About the Center
SECU Daily Planet: The NRC centerpiece, an immersive, three-story, high-definition, multi-media space linking virtual to real nature.
Citizen Science Center: A clearinghouse for NRC guests that wish to enlist in “Citizen Science” projects.
Investigate Lab: Designed for visitors, with hands-on activities using scientific tools.
Science Immersion Theater: High-tech presentation space that broadcasts from NOAA, NASA and high definition productions.
Meet the Scientist: Observe “science in action” through windows, where scientists from the labs have direct interactions with visitors.
Connecting people to research that affects their daily lives.
Opening in April 2012, the Nature Research Center (NRC), our new 80,000 square-foot wing, will bring research scientists and their work into the public eye, help demystify what can be an intimidating field of study, better prepare science educators and students, and inspire a new generation of young scientists.
Meet the Director
In July 2010, Dr. Meg Lowman was named Director of the Nature Research Center. As Director, Lowman oversees the new wing’s research agenda, which includes supervising senior research staff; developing, directing, implementing and fundraising for all research programs of the NRC; and assisting with the integration of existing Museum programs within Center operations. Read more about Dr. Meg Lowman >>
Features
The SECU Daily Planet
The centerpiece of the NRC will be the SECU Daily Planet, an immersive, three-story multimedia space that will link virtual to real nature and be the site of live programming on breaking science news. At regular intervals during the day, scientists will present to NRC visitors using the cutting edge technology and media of the SECU Daily Planet and its 40×40-foot, high-definition screen. These presenters will discuss the science research behind current issues and their societal impacts. At special times, this venue will transmit programs into schools, libraries, senior citizen centers, hospitals and other community organizations through the Internet. Periodic Global Town Halls will also be held in the SECU Daily Planet to have conversations with science researchers and youth engaged in Citizen Science projects worldwide.
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Meet the Scientist
The NRC features research labs where scientists from the Museum, UNC System Schools, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or visiting scientists conduct their research while visitors observe “science in action.” A main visitor experience will be meeting these scientists at the Window on Research areas, casual seating spaces that allow scientists to have direct interactions with visitors.
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Investigate Labs
In addition to the working scientists’ labs, there will also be three Investigate Labs designed for visitors. These spaces provide visitors with a set of hands-on activities and research skill-building exercises to guide them through the process of using scientific tools and conducting scientific inquiry. Most experiences here will be designed and led by Museum educators, scientists and their graduate students. Working together, these scientists and visitors will generate mutual research questions — both will learn from the experience. Possible activities include assessing biodiversity in soil samples, modeling hurricane events or using analytical microbiology tools to examine soft tissue in dinosaur bones. Some activities will lead to Citizen Science projects that encourage long-term research activities.
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Citizen Science Center
This area will serve as a clearinghouse for NRC guests that wish to enlist in “Citizen Science” projects. Visitors become participants in ongoing, active research projects by collecting, submitting and/or analyzing data on the Museum floor or at the Museum’s 46-acre field station, Prairie Ridge. Citizen Science opportunities will afford NRC scientists the ability to accomplish research objectives more feasibly than would otherwise be possible. For example, NRC visitors will be able to conduct research in partnership with Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) on its SCOPE (Stellar Classification Online Public Exploration) project. NRC visitors can access a million star images on scanned photographs — that have never before been classified — stored in the Astronomical Photographic Data Archive available online. Visitors will be the first to measure the temperature of a star, compare their features to those of the Sun, classify these stars according to their temperatures and luminosities and log this information into the data archive.
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Science Immersion Theater
The NRC’s Science Immersion Theater will be a high-tech presentation space that broadcasts live, satellite images from NOAA and NASA and other high definition productions. Visitors will get a 360° view of natural science phenomena happening to the Earth, such as the effects of rapid population growth, rising sea levels due to climate change, fires and hurricanes, all which all affect our water supplies. Located on the second floor of the NRC, this 3-D projection theater envelopes up to 60 visitors at a time using four computer-synchronized projectors from which wall-to-ceiling, high-definition, satellite images of terrestrial phenomena can be seen.
Read more>>Exhibits
The 10,000-gallon aquarium on the first floor showcases large fish such as native bonnethead sharks and Atlantic stingrays, and the lionfish, an invasive species. The research focus of the exhibit addresses how this invader will affect our coastal fisheries, and highlights other efforts to recover our depleted fish stocks. The aquarium continues the green theme, being a renovated aquarium that used to reside at Fort Fisher. The aquarium also features state-of-the-art filtration that reduces the amount of salt water being released during water changes.
The Diversity of Life wall on the second floor is a unique experience that exposes the visitor to five areas of research including “how do we know” investigations. These five areas are: Frontiers, Things Change, How Many, Relationships, and Importance. Each area focuses on a different aspect of biodiversity, from the most recent discoveries of thousands of new species in the ocean depths to the importance of each individual species for the balance of all life on Earth. Each area has a “how do we know” question associated with the research as well as current research in the appropriate field. The Diversity of Life wall lets the viewer not only see how research is performed in the wild, but encourages visitors to think about what the research means to them.
