A new exhibit, “Whirling and Churning: How the Ocean Melts an Alaskan Glacier,” opens Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Western Science Center in Hemet.
Born through a collaboration with the National Science Foundation-funded PolarSTEAM initiative, the exhibit focuses on a scientific research project led by Oregon State University physical oceanographer Jesse Cusack.
PolarSTEAM pairs educators and researchers to expand learning about the polar regions. Brittney Elizabeth Stoneburg, the Western Science Center’s collections and communications manager, was chosen as a 2025-26 educator fellow and joined Cusack’s team on an expedition to Leconte Glacier in southeastern Alaska this past summer.
“We lived on a ship for two weeks studying this incredible glacier and how the ocean might be contributing to its melting,” Stoneburg said in a news release from the Western Science Center. “It was an amazing opportunity, and I’m really excited to bring polar science to the Inland Empire.”
“Whirling and Churning” follows the 2025 field expedition to Leconte Glacier and the team’s efforts to collect the data they’ll need for their future scientific research.
“Whirling and Churning: How the Ocean Melts an Alaskan Glacier” is part of Western Science Center’s Broader Impacts initiative, which exhibits science from researchers not directly affiliated with the museum.
“This gives us a chance to showcase a much broader variety of science and to show the public the nuts and bolts of how science is done,” Alton Dooley,executive director of the Western Science Center, said in the news release.
Western Science Center’s “Whirling and Churning” exhibit will run through the spring.
The Western Science Center, at 2345 Searl Parkway, Hemet, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
Admission is $10 for adults, $8.50 for seniors 62 and older, $7.50 for students age 13-22 with ID, $7 for children ages 5-12 and free for active military with ID and children age 4 and younger.
For information, go to westernsciencecenter.org.