The grand opening of the Nature Research Center is finally here. The new 80,000 square-foot wing of the Museum of Natural Sciences will start the celebration at 4 p.m . on Friday, April 20 and go until 4 p.m . on Saturday, April 21. The event will include activities, presentations, exhibitors and vendors from around the globe, with Ira David Wood and Chuck Davis officiating at the opening ceremonies.
Dr. Meg Lowman , a research professor in N.C . State’s College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, is the director of the NRC. Lowman described the center as a hub for research and growth, saying, “the Nature Research Center is over the top. It has the potential to really transform opportunities for students as well as scientists in general.”
Dr. Roland Kays is a research professor in the College of Natural Resources and director of the NRC’s biodiversity lab. His lab will study specimens including plants, animals, insects and microbes. Kays said the Nature Research Center is all about how we know things and how people do research. “The center is showing people how we learn things, not just what we know,” Kays said.
One area of Kays’ research uses cameras with motion tracking sensors to track and see the different predators that prey on chicken coops. The cameras are set up in urban, suburban and wildlife areas. For the opening, everyone will bring in their cameras and Kays’ team will project the videos on a live feed around the museum. The team will also record data and update graphs that show the data throughout the night.
Kays , who already has two students from the College of Natural Resources working in his lab, encourages N.C . State students who are interested in environmental education to volunteer, do research or work at the Nature Research Center. “Students bring a lot of great energy that we want to see,” Kays said.
Dr. Lindsay Zanno , a research professor in Biology and director of the Paleontology and Geology Lab at the NRC, said she and her team will be “cutting, grinding and chipping away at fossils.” People who come to the opening will actually have a chance to see her lab’s research and examine and learn how to construct a new name for a dinosaur skull Zanno is studying. Event attendees can submit their choices, and Zanno’s team will pick the final name.
The NRC will give people access to interactive labs and research they wouldn’t normally get to see. All of the labs in the four-story building have floor to ceiling glass walls, and video screens throughout the center will show research and experiments as they are happening. One area of the center will show a live video of a veterinary operating room located directly inside the center. N.C . State students will work with a veterinarian operating on animals. “The Nature Research Center will be set up for people who are interested in nature to explore on their own,” Kays said.
There will be different talks every hour during the 24-hour opening event at the SECU Daily Planet, a three-story, high-definition, multimedia space that serves as the center of the NRC. A giant globe on the outside and a presentation space on the inside, the SECU Daily Planet will be a space for speakers, presentations, and live video feed of things happening inside the center and around the world. It will speaks to the global aspect of the NRC, which will bring in researchers and data from all areas in the world.
Speakers at the event include scientists from England, Nigeria, India, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Barcelona, and the United States. The SECU Daily Planet will broadcast a live Skype session with Jane Goodall , a renowned British primatologist , Vicente Guallart , the Chief Architect of Barcelona, Dr. Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Penn State University and one of the world’s leading climate researchers and Dr. Martin Wikelski , director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology based in Radolfzell , Germany, who will call in from his ultra-light plane where he is tracking German bird migrations.
The event is free and open to the public, as is the entire museum. To see the full schedule of events, go to www.naturesearch.org .