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.
NSC Alliance Launches Campaign for an Executive Order from President Obama on Science Collections During the past year, the NSC Alliance Board of Directors has monitored the work of the federal government’s Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections (IWGSC). This panel, whose charter expired at the end of the Bush Administration, recently released survey results […]
The National Park Service (NPS) and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) have signed an agreement that is intended to aid research on endangered species. According to NPS documents, the agreement creates the National Park Service Special Collection at the AMNH which will house frozen tissue samples containing DNA of threatened and endangered animals […]
NSC Alliance past-president Dr. Michael A. Mares has published a viewpoint article in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal BioScience. Mares’ article draws attention to the challenges facing many of the nation’s natural science collections and encourages federal and state policymakers to take immediate action to preserve the nation’s thousands of scientific collections. The […]
On July 15, 2009, the Natural Science Collections Alliance submitted comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy on the revision of the 2007 “Charting the Course” report. The report, which identifies and prioritizes ocean science and technology endeavors over the next decade, is currently being revised and refreshed. In its comments, NSC Alliance […]
Robert Gropp, director of public policy for NSC Alliance and AIBS, and Nadine Lymn, director of public affairs for the Ecological Society of America, have teamed up once again this year to prepare an analysis of the President’s federal budget request for the biological and ecological sciences. The analysis will be published as a chapter […]
A legislative milestone was marked on June 26, 2009 when the House of Representatives by a seven vote margin (219-212) approved HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.  Ultimately, 44 Democrats opposed and 8 Republicans voted for HR 2454, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill. HR 2454 includes a long list […]
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is seeking public input to revise and refresh the federal government’s ocean research priorities plan. Released in January 2007, “Charting the Course” was developed by federal agencies and outside stakeholders to identify and prioritize ocean science and technology endeavors over the next decade. NSC Alliance submitted […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are soliciting proposals for research to support ecosystem-based management of marine ecosystems. Projects should aim to understand complex dynamics controlling ecosystem structure, productivity, behavior, resilience, and population connectivity, as well as effects of climate variability and anthropogenic pressures on living marine resources […]
The Smithsonian Institution’s natural science collection has been used to successfully identify the species and origin of the birds which are implicated in the January 15, 2009 plane crash of US Airways flight 1549. All 150 passengers and five crew survived the plane’s crash landing into the icy Hudson River. Researchers at the Smithsonian’s Feather […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced two new funding opportunities under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on June 1, 2009. The Recovery Act NIST Construction Grant Program will fund $120 million in grants for construction of research buildings. All grant proposals that complement one or more programs of the […]