New USU Lab Space Opens Inside Loveland Living Planet Aquarium

The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper, Utah, recently celebrated the grand opening of the Sam & Aline Skaggs Science Learning Center, including lab and classroom space dedicated specifically for Utah State University students.

“This opens incredible opportunities for USU students to be directly involved with hands-on marine ecology and wildlife science,” said Trisha Atwood, a marine ecologist from the Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “They’ll be learning alongside top experts at a world-class facility.”

Through a partnership with USU, the new space will host a wide range of experiences, including research collaborations, tours and on-site classes.

“It’s such a great combination of two important areas of focus — inspiring people, as the aquarium does, to support the environment, and directly supporting it through research and education,” said Ari Fustukjian, vice president of zoological operations and veterinarian at the aquarium.

Students in USU’s new freshwater and marine ecology undergraduate degree program will be able to take advantage of everything from shark behavioral observations to building saltwater tank systems for a variety of marine species. The aquarium also hosts land animals, including an anaconda, clouded leopards and a Komodo dragon.

“You need to learn a host of skills to become a strong scientist,” said Edd Hammill, department head of Watershed Sciences. “Some folks train with a focus on field biology, or choose to be more in the lab. But really good scientists know a bit about both. Through the partnership, students have the best of both educational worlds.”

Combining lab skills and field experiences is a main goal for the USU program, giving students an opportunity for a well-rounded educational foundation, he said. And other partnerships are planned across campus.

• The state-of-the-art teaching facility offers students and researchers access to cutting-edge lab space.
• The Edith Bowen Laboratory School and the aquarium are teaming up on art-integration and place-based projects to inspire young learners through experiential learning and creativity.
• Marine science internships will offer marine-focused experiences on location for USU undergraduate students.
• Aquarium staff will join USU faculty in the field to participate in real-world conservation science work.
• There is potential for student clinical experiences for veterinary medicine students and opportunities for those with a broader interest in zoological medicine.

“Our students already get the chance to collect field data in places like the Great Barrier Reef and the Sea of Cortez — and now much closer to home,” Hammill said. “There are vital questions that can be answered only through these kinds of lab experiments — How will oceanic systems operate in the future? How will changing conditions affect the world?”

For instance, ecology master’s student Katia Quezada Villa is researching how cuttlefish respond to salinity fluctuations caused by increasingly volatile rainstorms and runoff. She’s constructed a complex, custom-built aquarium system in USU’s lab space at the aquarium to work toward that answer.

The education hub features 14 classrooms and advanced labs designed to support innovative, STEAM-focused programming. While the facilities are a resource for higher education and university research, they also serve school-age learners through experiential and place-based projects. In total, this expansion has doubled the aquarium's size, establishing it as the fifth-largest aquarium in the nation.