UI Mobile Museum unveils new exhibits at Mann Elementary

The University of Iowa Mobile Museum, which updated its exhibits over the winter, launched its third season with a visit to Horace Mann Elementary School in Iowa City on Tuesday, April 5. Students, teachers, and staff were among the first to tour the revamped museum.

The Mobile Museum launched in 2014 as a partnership between the UI Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and two of its reporting units, the Office of the State Archaeologist and the Pentacrest Museums, with the mission of bringing exhibits with cutting-edge research, one-of-a-kind artifacts, and interactive digital media to Iowa’s communities.

The Mobile Museum’s exhibits for the 2016 season include:

• Hawkeye Power: Clean Energy for Iowans explores research by a variety of UI departments to improve energy efficiency in our homes and workplaces and examines the UI’s efforts to make Iowa a leader in alternative energy sources.
• A Wealth of Health: From Iowa to the World highlights the work of health care professionals educated and working at the University of Iowa in developing new health technologies, innovative teaching tools for training future doctors and nurses, and creative STEM educational materials to serve people across Iowa and around the world.
• German Iowa uses research by UI faculty and students to explore Iowa’s largest ethnic group and the influence they had on our state’s culture from 1850–1950, with a special focus on how the perception of German culture in Iowa shifted during the First and Second World War.

The museum also features a revamped interactive digital wall that allows visitors to learn about research and creative activity happening in a variety of UI units.

Since April 2014, the Mobile Museum has visited 81 Iowa communities across 58 counties, seeing 67,878 visitors.

The Mobile Museum will host an on-campus launch event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 8, at the Adler Journalism Building. Plans for this year’s travels include the Valley Junction Farmers Market in Des Moines on June 16, the Freedom Festival in Cedar Rapids on July 2, the Boone County Fair on July 21–22, all overnight stops along the RAGBRAI route, the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, and the Clay County Fair in Spencer. To learn more about the Mobile Museum and its upcoming travels, visit discover.research.uiowa.edu.