Scientists at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History say the institution, like the species they study, must evolve and adapt with its community to survive.

Leaders are transforming the museum’s campus, staff, and programs so its scientists can work more closely with each other and the public.

“We’re turning away from an outdated model of scientists being in an ivory tower,” says Elizabeth “Ebeth” Sawchuk, one of three rising young researchers in newly created posts in the museum’s increasingly interdisciplinary department of research and collections.

“Our goal is to democratize science,” says Sawchuk. “We want to make sure our science gets out into the community, and people can help us improve our work, and they can use that knowledge in their own lives, and together we can move forward as a society.”

The 102-year-old museum is finishing a $150 million expansion and renovation of its 64-year-old home in University Circle. The improvements began with gardens, a wildlife center, and a parking garage, which all opened in 2016.

In 2020, the museum opened an exhibit area focused on current science and reopened an upgraded auditorium and environmental courtyard.

Lucy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural HistoryIn October, a new entrance and cafe will open. Late next year, a 50,000-square-foot visitor hall is scheduled to open. It will showcase the 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor Lucy replica, the famous rescue dog Balto, Ohio’s huge fossilized fish skull Dunk, and other favorites from the museum’s estimated more than five million specimens.

The museum will remake much of its current 250,000 square feet by 2024. The resulting complex will have a curvy white roof reminiscent of the region’s ancient glaciers. A soaring window will display dinosaurs to Wade Oval. Inside will be an interactive “Curiosity Center” and two wings of interdisciplinary exhibits. One wing will feature biological systems. The other will feature planetary systems and incorporate the older planetarium and observatory.

The museum will also have new labs for expanded programs led by its scientists.

Admission to the visitors center will be free. Beyond it, recent policies will continue of free admission on Sundays for residents of Cleveland and East Cleveland, and of $1 admission every day to holders of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cards.

Officials have raised $113 million for the campus transformation so far and are optimistic about the rest.

Over the past few decades, the museum’s Donald Johanson and Yohannes Haile-Selassie have discovered some of the world’s most complete and revealing specimens of human ancestors, such as the famous hominin called Lucy. Johanson left Cleveland in 1981 to found the Institute of Human Origins, now at Arizona State University. Haile-Selassie left Cleveland last year to take over that institute. Meanwhile, other distinguished scientists have retired.

But younger scientists have arrived with curriculum vitae already listing prestigious jobs, grants, and publications. This May, the museum essentially replaced Haile-Selassie with two paleoanthropologists.

Emma Finestone is one of three rising young scientists to recently joined the transforming Cleveland Museum of Natural History.Emma Finestone, 33, is the new assistant curator of human origins. She grew up outside Boston, Mass., and came here from Germany’s prestigious Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. She specializes in tools and meat consumption in early Africa.

Sawchuk, 36, is the new assistant curator of human evolution. She came here from the University of Alberta in her native province. Her specialties include early African herding, burials, migration, and encounters between cultures. She found the earliest known human DNA from Africa below the Sahara—about 18,000 years old.

Robert (Bort) Edwards is the new assistant curator of environment at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.Last November, the museum hired Robert “Bort” Edwards as assistant curator of environment. The 41-year-old evolutionary biologist comes from Australia by way of the Smithsonian Institution and Yale University. He specializes in past and present distribution of species.

Edwards will continue contributing to a global study of that distribution called Map of Life. He’ll focus on Northeast Ohio species, particularly those in the museum’s 66 natural preserves.

The newcomers say they were attracted by the evolving museum and its evolving city. Edwards says of Cleveland, “It has a really good mix of urban living but also the greenspaces.”

The museum is still seeking an assistant curator of planetary systems. That person will bring the research and collections staff to 15, one more than in 2016, before some buyouts.

Museums were once known for housing “cabinets of curiosities” from around the world. Now most finds remain in their homelands, while the finders instead only take away images and knowledge.

“We can’t just tell a story with stuff,” Says Sawchuk, “we have to bring in ideas.” Today’s computers make it far easier for professionals and hobbyists to share ideas, data, and more.

The two new paleoanthropologists study how our ancestors survived drastic climate change through innovation and cooperation. “Now,” says Finestone, “with our intelligence and culture and technology, we need to figure out a way to move forward that’s more sustainable.”

Says Sawchuk, “We’re going to have to band together for any chance of surviving for the future. The only way we can do it is if we all buy into our collective story and move forward to deal with injustices as a single community.”

Many Americans have rejected climate change, evolution, and other scientific findings—especially during the pandemic. Gavin Svenson, 42, the museum’s director of research and collections, says the scientists won’t criticize the critics, but “we should advocate for what we have evidence for.”

He takes heart from a nationwide survey done for the museum last year. It found that 88% of adults trust science, and 90% believe they need to understand it.

But they’ve got a lot of catching up to do—63% didn’t know that our atoms come from ancient stardust, and 29% didn’t know how long it takes the earth to orbit the sun.

Officials hope to feed the public’s hunger and whet it too. The museum’s mission is “to inspire, through science and education, a passion for nature, the protection of natural diversity, the fostering of health, and leadership to a sustainable future.”