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.
The Smithsonian Institution’s natural science collection has been used to successfully identify the species and origin of the birds which are implicated in the January 15, 2009 plane crash of US Airways flight 1549. All 150 passengers and five crew survived the plane’s crash landing into the icy Hudson River. Researchers at the Smithsonian’s Feather […]
On June 5, 2009, NSC Alliance submitted comments to the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on a draft science education rule. The rule would implement the Louisiana Science Education Action (SB 733), which was enacted in June 2008. The Act is viewed by many as a back door approach to teaching creationism. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced two new funding opportunities under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on June 1, 2009. The Recovery Act NIST Construction Grant Program will fund $120 million in grants for construction of research buildings. All grant proposals that complement one or more programs of the […]
The Natural Science Collections Alliance submitted comments to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on May 29, 2009 regarding the agency’s development of a strategic research, education, and extension plan. When completed, the plan will identify current trends, constraints, and major opportunities and gaps that no single entity within the USDA would be able […]
On May 18, 2009, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released its long-anticipated fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget request. In total, NSF’s FY 2010 request is for $7.045 billion, an increase of $555 million (8.5 percent) above the FY 2009 request (Note: The FY 2009 and 2010 budget numbers do not include the one-time appropriation of […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) will provide information about two current proposal solicitations funded by the economic stimulus during a webcast to be held on May 28, 2009. The Academic Research Infrastructure program (the ARI-R2 solicitation, NSF 09-562) and the Major Research Instrumentation program (the MRI-R2 solicitation, NSF 09-561) will be discussed. The webcast will […]
The National Science Foundation is accepting proposals through July 9, 2009 for research projects that address evolutionary processes or population and community ecology. The Evolutionary Processes Cluster will fund proposals that investigate the genetic bases of micro- and macroevolutionary processes and their effects on the evolution of genotypes and phenotypes, as well as proposals that […]
On 11 May 2009, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced two new grant opportunities for research infrastructure and instrumentation. $400 million will be available through the grant solicitations, which are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Academic Research Infrastructure Program will provide $200 million to update existing research facilities at […]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 included $10.4 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Several funding opportunities from NIH from the economic stimulus are now posted on www.grants.gov. Funding is available for current NIH grant holders to expand the scope of their research proposal. Programs such as the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups […]
A volunteer at the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge University in Great Britain has rediscovered an egg collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle. It is the only egg known to be collected by Darwin during that voyage. The mocha colored egg has Darwin’s name written on it. The museum’s collection […]