There was electricity in the air yesterday at the Carnegie Science Center, along with colorful explosions and even elephant toothpaste.

Before a luncheon at the Carnegie Science Center to announce its 2007 Awards for Excellence winners, science educator Mike Hennessy popped balloons with a torch to produce red, green and yellow explosions, then mixed hydrogen peroxide with a catalyst to cause streams of foam -- so-called elephant toothpaste -- to fly high into the air. Finally, he made the science center's Tesla Coil produce an electrical arc packing up to 1.4 million volts.

Talk about buildup.

The dramatic science served as the prelude to release of this year's award winners.

PPG Industries Inc. will receive the Chairman's Award for promoting science and technology throughout the region.

Kennametal Inc. based in Latrobe, will receive the Corporate Innovation Award, while three of its employees, Parag Hegde, Aharon Inspektor and Ronald Penich, will receive the Advanced Manufacturing & Materials Award for new technologies, including the next generation of nano-layer manufacturing.

Seagate Research's Mark H. Kryder, who is also professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, will be honored with the Catalyst Award for creating Seagate and for his work in magnetic memory and storage devices, among other advances. His company has 160 employees, including 100 with doctorates.

Educators to be honored include Susan Simmers of Pittsburgh Public Schools; Cheryl Kestner, Lorraine Kuniak, James Musolino and Evelyn Quade, all of whom teach in the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg; Jason Lucia of North Catholic High School; and Sanjeev Shroff of the University of Pittsburgh.

Ronald P. Bianchini Jr. of Network Appliance Inc. will receive the Entrepreneur Award; the Mascaro Sustainability Institute at Pitt will receive the Environmental Award; and Sridhar Tayur of SmartOps Corp., the leading provider of enterprise-class inventory optimization software and other supply chain consulting services, will receive the Information Technology Award.

Cara J. Hayden of Pitt Magazine will receive the Journalism Award and Harvey S. Borovetz, a Pitt professor involved in developing mechanical circulatory support technology, will receive the Life Sciences Award.

The Jeannette City School District will be honored for demonstrating excellence in science education and actively expanding its science curriculum.

Kay M. Brummond of Pitt will be honored as an Emerging Female Scientist for her work in synthesizing organic compounds for use in drugs, among other accomplishments.

An awards announcement reception was held last evening at the science center on the North Shore. The formal awards presentation will be May 2 at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.

Science center Director Joanna Haas described the award winners as "heroes of science and technology in our region."

"The science center is dedicated to inspiring scientific curiosity and improving the scientific literacy of our region," she said. "The individuals and companies we recognize through Awards for Excellence share this same commitment."

Last year, about 700,000 people visited the science center, its camps, classes and off-site education programs.

The Eaton Corp. of Cleveland, which has sponsored the annual awards for four years, will continue its sponsorship for the next five years. Eaton, a diversified industrial manufacturer with sales of $12.4 billion last year, employs 60,000 people and sells products in more than 125 countries.