The Florida Natural History Museum is happy to welcome back an old friend to UF's campus – 67 million years old, to be exact.

This January, the Museum was excited to greet a blast from the past when Sue the T. rex, the most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered, made herself at home in the main showroom.

Sue is no stranger to the Museum, as it was the first museum in Florida to house the traveling exhibit back in 2002. Richard C. Hulbert Jr., PhD, the Vertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager at the FloridaMuseum, fondly remembers Sue's initial visit.

“There was a whole generation who had grown up since the first time the Sue exhibit had been here,” Hulbert said. “There certainly has been a lot of research done, both on the Sue fossil itself and on other T. rexes.”

The exhibit, produced by the FieldMuseum in Chicago, includes a fully articulated, life-sized skeleton cast of the original Sue. This time around, however, UF students and graphic designers have added some flare of their own by including interactivities that were not a part of the original exhibit. Patrons can assemble Sue's skeleton with the 3D magnetic puzzle, or see what it might have been like for a T. rex to use their arms in the Sue Arms experience.

“I grew up in Chicago – that was the first museum that I went to when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and that's when I decided I wanted to be a paleontologist,” Hulbert said.

As the largest, best-preserved T. rex to date, it is no wonder that Sue's remains are so awe-inspiring. Tina Choe, an exhibit developer for the Florida Natural History Muesuem, explained that as just one of the reasons they were excited to have the T. rex Named Sue exhibit back for a second time.

“When I'm standing face to face and looking at that skull, it takes my breath away,” Choe said. Choe was happy to note that museum-goers of all ages seem to agree with her sentiment, as patrons are encouraged to leave their thoughts on Sue as part of a sticky note mosaic on the wall of the showroom.

One of Choe's favorite notes was left by a young man who had seen the Sue exhibit as a child and was now admiring it for a second time. “He was excited to come back as a college student, but it was funny that everything seemed smaller than the first time because he was a bigger person,” Choe said, laughing.

According to Choe, a goal of the Museum is to draw in more students. One way that they have made efforts to do so is by partnering with Student Government in allowing free admission to featured exhibit such as a T. Rex Named Sue, which would normally cost $7.50 for adult admission.

Katina Prokos, an assistant for the Museum's marketing department, explained that Florida was underwater during the Cretaceous Period, when Sue lived, making it to where most museums in Florida do not have many dinosaur fossils. Prokos explained that the rarity of fossils like Sue in this region is just one of many reasons UF students should take advantage of the free access they have to see the exhibit.

“There's nothing like having a dinosaur in the house,” said Prokos. “Especially with the new JurassicPark movie coming up, I think there is a lot of excitement about it.”

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History website, Sue will remain at UF until Sept. 13, 2015. The Museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 1-5 p.m.

“Standing face to face with this giant, historic skeleton that you hear and dream about from when you're a small child,” Choe said, “it's something to see no matter what your age is.”