Megan Pratt

Megan Pratt
Born	1973 Durham, North Carolina
Occupation	Executive Director Pensacola MESS Hall
Religion	Methodist
Spouse	Jerry Pratt
Parents	Scott and Lois Benson
Children	Annie & Ben

Megan Benson Pratt (b. 1973) is the executive director of the Pensacola MESS Hall. She formerly was the science education coordinator at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and an At-Large member of the Pensacola City Council. She is the daughter of Lois Benson and younger sister of Holly Benson.

A native of Durham, North Carolina, Megan moved with her family to Pensacola in 1976. After graduating from Washington High School in 1990, she received a bachelor's of science degree from M.I.T. in 1993, an M.A. in chemistry from Harvard in 1995 and her Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard in 1999, then was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in 2000. In 2002 she returned to Pensacola and began working at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), where her husband Jerry Pratt is also a robotics researcher. She has spearheaded the IHMC's Science Saturdays program and, with her sister Holly, helped create the I LOVE Science program for 5th graders in the Escambia and Santa Rosa County School Districts. In 2012 she and her husband brought together a group of Pensacolians to found the Pensacola MESS Hall, a hands on science museum in downtown Pensacola.

Community involvement

• Pensacola Charter Review Commission
• Former volunteer, Spencer Bibbs, Weis and Brentwood Elementary Schools
• WSRE-TV PBS, board member
• Leadership Pensacola Class of 2005
• Pensacola Young Professionals, member
• Pensacola City Council, vice-president, chair of the CRA
• former member of Community Maritime Park Associates

External links & references

• VoteMegan2008.com – campaign website
• IHMC profile

Preceded by: Mike Wiggins

Pensacola City Council District 9 (At-Large) 2009 – present

Incumbent