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.
House Republicans were busy last week determining who will lead the chamber’s twenty-five committees in the next Congress. Although some chairmen will retain their positions, changes are in store for at least one committee with jurisdiction over science. Notably, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will have a new leader next year. Representative Lamar […]
After a protracted and contentious election, our nation’s political leaders now face the daunting task of addressing the fiscal cliff. Unless lawmakers take action, the policies encompassed in the fiscal cliff will automatically go into effect this January. Included are tax increases and federal budget cuts. Federal science programs would be subject to at least […]
Comments are now being accepted on a draft Implementation Plan for a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance. The Implementation Plan builds upon the work of an earlier report: A Strategic Plan for Establishing a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance. The Strategic Plan issues a strong and urgent call for an aggressive, sustained, coordinated, and large-scale effort to […]
The culmination of the lengthy 2012 election season has brought some change to Congress. A dozen new Senators and roughly 80 new Representatives will be sworn in as part of the 113th Congress in January. The winners in a handful of other races have yet to be announced. In the House of Representatives, where all […]
The American Society of Parasitologists (ASP) has written to government agricultural leaders regarding the state of the U.S. National Parasite Collection. The letter calls for action “to avoid further erosion of the museum’s collections, to modernize the holdings and make them more accessible to users through appropriate modern interfaces, to deal with a backlog of […]
NSC Alliance President Larry Page participated in a panel discussion on biodiversity collections at the CODATA meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, on 30 October 2012. Discussion centered on the value of collections data to understanding and solving current and emerging policy problems, including natural resource management and loss of biodiversity. The discussion was organized by Melissa […]
The Museum Assessment Program is seeking applications for its 2013 program. The program helps small and mid-sized museums strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet national standards through self-study and a site visit from a peer reviewer. The program is funded by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and throughout its […]
The September 2012 issue of the journal BioScience includes an article entitled “Doing Natural History.â€Â The article, which appears in the journal’s Biology in History column, explores how natural history research changed during the twentieth century. The article is available with a subscription at http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/bio.2012.62.9.8.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $26.4 million for 14 research grants that will expand our understanding of biodiversity. “This year’s awardees will study subjects as diverse as the biota of the Amazon and its environment, how nutrient input drives biodiversity in China’s extremely oxygen-deprived–or eutrophic–Lake Taihu, the components of tree biodiversity, and the […]
The American Institute of Biological Sciences has produced a report that explains the fiscal cliff, budget sequestration, and other forthcoming fiscal problems that have the potential to negatively impact federal investments in research and science education. Under current law, $6.8 trillion in deficit reduction will occur over the next decade through increased taxes and spending […]