Geo Explorer Auburn to represent Alabama in historic D.C. America250 parade

Timothy Hawthorne doesn't think that the 36-foot solar-powered mobile science lab with the walk-in tornado simulator and augmented reality topographical sandbox and VR headsets and microscopes should seem out of place at the big to-do in Washington D.C. this Saturday.

Sure, Fourth of July parades in the nation's capital are typically reserved for things like marching bands and majorettes and military units and equestrian performances and other typical patriotic tributes to the nation's proud past. But Geo Explorer Auburn, he says, is the perfect variation on the theme — a tribute to the nation's future.

"I mean, this is America, right?" said Hawthorne, professor and chair of the Department of Geosciences in the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM). "One of the things I think is really special about what we're doing and why we were invited to be in the America250 parade and celebration, is the idea that science and technology are core values of what we believe in as a nation. They've been that way over the last 250 years and they'll be that way for the next 250 — and that starts with education. It starts with the excitement of the next generation carrying that torch, and that's what this mobile lab is all about — supporting that particular American dream."

Launched in the fall of 2024 within Auburn’s Department of Geosciences and College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM), the one-of-a-kind rolling classroom — a 2023 Thor Windsport RV in its brief former life — was developed and built by Auburn faculty, students and staff as an effort to give one of the university's foundational responsibilities a 21st century tune-up.

“As a land-grant institution, we are fundamentally tasked with taking the incredible knowledge, research and innovation generated on our campus and extending it directly to the people of Alabama and beyond," Hawthorne said. "This is that mission in motion.”

In 2025, that motion made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

The lab's inaugural "Quest Out West" expedition logged more than 4,000 miles — and more than 5,000 smiles —  en route to the Esri Education Summit in San Diego and back, inspiring spell-bound students at educational pop-up events along the way.

Dustin Braden, director of operations, still talks about the girl with the rocks.

"It was at the end of this really exhausting leg of the trip and I remember just feeling really like, 'Oh man, now we have to do a school visit? Are you serious?' But we pull up and you hear the cheering of these kids, and we all just made eye contact with each other in the RV like, 'Oh wow.' It just breathed life into all of us."

Braden, a research associate in the Department of Geosciences, was working the digital microscope station.

"This young student comes up to me and pulls out a big bag of gems and rocks from home. She said, ‘I heard you guys were coming, and I wanted to bring my rocks. Is that okay?’ And it was just like, 'Is that okay? That's the whole point.' She's there for five minutes looking at each of her rocks under the scope. ‘Will this one glow in the dark? How does this one look under the scope? Why is it doing this?’

“Those are the kinds of questions that, as an educator, you dream about. As they're stepping out of the Geo Explorer, I'll hear them say, 'I want to be a scientist when I grow up,' or 'That was really fun. I want to do that again. Are you guys coming back?’"

Yes, they are — soon, and with an even bigger head of steam — and STEM ­— than last year.

Dubbed "America250 Coast to Coast with Geo Explorer," this year's cross-country campaign kicks off in early July — with a serendipitous bang.

"I think we're just really fortunate that we have state leadership and federal leadership that invited us to participate in the big America250 Independence Day Parade and supported our application to be there," Hawthorne said. "Without them, this wouldn't be happening."

Hawthorne feels that the striped special guest joining the Geo Explorer Auburn team Saturday would probably say the same — if he could.

"We're really excited to have Aubie tagging along for the first stop," Hawthorne said. "He'll ride along in the parade with us. I mean, I'd say an 11-time National Mascot Champion is pretty worthy of any celebration of America, so it's going to make an already great start to the trip even better."

After that, throughout the year Geo Explorer Auburn will continue visiting "national parks, landmarks and wildlife refuges to tell the story of America’s public lands," Hawthorne said. "As a geosciences initiative, we're focused on understanding the historical interactions between the American people and the American landscape."

Did he ever think that focus would ever encompass Americans lining Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate the nation's 250th birthday?

"Well, I'd be lying if I said we expected to be here," he said. "But this is Auburn. We think big. We dream big. And thankfully we found the right people to help make it come true."

Watch Auburn in the national parade live on C-SPAN at 9:30 a.m. CST on July 4, or stream it on-demand at https://july4thparade.com/watch.

Learn more about the Geo Explorer Auburn mission at www.geoexplorerlabs.org.