EEOB Professor and Chair, Bryan Carstens (Principal Investigator), and Co-PI Tamaki Yuri, EEOB Curator of Tetrapods, were awarded a $474,462.00 National Science Foundation Grant for: ICBR Capacity: Biological Collections: Infrastructure improvement and data preservation of the Tetrapods Collection at the Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity.

This project will replace all the obsolete metal and wooden cabinets purchased in the 1900s-1960s with steel cabinets. The rehousing will provide the mammal and bird collections proper protection from possible damage caused by pests and other harmful elements and more efficient storage for expansion, and greatly improve organization and accessibility by staff and visitors. Other objectives of this project include: (1) rectifying the data quality issues of the current database by inventorying all cataloged specimens and validating data in the database with specimen labels, (2) imaging and preserving deteriorating specimen labels and egg cards and adding un-transcribed data to the database, and (3) transitioning the current database to a robust platform for long-term sustainability. 

Read more about the grant on the NSF website.