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 new video from iDigBio highlights the need to and benefits of digitizing natural history collections. The short video includes interviews with researchers and students who work with biological specimens. Dr. Larry Page, former president of NSC Alliance and director of iDigBio, said “There is more information about biodiversity…in natural history collections than in all […]
The Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) Event kicks off this week from 20-23 October. Citizen scientists are teaming up with researchers and other participants around the world to capture biodiversity specimen data digitizing the information for scientific research, education, and policy. Participants can pick a project in which to participate online (https://www.wedigbio.org/find-a-project) or find […]
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Program will be holding several meetings and training programs in the near future. On 25 October at 2 pm (Eastern), a webinar will be held for NAGPRA grants administrators. This webinar is for new recipients of a Consultation/Documentation Grant or a Repatriation Grant, and for NAGPRA […]
The Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid will be hosting the 20th anniversary of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) on 20 October. The event will engage a diverse audience of researchers, science communicators, international policymakers and industry representatives about the importance of natural history collections in today’s global economy and the challenges of the […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a five year grant to iDigBio to continue leading the national effort to digitize biodiversity collections and make them available online. The award of $15.5 million will continue the initiative, which is housed at the University of Florida and started in 2011. More than 64 million specimen records […]
Representatives David Joyce (R-OH) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) are the recipients of the 2016 USGS Coalition Leadership Award. The pair was honored at a Capitol Hill ceremony and public reception on September 13th in Washington, DC. The Natural Science Collections Alliance is a member of the USGS Coalition. “The USGS Coalition is pleased to recognize […]
The Entomological Collections Network is the newest member of NSC Alliance. The group is dedicated to the promotion of entomological science through the preservation, management, use and development of entomological collections and taxonomy.
A coalition of fifty-six leading U.S. nonpartisan organizations, representing more than 10 million scientists and engineers, are calling on U.S. Presidential candidates to address a set of twenty major issues in science, engineering, health and the environment, and encouraging journalists and voters to press the candidates on them during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election season. […]
As reported by The Washington Post, a new species of dolphin was discovered within the Smithsonian’s collections. “It happens more often than you’d think: Research scientists go digging around the dusty collections of your local natural history museum and find species hitherto unknown to science. Whatever sits on display when you visit ancient human art, […]
According to a position statement issued by the Entomological Society of America, entomological collections and the staff that maintain them are an irreplaceable historical reference and are of vital importance to current and future life scientists. The statement, issued in January 2016, calls for the protection of “these irreplaceable resources, upon which the bulk of […]