The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas on Friday (Feb. 16) welcomed a new donations box depicting a three-dimensional model of the state fossil – the ichthyosaur – that was designed and built by Entertainment Engineering and Design students at UNLV.

The box features several tracks so that donors can race coins past the ichthyosaur into a tank below. The Greek name translates to “fish lizard.”

“That’s a baby one,” said a preschool-age visitor on Friday, pointing to the model of the ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile from the Triassic period before the dinosaurs. “No, look,” said the child’s mom, pointing to a tiny human figure next to the ichthyosaur in the display case. Comparing both models allows the museum visitor to see that the ichthyosaur species prevalent in prehistoric Nevada – then underwater – could grow to be as large as a school bus. Sometimes likened to a porpoise for its long, undulating body with flippers, the air-breathing ichthyosaur also had long jaws with plenty of pointed teeth. “The Friends invited the UNLV Entertainment Engineering department to collaborate on an interactive donation box to improve the visitor experience,” said Mary Savage, president of the Friends of the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas. The non-profit group recruited engineering professor Dr. Si Jung Kim [cq] to work with students on the project. The Friends also raised money to cover the cost of construction. The 12 or students on the team learned “the overall design process from the literature review to implementation,” according to Kim.

“The brainstorming” was the most complex and satisfying part of the process, according to UNLV freshman Ben Dancel [cq], who’s studying civil engineering. “Kids love dinosaurs and fossils,” which led designers to the box’s icon, said senior Edison Smith, a bioengineering major who found that installing the box at the museum was the most rewarding moment for him.

Moment3D, a three-dimensional printing company owned by UNLV graduate Alex Gao [cq], produced and donated the ichthyosaur model after extensive consulting with Sali [cq] Underwood, curator of natural history at the Las Vegas branch of the state museum system. Formed in 2016, the Friends group has purchased electronics for the Las Vegas museum, won a grant to refurbish the museum’s traveling-trunks program for school teachers, and is currently working on funds to install WIFI on the museum’s public floor.