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.
A group of plant evolutionary biologists have been awarded $1.2 million to create the nation’s first seed bank specifically designed to allow investigation of how plants respond to environmental change over long periods of time. The project, called Project Baseline, is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology. According to the […]
In a feature article in the September 2011 issue of the journal BioScience, freelance journalist Beth Baker chronicles recent efforts to digitize scientific collections in the United States. The article includes an interesting sidebar describing the recently announced National Science Foundation effort, Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections. The report concludes with a section describing how […]
The National Academies of Science Board on Research Data and Information project has released a new report: Designing the Microbial Research Commons: Proceedings of an International Workshop. The report is a compilation of the edited presentations from a meeting by the same name. According to the project team, “although it uses microbiology as a focal […]
The Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) Program provides funds for improvements to secure, improve, and organize collections that are significant to the NSF/BIO-funded research community. Support is also provided to secure collections-related data for sustained, accurate, and efficient accessibility of the collection to the biological research community. Supplemental funding is also available to […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a selected a new Assistant Director for the Directorate for Biological Sciences. Dr. John C. Wingfield will assume the post that has been held in an interim capacity by Dr. Joann Roskoski since October 2009. Wingfield joined NSF from the University of California at Davis in September 2010 as […]
The National Science Foundation Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) has announced major changes to the process some of its divisions use to receive and review research proposals. The details are provided in a 15 August 2011 Dear Colleague letter from Dr. Joann Roskoski, acting director of BIO. The letter reads: As you are no doubt […]
NSC Alliance President, Dr. William Brown, has published a commentary, “Conservation: Invest in a DNA bank for all species,†in the 25 August 2011 issue of Nature. An excerpt from the article: To complement its efforts to conserve nature in the wild, the Convention on Biological Diversity should develop a comprehensive and adequately funded global […]
On 19 August, the NSC Alliance wrote to Ms. Susan Hildreth, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), about the strategic planning efforts her agency is currently undergoing. The letter highlighted the important role that collections play in our nation’s research enterprise, and called for increased IMLS involvement in several areas. “As […]
On 3 August 2011, the NSC Alliance wrote to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) about scientific collections as a source of baseline environmental data. The letter was in response an inquiry Senator Whitehouse made on the issue of baseline data on ocean environments during a recent hearing held by the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee […]
12 August 2011 This is an important time in the development of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. During my term at IMLS we will be implementing the reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act, developing a new five year strategic plan with emphasis on performance, and responding to and planning for reduced […]