AIBS Cosponsors CNSF Reception Showcasing Science on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, DC – On 25 June the Coalition for National Science Funding held its 14th annual exhibition and reception on Capitol Hill. The theme was “The Path to Innovation:Scientific Discovery and Learning.†The reception drew a large crowd, which included members of Congress and their staffs. A number of top NSF officials, such as Director Arden L. Bement Jr., Deputy Director Kathie L. Olsen, and James Collins, Assistant Director of the Biological Sciences Directorate.
The American Institute of Biological Sciences and Natural Science Collections Alliance co-sponsored exhibit was among dozens of scientific societies and universities to display work funded by the National Science Foundation. The exhibit showcased the All Catfish Species Inventory (ACSI) is one of seven large-scale projects funded by the US National Science Foundation’s Planetary Biodiversity Inventories Program (PBI). The PBI program’s goal is to empower international teams of scientists and institutions to assemble a comprehensive framework for understanding Earth’s biodiversity via worldwide, species-level inventories of major groups of organisms. Representing the collaborative, multi-investigator ACSI project were Drs. John P. Sullivan, in the Department of Ichthyology, and Mark Sabaj Pérez, Collection Manager of Fishes, from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
Prior to the exhibit and reception, the presenters were able to meet with staff from the offices of Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and Congressman Robert Brady (D-PA) to discuss the importance of research funding from the National Science Foundation as it relates to collections and biodiversity.
To download a PDF copy of the news release click:Â AIBS and NSC Alliance Bring Scientists to the Hill