[MPWG] Article: NSF Suspends Funding Program for Biological Specimen Collections

[Lindsey Riibe]

Biological specimen troves threatened by funding pause
Article in Nature (News & Comment) on the recent decision by the US
National Science Foundation that cuts $3 - $5 million a year in grants
(equivalent to roughly 0.06% of the agency’s $7.5-billion budget for fiscal
year 2016) primarily used to maintain biological collections such as
herbaria.

The program “could be reinstated, but potentially with a new focus”.
Fortunately, NSF is asking for feedback on the program. "During this time,
the program has been asked to evaluate its value to the research and
education community.  As part of this evaluation we welcome feedback from
any stakeholders, including individuals, institutions, and professional
societies."
Let them know how invaluable our biological collections are! Follow the
link bellow to add your comments.

https://dbinsfblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/csbr-fy17/

Link to the online Nature News story:
http://www.nature.com/news/biological-specimen-troves-threatened-by-funding-pause-1.19599

This may be old news to some... but the article includes some great
responses by scientists via twitter comments such as “What gives?
Biological collections are the bedrock of a lot of contemporary science!”

--
Lindsey Riibe
Conservation and Land Management Intern
Bureau of Land Management
Washington Office, DC
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20160401/84b09eb5/attachment.html>