Dr. Cora Marrett, Acting Director of the National Science Foundation, recently distributed a Dear Colleague letter announcing that NSF has initiated the process for selecting a new Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources.  The text of her letter follows:

We are initiating a national search for the National Science Foundation’s Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and seek your assistance in the identification of candidates.

The Assistant Director, EHR, leads a directorate comprised of four divisions: Graduate Education; Undergraduate Education; Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings; and Human Resource Development.  Attached is an information sheet that summarizes the directorate’s activities and the responsibilities of the position, together with the criteria that will be used in the search.  This letter, along with the attachment, are also available on the NSF Office of the Director Web page at http://www.nsf.gov/od.

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Dan Atkins, Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan, will head the search committee. We seek your help in identifying candidates with the following qualifications: outstanding leadership; a deep sense of scholarship; a grasp of the issues facing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research and education; and the ability to serve effectively as a key member of the NSF management team. We are especially interested in identifying women, members of minority groups, and persons with disabilities for consideration. Recommendations of individuals from any sector - academic, industry, or government - are welcome.

Please send your recommendations, including any supporting information that you can provide, to the AD/EHR Search Committee via e-mail (ehrsrch@lists.nsf.gov) or at the following address: National Science Foundation, Office of the Director, Suite 1205, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230. We would appreciate receiving your recommendations by Friday, October 8, 2010.

Your assistance in this very important task is appreciated.

Cora B. Marrett
Acting Director

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a new grant program, “Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections,” for scientific collections.  According to NSF documents, the program seeks to “create a national resource of digital data documenting existing biological collections and to advance scientific knowledge by improving access to digitized information (including images) residing in vouchered scientific collections across the United States.”

NSF has stated a goal of making 7-12 competitive awards totaling $10 million in fiscal year 2011, assuming adequate appropriations of funds.  Of these planned awards, 6-11 are anticipated to be “Thematic Collections Networks,” and 1 award is planned to be a “Home Uniting Biocollections (HUB).”

For more information, including links to the Request for Proposal (RFP), please visit http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503559&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund.

Two years ago as the economy was entering recession, the Natural Science Collections Alliance launched a survey to gather data on the effects of the economic downturn on natural science collections.  To further increase our understanding of how natural science collections are being impacted by and responding to current economic conditions, the NSC Alliance is repeating the 2008 survey.  All natural science collections, including natural history museums, herbaria, living collections, tissue and genetic collections, etc, are encouraged to complete this short, online survey.  The survey should not take more than 10 to 15 minutes to complete.  Individual institutional responses will remain confidential.

Please COMPLETE THE SURVEY NOW.  The survey will close on 20 September 2010.

Additional information about the 2008 NSC Alliance survey, including a link to a publication containing the results, is available at http://nscalliance.org/?p=234.

If you have questions or require additional information, please contact Dr. Robert Gropp at rgropp@aibs.org.

The Documentation Committee of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) requests your participation in a survey involving best practice topics pertinent to natural history museums.  The survey seeks to better understand the information and resource needs of the natural history collections community, including museums, parks, university collections, and other organizations caring for natural and cultural history collections.  The purpose of the survey is to identify, collect, and provide information about best practices specific to natural history collections, including current helpful resources.  Holes or gaps in best practices need to be identified and addressed.  This survey is the first step in identifying these holes.

The results of this survey will be used to guide the creation of an in-depth resource website on natural history collections best practices, to be hosted by the SPNHC at http://www.spnhc.org.  The results will also be published in the SPNHC Journal, “Collection Forum.”  All answers will remain confidential and no results will be publicly associated with an institution or individual unless specific permission is granted.

Participation in the survey should take about 10 minutes.  To participate, visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DLPDRNX.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International — US, United States Botanic Garden, and Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum are conducting an important survey to document all living plant collections in North America as part of a regional and global assessment.  Survey organizers thank those who have already contributed their collection’s taxa list to the PlantSearch database, and encourage other collection professionals to participate before the survey closes on August 1, 2010.

This effort will help to fill the gap in our knowledge of plant diversity and threatened plants in cultivation.  It’s quick, easy, and free to participate.  Simply upload a spreadsheet of taxa held in your collections to the PlantSearch database.

To participate, visit www.bgci.org/usa/MakeYourCollectionsCount.  Please contact Abby Hird at abby_hird@harvard.edu or (617) 384-5774 if you have questions or require assistance in completing the survey.

How much of North America’s plant diversity is safeguarded in ex situ collections?  The short answer is we don’t know, but BGCI-US (Botanic Garden Conservation International-US), in partnership with the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and the United States Botanic Garden, is using the North American Collections Assessment to answer this question.  Results will be widely distributed in a report, and will support BGCI’s global analysis to be presented in October to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as progress towards the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).

Gardens and other organizations with living plant, seed bank, or tissue culture collections in every region of Canada, Mexico, and the United States are being asked to contribute to this global conservation effort by August 1.

Calling all Collections Managers

This survey is quick, easy, and FREE.  Every living plant collection, large and small, can participate in this global conservation initiative by uploading a simple spreadsheet of taxa held in your collections to BGCI’S PlantSearch database.  Within 24 hours, you will find out the conservation value of your collections, receive a names audit, and connect your entire collections to a global botanical network — which can aid your institution and others in collections management, botanical research, and ultimately plant conservation.

Launch of the North American Collections Assessment

Unique benefits will be provided when you submit your collections data to PlantSearch. In addition to IUCN Red List data, you will also receive NatureServe G-Ranks for North American taxa when you contribute your plant list.  These data are not available in this format anywhere else.

Please go to www.bgci.org/usa/MakeYourCollectionsCount for details on how you can make your collections count in 2010.

On April 28, 2010, Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) President William Brown wrote to House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) about the preservation and use of science collections.  The letter calls for the consideration of non-federal scientific collections in government efforts regarding the management of collections.

Representative Gordon is the sponsor of a bill (HR 5116) that would reauthorize the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science) Act.  That legislation would direct the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), in consultation with relevant federal agencies, to develop policies for management and use of federal scientific collections to “improve the quality, organization, access, including online access, and long-term preservation of such collections for the benefit of the scientific enterprise.”

Click here to read the letter

On April 21, 2010, NSF Acting Assistant Director for Biological Sciences (BIO) Dr. Joann Roskoski gave a presentation to participants of the annual Biological and Ecological Sciences Coalition (BESC) Congressional Visits Day.  Her talk included a presentation of FY 2011 BIO priorities, including some initiatives related to natural science collections.

Click here to view the presentation

The National Park Service (NPS) has finalized a policy that requires researchers using specimens collected from national parks to enter into a benefits-sharing agreement with NPS if their research produces discoveries or inventions with a commercial application.  Under the new rule, researchers with commercially successful discoveries would provide monetary or non-monetary compensation, such as scientific equipment or lab work, to the national park on an annual basis, subject to the terms of their benefit-sharing agreement.

The decision was published in the Federal Register (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-7871.htm) on April 7, 2010.  The decision is an outgrowth of several commercial applications of scientific discoveries made in national parks, the most notable being the invention of PCR from the study of a microorganism discovered in Yellowstone National Park.

The new policy will not affect current requirements or the application process for obtaining a permit to conduct research in a national park, as the benefits-sharing agreement would be initiated after permitted research was conducted.

More information is available at http://parkplanning.nps.gov (select “Washington Office” from the park menu and then follow the link for benefits-sharing).

Several NSC Alliance members have written to House Research and Science Education Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) asking that his Subcommittee include natural science collections in the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act.  The letters support a request sent by NSC Alliance President William Y. Brown to Rep. Lipinski that the House adapt the language and policy objectives of the NSC Alliance proposed Presidential Executive Order for the Preservation and Use of Science Collections.

NSC Alliance members are encouraged to write to Rep. Lipinski about including collections in the reauthorized America COMPETES Act and to share a copy of the letter with Dr. Robert Gropp.

Arizona State University Letter
California Academy of Sciences
The Field Museum Letter
Tulane University Museum of Natural History