Last updated: 7/5/2011
End of Delaware Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
100 Shaffer Road
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Adult: $6
Student or senior (64+) $4
Child (4-16) $4
Member are free every day!
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Julie Barrett Heffington
phone: 831-459-3800
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Peter Macht
phone: 831-459-3800
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Suzanne Hebert
phone: 831-459-3800
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Michelle Morrella
phone: 831-459-3800
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Lisa Rose
phone: 831-459-3800
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Teri Sigler
phone: 831-459-3800
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Wendelin Montciel
phone: 831-459-3800
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Shauna Potocky
phone: 831-459-3800
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In 2000, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center opened at UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab, providing a permanent home for expanding science education programs. Unlike the polished look of most museums and aquariums, the Seymour Center portrays the labs where scientists spend their days. Exhibits highlight Monterey Bay and help visitors understand the types of questions scientists ask, and show why research is important in understanding and protecting the world's oceans. Our unique location at a university marine laboratory enables us to work closely with the scientists, bringing their work directly to our visitors.
The Seymour Center houses exhibit halls, aquarium, teaching labs, conference hall, and spectacular views of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Long Marine Lab is the only marine station in California open to the public each day. More than 52,000 people visit each year, including schools and families from the greater Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas, California's Central Valley, as well as travelers from throughout the world. Many of our visitors are not typical museum-goers, but are intrigued by the ocean and its inhabitants. They leave with a renewed wonder for the importance of the world's oceans, and also for the role that marine scientists play in understanding and conserving them.
UC Santa Cruz established Long Marine Laboratory as a coastal marine research institute in 1978. Curious visitors quickly became interested in the marine scientists' work. The Friends of Long Marine Lab was organized by the community in 1979, and for more than 25 years has provided funds to support community education, giving families and school children access to the exciting marine laboratory in their backyard. With more than 1,200 members, the Friends of Long Marine Lab is a sanctioned support group who raises funds through our fiscal agent the UC Regents, a 501(c)(3) corporation. In 2000, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center opened at the lab, providing a permanent home for expanding science education programs.
Summary:
- 14 aquaria in two separate pods
- Seawater table (touch pools)
- 9 major exhibits featuring marine research
- Exterior exhibits: 87-foot blue whale skeleton, elephant seal models, gray whale skeleton exhibit in progress
- Tours include overlook to marine mammal research area
Exhibits/Collections:
The Seymour Center reflects the world of the scientist. The Seymour Center is organized around the process of how scientists do their work-looking, testing, puzzling, and questioning.
Enter the looking pod and learn about the kinds of "hands-off" studies that take place in the field. These are different from laboratory or controlled fieldwork studies. Use your different senses to observe the way a scientist does.
Exhibits feature:
DR. BURNEY LEBOEUF - Elephant Seal Field Studies
DR. GARY GRIGGS - Coastal Geologic Processes
DR. JOHN PEARSE - Tidepool Ecology: Long-term Observations
Visit the testing pod to check out tools scientists use to gather samples and run tests. These instruments are invented for investigating life on Earth and are used in the depths of the oceans, with marine mammals in water and air, and to sample the environmental toxins that accumulate everywhere.
Exhibits feature:
DR. PEGGY DELANEY - Ocean Drilling Project (ODP)
DR. RON SCHUSTERMAN - Pinniped Sensory Abilities
DR. RUSS FLEGAL - Heavy Metals in the Environment
Enter the puzzling pod and try to find answers. Look for patterns in data and try to figure out what's going on. Figuring things out is like detective work or solving a puzzle: you have all the pieces, try to piece together a scenario that fits and makes sense of the data.
Exhibits feature:
DR. MARY SILVER - Marine Snow Studies
DR. JIM ESTES - Otter and Killer Whale Interactions
Visit the center's aquarium to see the types of questions scientists ask. Each aquarium ta
The Seymour Center is part of the Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory, a research and education facility of the University of California, Santa Cruz. The laboratory is affiliated with the campus's Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), which brings together scientists working in many different fields. The institute supports research in marine biology, marine toxicology, marine geology and geophysics, ocean processes, paleoceanography, and coastal processes and hazards. The subjects of IMS research range from microscopic plankton to massive blue whales; from frigid Antarctic waters to tropical coral reefs; and from the depths of the seafloor to the coastal cliffs. This diversity reflects the many ways in which the oceans affect the global environment and the lives of people around the world.
Long Marine Laboratory is known throughout the world for innovative research in marine mammal physiology and ecology, marine invertebrate ecology, and marine toxicology. The research conducted at Long Marine Lab depends on a seawater system capable of delivering 1,000 gallons per minute of high-quality filtered seawater.
Researchers and staff at Long Marine Lab have developed specially designed tanks and equipment that are used for studying marine mammal diving physiology, bioacoustics, and cognition. Facilities for marine mammal work include five large pools and five smaller pools. The largest pool is designed to be acoustically quiet and has an underwater viewing lab with large windows. The current population of marine mammals at the lab includes two Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, three California sea lions, an elephant seal, a harbor seal, and two Southern sea otters.
The Seymour Center seeks to bring the endeavors and discoveries of the institute scientists to life for the public.
The Seymour Center's exhibits and aquarium are an ideal setting for informal learning opportunities as well as for structured programs for youth, families, students, and teachers. Through targeted activities for visitors and age-specific curricula for visiting school groups, we bring this setting to life. We strive to provide an interactive experience appealing to all ages and educational/cultural backgrounds. We recognize that in-depth visits to informal science centers such as the Seymour Center can and do change the way a child or adult views science. Participating in a Seymour Center school, youth, or adult/family program may provide the first experience many of our region's diverse students and parents have in a university setting.
Programs and facilities:
- Exhibit hall and aquarium featuring the flora and fauna of Monterey Bay;
- Age-specific marine science curricula and tours for visiting K-14 school groups;
- Workshops for teachers;
- Daily tours, interactive programs, plus special enrichment activities for the visiting public, including lectures/discussions with marine scientists;
- The intensive Ocean Explorers summer youth program; and
- Volunteer opportunities and training for community members (currently numbering more than 200.)
The Seymour Center is a self-supporting, community education facility, located at Long Marine Laboartory, a research and education facility of the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Center is a public benefit unit of the University of California. The Friends of Long Marine Lab is a sanctioned support group who raises funds through our fiscal agent the UC Regents, a 501(c)(3) corporation.
Discovery: Members newsletter four times/year.
Tidelines: Volunteers newsletter four times/year.
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