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.
Just prior to the expiration of the most recent stopgap funding resolution that kept the government running through December 20, 2019, both chambers of Congress passed two bundles of appropriations bills totaling approximately $1.4 trillion. The two compromise packages were signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019. As an indication of the […]
President Donald Trump has announced his intention to nominate Dr. Sethuraman Panch Panchanathan to serve as the next director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). If confirmed, Dr. Panchanathan would be the agency’s 15th director. He would assume the office following Senate confirmation. He would replace Dr. France Cordova at the end of her […]
On January 16, 2020, Robert Gropp briefed the members of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections about the Extended Specimen Network report and other recent Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) activities and accomplishments. The NSC Alliance is an active leader of the BCoN effort and played an important role in shaping the Extended Specimen […]
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) Committee on Assistance to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) on Taxonomic Studies of the Red Wolf is calling for research applications to clarify the taxonomic identity of wild canid populations in southwestern Louisiana and other geographic areas where the red wolf (Canis rufus) was […]
The joint meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and the International Council of Museums Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural History (ICOM NATHIST) will take place from the June 7-13, 2020 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. The theme for the meeting is “The Role of Natural History Collections in […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on Data-Focused Cyberinfrastructure Needed to Support Future Data-Intensive Science and Engineering Research. According to the notice, the challenges of growing volumes of scientific data their availability, transmission, accessibility, management, and utilization have become urgent and ubiquitous across NSF-supported science, engineering, and education disciplines. […]
The 40th meeting of the National Museum and Library Services Board will be held on December 5, 2019. The Board advises the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on duties, powers, and authority of IMLS relating to museum, library, and information services, as well as coordination of activities for the improvement […]
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking public comment on a proposed NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing and supplemental guidance. According to NIH, the purpose of this draft policy and guidance is to promote effective and efficient data management and sharing to further NIH’s commitment to making the results and accomplishments of […]
The Natural Science Collections Alliance has nominated Dr. Heather Joy Hecht Edgar and Ms. Linda Lee K. (Cissy) Farm, Esq. to serve on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee. The NAGPRA was enacted in 1990 to address the rights of lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations to Native […]
In an August 30, 2019 memorandum from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), federal agencies have been directed to prioritize national security, industrial leadership, energy and environmental leadership, health and bioeconomic innovation, and space exploration and commercialization in their fiscal year […]