With support from the National Science Foundation, the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the USA Nagoya Protocol Action Group are organizing an online workshop series to explore how the international scientific community can study biodiversity in the changing landscape of international policy. Recordings from the first five sessions in this series are now available […]
House Passes Revised Build Back Better Bill with Reduced Research Funding
After prolonged negotiations, a scaled down version of President Biden’s Build Back Better spending plan passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier today. The $1.75 trillion measure is primarily focused on social welfare and climate change programs and includes some funds for research. The framework passed by the House is a trimmed down version of […]
Discussions Resume on NSF Innovation Legislation
A move to include a high profile innovation initiative in the annual defense authorization bill created high stakes tensions on Capitol Hill earlier this week. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) moved to include the “U.S. Innovation and Competition Act,” formerly referred to as the “Endless Frontier Act,” as an amendment to the National Defense […]
NSC Alliance Joins Science Coalition in Urging Appropriators to Provide Robust Funding for NSF
The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF)—an alliance of more than 130 professional organizations, universities and businesses that advocates for the National Science Foundation (NSF)—has urged House and Senate appropriators to provide robust funding for NSF in fiscal year (FY) 2022. Appropriators are currently in conference to reconcile differences between the two chambers’ spending bills. […]
White House Announces Science & Technology Priorities for 2023
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued their annual science and technology (S&T) priorities memorandum on August 27. The document guides federal agency priority-setting in the coming budget cycle. The directive identifies pandemic readiness and prevention, climate change action, national security […]
Research Funding in the House Reconciliation Package
On September 9, 2021, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology approved $45 billion in research funding as part of a larger $3.5 trillion budget plan that Democratic lawmakers are looking to pass through the budget reconciliation process. The bill would make significant investments in the National Science Foundation (NSF) and labs at the […]
Collections in the News
According to a recent news report, data gathered from museum collections played a critical role in informing a new ruling from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that designates 190 miles of streams and rivers in Florida and Georgia as critical habitat for a rare species of freshwater mussel once thought to be extinct. The […]
Study Shows Museum Collections Can Predict Species Abundance in the Wild
According to a new study published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution by researchers at the University of Vermont and international scientists, museum natural history collections of plants, small mammals, fish, insects, and amphibians can be used to predict most species’ relative abundance in the wild. Findings from this study can help to address certain […]
Register for ESA’s Strategies for Success Online Course
NSC Alliance members are invited to register for the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) Strategies for Success online course for project leaders. The course will provide participants with the financial management, strategic planning, communication, and fundraising skills and tools you need to make your project or program more successful and financially sustainable. Expert faculty will […]
NSC Alliance Writes to OSTP, NIH about the Importance of Collections to Human Health
The Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) has joined the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) in submitting comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the new Advanced Research Project Agency – […]