Natural Science Collections Alliance

Our members are part of an international community of museums, botanical gardens, herbariums, universities and other institutions that house natural science collections and utilize them in research, exhibitions, academic and informal science education, and outreach activities.

News & Updates

NSC Alliance, 13 Other Science Organizations Ask Senate to Support Public Access to Independent Scientific Research Assessments of the Gulf of Mexico

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Activities & Events, Correspondence, News & Updates, Position Statements

On September 15, 2010, the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) joined 13 other scientific organizations to express concern “with the issue of intellectual property rights and ownership of research results that arise in the aftermath of incidents caused by industry, most recently, the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.” In a letter […]

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Science Organizations Urge Russia to Preserve Pavlovsk Experiment Station and its Living Plant Collections

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Correspondence, News & Updates

On September 16, 2010, the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA) issued an open letter urging the Russian government to preserve the Pavlovsk Experiment Station in Saint Petersburg. The facility is home to more than 5,000 distinct varieties of fruit trees and plans, most of which are extinct […]

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NSF Searching for New Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Activities & Events, News & Updates

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 […]

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NSF Announces New Grant Support for Digitization of Biological Collections

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Activities & Events, News & Updates

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 […]

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NSC Alliance Survey Looks at Impact of Economy on Natural Science Collections – Complete the Survey Online Today

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Activities & Events, Correspondence, News & Updates

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 […]

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NIH Updates Its Best Practices for Cancer Biospecimens

By NSCAPosted on Posted in News & Updates

The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has updated its Best Practices for Biospecimen Resources.  Major revisions include the addition of new sections on biospecimen resource management and operations and conflict of interest, expansion of recommendations related to custodianship and informed consent, and harmonization with current federal guidance documents and recommendations […]

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NSC Alliance Calls for Collections to be Included in NOAA Strategic Plan

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Correspondence, News & Updates, Position Statements

On August 2, 2010, NSC Alliance submitted comments on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) draft Next Generation Strategic Plan.  The comments identify the importance of NOAA’s scientific collections to the agency’s mission and call for the strategic plan to “address the curation of, and access to, the 40 scientific collections held by the […]

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White House Directs Agencies to Consider Collections in FY 2012 Budget

By NSCAPosted on Posted in News & Updates

On 21 July, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a joint memorandum providing guidance to federal agencies on the formulation of science and technology priorities in the fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget. The four-page document includes a provision on federal science collections: “Agencies […]

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Collection Managers Asked to Participate in Survey on Best Practices

By NSCAPosted on Posted in Activities & Events, News & Updates

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 […]

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Shell Collection Sheds Light on Pre-Oil Spill Pollution

By NSCAPosted on Posted in News & Updates

A collection of over 10 million shells housed at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences is being used by scientists to better understand historical levels of environmental contamination in the Gulf of Mexico.  The collection, dating back to 1812, includes more than 100 oyster shells collected from the Gulf between 1887 and 1960. Shells can serve […]

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