What has been going on?

We have been very busy lately and I want to catch you all upon all the things we have been getting into.  First, I have been working hard to build up our volunteer base.  When I started we had one volunteer, and now we have 4 volunteers with two more getting ready to start.  I've trained a great core set of volunteers who are chipping away at our backlog of biodiversity samples.  We started with a shelf that had nearly 500 samples, and today there are only 12 or so left!  They are doing a fantastic job and I can't be more proud of how well they have taken to this project.  I'm working hard to make sure we have plenty to keep them busy once we move on to our next project!

No more jars like this!

Next, Katrina and I have both organized separate symposia for the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America.  Katrina's symposium will cover aspects of True Bug (Hemiptera) biology and my symposium will cover processing samples of biodiversity.  I'm hoping to use our set-up as a model for small departments to efficiently take on big tasks.  We estimated that the 500 samples would take about two years to process, and after 6 months we are half way to completing this!  I put all the credit to the dedication of our volunteers and I want to share our workflow so that other institutions can model after what we do.  

Katrina has been working hard to examine the sensory structures on insect antennae.  Of particular interest are the sensory structures she described in the previous blog post.  She has taken the antennae, embedded it into a resin, and then cut ultra thin sections so that she can examine the cellular structure of these sensory structures.  Hopefully the results will provide evidence for the functional purpose of these specialized antennae structures!

We are constantly working to find funding to improve our facilities and expand our projects.  With some luck, we hope to acquire the funding to upgrade our specimen storage cabinets.  Our existing cabinets are very old and not holding up well.  Also, we are starting to struggle to find space for the specimens that our volunteers are processing.  If we are lucky enough to receive funding for this, then we will be set to really take off on future projects.  We are also looking into a project where we will begin to collect baseline data for an Oklahoma butterfly that is listed as "Vulnerable" to extinction.  I can't wait for what the next 6 months will bring!  

Finally, we need to mention that the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History has won the 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.  The award was present to the Director, Dr. Mares, by the First Lady, Michelle Obama.  Our talented, in-house, fabrication department did a great mock-up for our celebration event last Sunday (See pic below!).

Well, we have plenty more coming up and I'll be sure to keep updates more regular!
All the best!

Andy