The Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) encourages the Committee to provide the National Science Foundation (NSF) with $7.326 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2009, the funding level authorized by the America COMPETES Act.
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NSC Alliance past-president Dr. Terry L. Yates will be recognized posthumously at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS). Dr. Yates will receive the 2008 AIBS Distinguished Scientist Award. Accepting on his behalf will be his wife Nancy. The AIBS annual meeting is being held at the Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, 801 North Glebe Road, Arlington, Virginia 22203 on May 12, 2008.
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The Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) encourages Congress to
provide the United States Geological Survey (USGS) with at least $1.3 billion for fiscal
year (FY) 2009. From this amount, we encourage you to provide at least $230 million for
the programs and functions of the Biological Resources Discipline (BRD).
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At the last Board of Directors meeting of the Natural Science Collections Alliance, the Board received a concept paper and draft legislation that would establish a new Office in the Department of Commerce to advance digital information and internet access for cultural and natural science collections.
Although the Board of Directors has had preliminary discussions about the concept, the Board has not decided whether to endorse the proposal. Further discussions of this matter are planned for the May meeting of the NSC Alliance Board. In preparation for these discussions, NSC Alliance members are asked to provide comments on the proposal. Of particular interest to the Board will be:
- Does the proposal address priorities of interest to your institution?
- Would your institution support an effort to advance this proposal?
- Are significant elements missing from the proposal?
- General thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations.
To comment on this draft proposal, please send your comments to NSCAlegiscom@aibs.org. For comments to be considered, the message must contain the name of your institution, the name and contact information of your institutional representative to NSC Alliance.
To download the Concept Paper, click Download concept paper.
To download a copy of the proposed legislation, click Download draft legislation.
8 January 2008
Sherry Hutt, Manager
National NAGPRA Program
National Park Service
1849 C Street NW, 20006-2253
Washington, D.C. 20240
Ref: NSC Alliance Comments on Docket No. 1024-AC84
The Natural Science Collections Alliance, the largest professional organization
of natural history museums in North America, opposes the proposed changes
to the regulations governing application of the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA).
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that it has awarded a Research Coordination Network (RCN) grant to contribute to the development of the natural history collections community in the United States. “A stronger community will facilitate research by providing better lines of communication between collections managers and researchers, and establishing improved mechanisms for access to specimens and specimen data,” said L. Alan Prather, curator of the herbarium at Michigan State University and one of the principal investigators for the grant. To achieve the goals of the RCN, the funding will be used for a number of web resources for the collections community, a series of workshops and symposia dealing with issues of importance relating to collections, and several student internships.
The French Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, France, recently brought together leaders from natural history institutions, scientists, conservationists, and representatives from non-governmental organizations, policymakers, and many others for a symposium celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of French naturalist Georges Louis Marie Leclerc, comte de Buffon. The Buffon Symposium focused on natural history museums and institutions in the 21st century, and their potential impact on a common future. Continue Reading »
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