Date: Friday, October 26th, 2012
Time: 2:00 – 5:00 PM
Where: The Jackson School (Geology Building – JGB)
RSVP: to Erin Negron by Oct. 19 (include # in party)

Learn more about UT Austin’s Family Weekend

Agenda
2:00 – 3:00 PM                  Welcome and Student Services Overview (JGB 2.324)
3:00 – 5:00 PM                  Tours & Special Interest Sessions (30 min.)

Tours & Special Interest Session Options:

CT Lab

At the High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT) you will learn how researchers use industrial CT scanning to ‘look inside’ opaque objects non-destructively. Scientists and specimens from all over the world — including ancient human ancestor Lucy, early bird Archaeopteryx, the oldest-known dinosaurs, and a Martian meteorite — have traveled to Austin to be scanned. These data can then be used to visualize and quantify their samples digitally, and even create a physical model via UTCT’s 3D printer.

Texas Memorial Museum – Geology & Paleontology Display

Encounter prehistoric animals and plants at every turn in the Hall of Geology and Paleontology at the Texas Memorial Museum. The Hall features over 500 fossil specimens including the Onion Creek Mosasaur, Big Bend dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals.  Identify fossil finds from your own backyard with our Discovery Drawers featuring specimens found in the Austin area. The highlight of the exhibit is the Paleo Lab where paleontologists and interns answer questions from visitors while preparing fossils for display, research and education.

Jackson School Building Tours

Take a tour of the Jackson Geological Sciences Building. See various labs and displays such as our Gem & Mineral Room and visit the Walter Geology Library, which includes more than 120,000 book and journal volumes and 47,000 geologic maps.

Microscope Demonstration

Petrographic microscopes are a fun, yet important tool in geology. They are used to identify minerals and fossils in rock samples and examine microstructures. Come and see what your favorite rock looks like close-up as well as the dazzling display of colors generated by cross-polarized light!