As the CEO and executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC), the state’s largest tourist attraction and the nation’s largest repository of space artifacts, Dr. Deborah E. Barnhart has to keep an eye on both the past and the future while staying firmly rooted in the present. "We have a mission of preserving those things that come in the wake of discovery, of helping people understand the history of our nation and the accomplishments that technology has brought us," she says. "But we’ve also been putting a lot of time and effort into strengthening our educational foundation, and doing the workforce development necessary to help people continue to make those discoveries. We want to open the door to young children so they know that they, too, can follow in this path."