• Home
  • Events
  • Public Afternoons at the Hutchinson Suite

Public Afternoons at the Hutchinson Suite

The Richard W. Hutchinson Geoscience Collaborative Suite has a public afternoon at the suite once a month. The next public afternoon is:

Earth's Treasures

Saturday, March 21st 2026

11:00am - 3:00pm

Our Earth is like one big treasure chest full of beautiful and economic minerals. This public afternoon is all about rocks and minerals that are mined and used in everyday life, such as spodumene for lithium-ion batteries, or tantalite for capacitors in smartphones and other electronics. We will be exhibiting a special hands-on showcase of economic minerals, as well as having a microscopy display of what some select economic minerals look like on a microscope. Everyone who attends will receive a free Hutchinson Geoscience Suite button, and all children and students who attend will receive a small gift of some of Earth's Treasures. 

Our special guest speaker, PhD student and 2025 G. Gordon Suffel Fellowship award recipient Alex Chiu, will be giving a short presentation about how we can turn gold mine wastes into gold mines using fungi. Alex's presentation will take place twice, once at 11:30am, and again at 1:30pm. Please join us for one of these presentations!

As always, this public afternoon at the Richard W. Hutchinson Geoscience Collaborative Suite will also include our beautiful exhibitions of rocks, minerals, fossils and meteorites from around the world. We look forward to your visit!

 Advertising poster for the March 2026 Public Afternoon at the Hutchinson Suite.

 

For events held at the Hutchinson Suite, please use our exterior entrance from the North Campus Building parking lot, next to the black sign for the "Richard W. Hutchinson Geoscience Collaborative Suite".

If you require an accessible entrance, please enter through the front doors of the North Campus Building and come around to room 120, at the back of the building on the main floor. 

Image of the exterior door of the R. W. Hutchinson Geoscience Collaborative Suite.

 

There is no charge, and no reservations are necessary; come and go as you please throughout the afternoon. The University has free parking on the weekends; check the "Visitor Parking" link and our map with the location of the R. W. Hutchinson Suite.