Dino Museum Matters

The SWAU Dino Museum is a rare asset to Southwestern Adventist University. It's a once in a lifetime experience of a large collection of stored dinosaur bones on campus.

“Paleontology is seen as kind of a secular science and I think it's important for our community to see that Christian scientists can do good science. We can still do great science and publish accurate paleontology.” says Jared Wood, Ph.D, director of the SWAU Dino Museum, and associate professor of Biology.

Staff were fortunate to discover a remarkable massive bone bed in Wyoming for a number of years. “The bone beds can tell us a lot about the

catastrophic deaths of dinosaurs, because we have multiple animals buried in one catastrophic event,” says Wood, “Plus, I think that’s pretty special for the university to care about. We’re doing research that's at the top of paleontology.” The Wyoming dig site serves as a continuous resource for the SWAU campus, even offering students the opportunity to take part in the hands-on experience each summer.

Most large universities don’t have access to as many dinosaur fossils as SWAU. It’s a truly unique opportunity to study the Wyoming dinosaur bone bed and take advantage of

collecting dinosaur fossils. Wood believes people love dinosaurs. The Dino Museum tour is also accessible to everyone and it is their goal as a team to provide an the opportunity for people to learn more about dinosaurs.

Each summer there are usually about five spots available especially for students to go to Wyoming for the dig. There are even classes in paleontology that discuss evolution versus creation. Student registration starts in January and students apply here: https://dinosaur.swau.edu/project/participation/undergraduate/ . There is a $100 non-refundable deposit and application materials that are due May 1. Students will be notified by approximately May 10 and

the documentation and deposit needs to be received by May 20.