Anthony Love Shares the Closest Tangible Opportunity to Connect with Space

By Ellen Gwin Burnette

BOONE, N.C.— From geology and more specifically to meteorites, there is a tactile connection to space and the universe that’s tangible even with one’s feet planted on Earth – or to be more exact, in Rankin Science Building. In a dusty room, covered with colorful geological maps, signs of research abound with samples of rocks and slides strewn about the room’s surfaces. Anthony Love ’99, research operations manager for the Department of Geology at Appalachian State University, shared two artifacts – a piece of the moon and a piece of Mars – while talking so excitedly about science that gravity might have been the only thing keeping him in his seat.  Continue reading 

In the Beginning

The construction of the aetosaur began in fall 2016 with students and faculty working from a drawing from New Mexico paleo-illustrator Matt Celeskey. From that, the sculpture class created a digitized 3-D model from which the sculptors built a steel armature. The armature was then fitted with foam slices cut to bulk out the shape of the animal. The foam reduces the amount of clay needed to drape the frame, keeping costs and weight down. The artists sculpt the details by hand, using carving tools for fine tunings.

Creating a natural habitat for Archie

The rock garden habitat is in the planning stages. According to Waterworth, it will include plant species that are living relatives of the plants that the aetosaur would have encountered – horsetail ferns and a ginkgo tree – and some large boulders of Triassic rock from the same basin where the fossils were found. And, there might be aetosaur footprints cast by students, she said. “The installation will be a permanent exhibit in the rock garden and a big part of our science outreach program. At every stage, we hope to leverage student involvement as much as possible. This is really about the educational experience.”