NC State University Insect Museum: Safeguarding and developing a community resource

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。北卡罗来纳州州立大学昆虫博物馆拥有北卡罗来纳州最大的昆虫收藏（140万个标本），并作为美国南部昆虫研究的重要资源。该项目涉及：1）通过整合新的高质量存储单元缓解严重的空间短缺，这也减轻了潜在的有害化学品保存; 2）通过网络向任何感兴趣的方捕获和利用标本图像和元数据; 3）通过公共展示和完善的门户网站，包括博客和数据访问，教育公民昆虫学家;详情可在http：//insectmuseum.org/NCSU的标本和相关数据是生物学家关注害虫，农业，环境健康，生物安全，减少（例如，由于气候变化）或范围扩展（例如，新的害虫入侵），以及监测生态多样性区域日益城市化所带来的环境变化。新的设备，基础设施，数据库，培训和研究促进了这笔赠款将改变NCSU昆虫博物馆从一个专门的，远程资源成为生物多样性研究和保护，公共教育和推广，基础广泛的研究生培训和自然历史信息传播的区域协调中心。三名学生将接受昆虫分类学和策展实践的培训。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The North Carolina State University Insect Museum houses the largest insect collection in North Carolina (1.4 million specimens) and serves as a critical resource for research on the insects of the southern USA. This project involves: 1) relieving crippling space shortages by integrating new, high quality storage units, which also mitigate potentially harmful chemical preservation; 2) capturing and availing specimen images and metadata through the Web to any interested party; 3) educating citizen entomologists through public displays and a refined Web portal, including blogs and data access; details available at http://insectmuseum.org/NCSU's specimens and associated data are scientific cornerstones for biologists focusing on pests, agriculture, environmental health, bio-security, the decline (e.g., due to climate change) or range expansion (e.g., new invasions of pests) of key insect species and for monitoring environmental change associated with the increasing urbanization of an ecologically diverse region. The new equipment, infrastructure, databasing, training, and research facilitated by this grant will transform the NCSU Insect Museum from a specialized, remote resource into a regional focal point for biodiversity research and conservation, public education and outreach, broad-based graduate student training, and dissemination of natural history information. Three students will be trained in insect taxonomy and curation practices.