Press Releases
Published: 09-19-2014
Two of the six NSF grants recently awarded through the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Program involve collaborators from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan.
Rich Rabeler, an associate research scientist with the U-M Herbarium, and Thomas Duda, an associate professor with the Museum of Zoology, are part of the TCN: “...
Published: 09-16-2014
Kenneth Cameron, director of the Wisconsin State Herbarium
Photo: David Tenenbaum/University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin - Madison News reports on the digitization efforts of the Wisconsin State Herbarium housed at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Kenneth Cameron, the Wisconsin State Herbarium Director, is the leading principal investigator of an NSF funded...
Published: 09-15-2014
"By not paying attention to this whole kingdom of life, we lose something really important -
I work every day to combat it," Christopher Martine
Dr. Lena Struwe working with graduate student Lauren Frazee (front), and undergraduate Alisha Sharma. (Rutgers University)
Many botanists are battling plant blindness, or the inability to see or notice the plants in one...
Published: 08-28-2014
Delawareonline.com (The News Journal) recently published an article focusing on a NSF funded collaboration among six U.S. institutions including the Delaware Museum of Natural History. The project, “InvertEBase: Reaching Back to See the Future: Species-rich Invertebrate Faunas Document Causes and Consequences of Biodiversity Shifts”, will digitize approximately 2 million...
Published: 08-28-2014
Zack E. Murrell, a professor at Appalachian State University, was given recognition in an article released by Appalachian State University, University News for receiving an NSF grant for $2.5 million dollars to digitize and create a database for more than 3 million plant specimens across the Southeast.
The project, “Collaborative Research: The Key to the Cabinets: Building and Sustaining...
Published: 08-25-2014
"The Beyond the Box Digitization Competition will award $1 million to the person or team who creates a technology that increases the speed and accuracy of digitization of a drawer of insect specimens and their associated data. The competition is a joint project of the U.S. National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Biological Sciences."
The competition will...
Published: 08-22-2014
Florida Museum of Natural History research assistant Zachary Randall uses an imaging system to photograph a skin of Brandt’s Hedgehog, Paraechinus hypomelas, so the digitized specimen can be accessed online.
Florida Museum of Natural History photo by Rob Robins
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- The National Science Foundation has awarded six grants totaling about $7.5 million to digitize...
Published: 08-20-2014
Scientists announce national effort to foster digitization of biodiversity collections
WASHINGTON, DC – Scientists have launched a new national initiative to build a research and end-user community dedicated to developing a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance (NIBA). The project is an outgrowth of recent scientific meetings in which scientists have articulated a...
Published: 08-19-2014
“Given increasing rates of habitat loss and global change, we believe that responsibly collecting voucher specimens and associated data and openly sharing this knowledge (for example, through GBIF, iDigBio, and VertNet) are more necessary today than ever before.”
The article “Specimen collection: An essential tool” was recently published in the journal Science in response...
Published: 08-18-2014
An article recently published in the journal BioScience has highlighted the NSF-funded Research Coordination Network AIM-UP! and their work developing collection-based educational programs for undergraduates.
Abstract: Natural History Collections as Emerging Resources for Innovative Education
There is an emerging consensus that undergraduate biology education in the United States is at a...
