---
title: "‘Jurassic Park,’ a Little More Real"
date: 2025-05-14T10:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/jurassic-park-a-little-more-real"
section: Articles
---
# ‘Jurassic Park,’ a Little More Real

*May 14, 2025* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/authors/karen-shih-09)


- *Photos courtesy of Kenneth Lacovara*

> At New Dinosaur Museum Led by Paleontologist Alum, Visitors Can Dig In

*mom and daughter look at dinosaur at museum*

**OUT ON THE WIND-WHIPPED** steppes of Patagonia, it can take months of swinging a pickaxe and hauling buckets of rocks—subsisting on tuna and crackers and avoiding scorpions and puma—to find a fossil of note.

But now, Kenneth Lacovara M.A. ’88 is making it easier for budding paleontologists to unearth buried treasure with the March opening of the [Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park and Museum of Rowan University](https://www.efm.org/) in southern New Jersey. Visitors can dig alongside experts at an old quarry (and 66-million-year-old dinosaur graveyard) and explore gleaming interactive exhibits, including more than 50 full-size models of Cretaceous creatures that roamed the North American East Coast.


*Kenneth Lacovara holds up fossil*




**Issue:** [Spring 2025](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/spring-2025)


**Types:** [Post-Grad](https://terp.umd.edu/category/post-grad)