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UW-Madison, Neville Museum partner for ‘Whys and Wows’

March 12, 2001 By Brian Mattmiller

Visitors to a special event Wednesday, March 21, at Neville Public Museum will get a firsthand-look at exploring Great Lakes shipwrecks, tracking Wisconsin mammals and unearthing Badlands dinosaurs.

Those are three of nearly a dozen hands-on exhibits that are part of “Whys and Wows,” the second annual partnership event between the Neville and the university. The 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. event is free and open to school groups, after-school organizations and the general public.

“The first ‘Whys and Wows’ day at the Neville was such a success that everyone here is really looking forward to this,” says Neville interim director Eugene Umberger. “The people are great, the research is cutting-edge, and it’s a super opportunity for people of any age to find out more about an interesting variety of topics.”

“We’re very excited to bring ‘Whys and Wows’ back to the Neville for a second year,” adds Jeff Wendorf, director of outreach for the Wisconsin Alumni Association. “The event gives us a chance to showcase some of UW–Madison’s exciting research to citizens of Green Bay and the Fox Valley.”

The program is part of UW-Madison On The Road, an annual series of visits to Wisconsin’s major cities that offer a fresh approach to the Wisconsin Idea. Throughout the week, UW–Madison experts will host a variety of programs for school, business groups and the general public.

UW–Madison exhibits will be located at various stations throughout the Museum, both in the galleries and the classroom area. Exhibits include:

  • Observing Wisconsin’s Mammals. Learn how to tell what mammal may have been in your neck of the woods, by observing the chewed edges of stems, tracks in the snow, or the scat they leave behind. A table of skulls, pelts and other props will be on hand.
  • The Sea Grant Shipwrecks Project. Learn about the project by the Sea Grant Institute to further document the history of the doomed vessels of the Great Lakes, and learn about some famous shipwrecks close to home.
  • Digging Dinosaurs. For the past two decades, scientists with the UW–Madison Geology Museum have scoured the Badlands of South Dakota, Montana and Kansas in search of the remains of dinosaurs. A slide presentation will bring past expeditions to life.
  • Making the Nanoworld Comprehensible. Technology is taking us to smaller and smaller dimensions, called the nanoscale – a measure of less than one 25-millionth the length of your thumb. Learn about science at the atomic scale with this look at magnets, crystals, memory metals and other cool materials.

The Neville Museum is located at 210 Museum Place in downtown Green Bay. For more information about the Museum, including a locator map, visit: http://www.co.brown.wi.us/museum/index/. School groups and other organized tour groups should pre-register with the museum by calling (920) 448-4460.