaceted career focused on education. Courtesy Ray Ann Havasy
Not all scientists begin their careers in labs — some start in the shadow of dinosaurs. For Ray Ann Havasy, 63, of Port Washington, that early fascination led to a career defined by academic achievement, creative outreach and global science engagement.
With degrees in zoology, education and biology, and a doctorate in science education from Columbia University in 1998, Havasy built a foundation that combines rigorous scholarship with a passion for making science accessible.
She began her career in education, teaching science at East Meadow High School and Schreiber High School, in Port Washington, and later at the New York Institute of Technology’s School of Education.
Her interest in dinosaurs led to work with the Dinosaur Society and, in the early 1990s, as a technical adviser on “Jurassic Park,” helping guide how dinosaurs were portrayed while balancing scientific accuracy with cinematic storytelling. She partnered in the development of the touring “Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park” exhibit. Blending film props with real fossils and scientific content, the exhibit toured internationally for nearly eight years beginning around 1993, drawing crowds across the United States and in cities in Europe and the Netherlands. What stood out most, Havasy said, was the universal reaction: Children everywhere were captivated.
“The exhibit was amazing — I went all around the world with it,” she said. “That was a great experience, also seeing that dinosaurs and science are universal.”
The exhibit also supported paleontological research worldwide, turning public interest into funding for scientific discovery — reinforcing her belief that hands-on experiences can spark lifelong curiosity.
That philosophy led her to Rockville Centre, where she founded the Center for Science Teaching & Learning in the Tanglewood Preserve in 2000. What began as a teacher-training initiative has grown into a hub for interactive, family-focused learning.
“A lot of museums are ‘look but don’t touch,’” Havasy said. “We’re the exact opposite. Our whole mission is to encourage people to learn about science and like science, because a lot of us went through school thinking science was hard and yucky.”
Today she continues to promote hands-on learning while encouraging more young women to pursue science with animals, nature and interactive experiences for fun learning.
“I wasn’t doing it for accolades,” she said. “I was doing it because these opportunities are exciting.”
Michele Anselmo, a teacher and an educator at the center, has worked with Havasy for over 15 years, on several innovative projects. “Ray Ann’s knowledge of science and education provides a wonderful support system for me and the other educators here,” Anselmo said.
Through her work, Havasy hopes to create a future in which more girls see science as a natural and attainable path. “I think it’s important that we find a way to encourage women to get involved in science,” she said. “I speak a lot to young women about encouraging them to be more attuned to being involved in science, and that would be a dream of mine, to have kids — young women — understand that science, engineering and math is for them, and is something that the world wants them to do.”