Current Exhibits

Although the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH) does not currently have centralized exhibit space, we do continue to develop traveling and permanent exhibits that are displayed across the UConn campus and beyond. All exhibits are free to view and are available during the business hours for the building where they are located. Check this space to see what, when, and where exhibits are available.

 

Treehopper

We have just embarked on an ambitious fundraising campaign for the construction of a new building to showcase our exhibits and house our collections.

If you require an accommodation to visit any of our exhibits, please contact the CSMNH at 860-486-4460 or CSMNHInfo@uconn.edu.

Current Exhibits

Treehopper Exhibit

Natural Selection is Amazing!
Exploring the Dazzling Diversity of Treehoppers

Located in the Gant Science Complex Light Court, UConn Storrs
Hours: 7am to 7pm, Monday through Friday

One group of animals expresses the power of natural selection in a particularly vivid way. This group shares a unique physical structure, not seen in other animals, that manifests itself in a dizzying array of fascinating and beautiful forms. This exhibit explores how the amazing power of natural selection has shaped the natural history of one lineage of insects—the treehoppers.

Right Below Your Feet
A Beautiful Evolutionary Success Story

Located in the Wilbur Cross Building Atrium
Hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday

This exhibit introduces a group of plants called Bryophytes, composed of about 20,000 species that reproduce via spores rather than seeds. Here we offer a closer look at some of the factors that have contributed to the remarkable evolutionary success of Bryophytes. We also hope you will appreciate their astonishing intrinsic beauty.

Army Ant Guest Exhibit

Be Our Guest
The Complex Society of Army Ants and Their Guests

Located in the lobby of the Biology/Physics Building, UConn Storrs
Hours: 7am to 7pm, Monday through Friday

Come visit our giant 12' army ant and see if you can find all the guests located on it. Learn about the biology of Eciton burchellii, and how hundreds of species of guests interact with army ant colonies to create a fascinating and complex biological system.

Past Exhibits

Material World
Design for a Healthful and Equitable Future

The design industry is responsible for excessive amounts of waste... But what if there was an alternative?

A true sum of its parts, "Material World: Design for a Healthful and Equitable Future" is an evolving proof-of-concept and educational resource for sustainable exhibition design. Cameron Slocum's research, planning, and construction of Material World demonstrate real-life examples of attainable alternatives. The project personifies the designer's re-imagination of material culture in the design sphere.

“Material World” is the project of Cameron Slocum, an undergraduate industrial and digital media and design student in the School of Fine Arts at UConn Storrs.

Located in the Gant Science Complex Light Court, August - December 2023

Poetry Exhibit

The Literature of Army Ants & Their Guests

This AntU installation showcases student poetry inspired by the biology of army ants and their guests. Included are works from Bruce Cohen’s creative writing classes (ENGL 3003W, ENGL 3701) and from the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, as well as in Darcie Dennigan’s Nature Writing Workshop (ENGL 3715). Visitors were invited to, if they were so inspired, create their own poem on the 50-foot interactive poetry board.

Located in the Lobby Rotunda of the Wilbur Cross Building, UConn Storrs

A Legacy of a Lifetime of Collecting exhibit

The Legacy of a Lifetime of Collecting
The Carl and Marian Rettenmeyer Story

Dr. Carl Rettenmeyer and his wife Marian spent over 50 years studying army ant colonies and their associated species in the jungles of Central America. Using four interactive digital media stations, large format graphics, and an immersive soundscape to communicate the story of their extraordinary research, this exhibit explores the vital role that collecting and curating biological specimens play in scientific discovery.

Located in the ground floor lobby of the Homer Babbidge Library, UConn Storrs