01/28/19
HAYS, Kan. – With help from 58 donors and an $81,000 matching grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University is ready to officially open its newly renovated and equipped fossil preparation lab.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will be at 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, at the museum, 3000 Sternberg Drive in northeast Hays. Representatives of the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce will cut the ribbon. The public is invited.

The Hansen Foundation grant, awarded in January 2017, was combined with proceeds from museum galas in 2016 and 2017.

Construction was completed in 2018, and custom equipment was then installed. The prep lab is now up and running with a graduate student lab manager and undergraduate volunteers.

“We plan to offer workshops for the public to those interested in being trained in fossil prep and becoming a museum volunteer,” said Dr. Reese Barrick, museum director.

The fossil preparation lab is where collections, research, exhibits and education intersect, said Barrick.

“It is where staff, volunteers, and students clean, stabilize, and repair fossils for long-term preservation before they are ready for research, educational use, or exhibit,” he said.

“The lab is a fundamental part of the museum, and having a large, safe, and state-of-the-art lab allows us to provide more hands-on education, volunteer opportunities, and professional development to students and the community,” he said.

The new lab is more than three times the size of the original lab, and Barrick said that will allow the space to be used as a hands-on classroom for K-12 programming and summer camps as well as for FHSU students.

Students will get hands-on experience cleaning and studying fossils that can spark their interest in the sciences and, said Barrick, “set them apart as they advance into college and careers.”

“Working with fossils is a big attraction to many museum volunteers and students and it a great way to get the community involved in science,” he said.

The lab is also a key resource needed to sustain the high-level of scientific research undertaken by museum students and staff and scientists from around the world. Because the lab is integrated into exhibit space, museum visitors are able to get an in-depth view of the scientific process not offered at other museums in the state, said Barrick. 

The new space actually incorporates two lab spaces, the main the fossil prep lab and a smaller research lab. The research lab, occupying the old lab space, is a “clean” lab with computer, microscope, fume hood, and equipment for student, staff, and faculty research projects.

The labs together are named the Dane G. Hansen Paleontology Research Center. The prep lab is the Oceans of Kansas Fossil Prep Lab, named by Mike and Pam Everhart. The small research lab is currently unnamed.