Strolling through the Evolutionary Tree of Life exhibit in the basement of the Bean Life Science Museum feels like time traveling. Visitors follow a genealogical tree on the floor, watching branches climb the walls and sprout new organisms, from amoebas to zebrafish. The display, which opened in 2025, boasts touch screens, preserved specimens, and detailed placards. “There’s a little bit of something for everyone,” says biology student Madison Rutter Van Valkenburg (’27), who helped create the exhibit.
“We’re all connected through this great tree of life,” says museum director Michael F. Whiting (BS ’90), “but there’s only one species that has the ability and the obligation to try and protect other species.” Van Valkenburg describes the exhibit as “a story of stewardship.”
