CSBR: Natural History Collections: Critical Conservation of Paleontological Collections at the NCSM: A Platform to Engage Underserved Students in Citizen Science

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCSM), the largest natural science museum in the Southeast, maintains a regionally significant and globally unique fossil collection that is growing in number, reputation, visibility, and usage. These paleontological specimens are currently housed in metal-sheathed wooden cabinetry that is structurally unsound, off-gases acidic byproducts of decay, and possesses deteriorated felted door-gaskets that prevent an air-tight seal. Such conditions pose an immediate security and conservation risk to NCMS fossil specimens, particularly to scientifically significant holdings that are deteriorating from pyrite disease. This project will rehouse the NCSM paleontological holdings into museum-grade steel cabinets with archival materials following best practices in specimen conservation. The project will also introduce underserved public school students to citizen science where they will improve open-access natural history specimen data via measurements and 3D models and will integrate deeply with multiple existing NCSM programmatic efforts including a youth science communication opportunity to document and broadcast the project in action to public school audiences.

Rehousing will greatly increase the security, value, and long-term research and educational viability of the NCSM Paleontological Collection, which includes significant holdings in Ediacaran invertebrates, Cretaceous - Cenozoic echinoids, and one of the most extensive collections of Late Triassic vertebrates from eastern North America. The Paleontological Collection is an active resource for research and education, including public university courses taught annually by museum staff either inside the museum's on-exhibition Paleontology Research Lab or in the collections area. These activities regularly engage graduate and undergraduate students, and museum visitors with specimen-based paleontological research. NCSM receives about 1 million visitors each year and is free to the public, engaging culturally and socio-economically diverse audiences. This project capitalizes on specimen rehousing to broadly impact existing NCSM programs as well as create new STEM opportunities targeted for pre-professionals at multiple levels (underserved 9-12, undergraduate, and graduate students). Initiatives include the launch of a new citizen science program - Junior Curator: Fossil Collections - designed to increase open-access morphological data from NCSM paleontological specimens and engage local underserved students. Other goals are aimed at garnering community engagement with natural history collections by broadcasting a behind-the-scenes peek at collections care via live, scientist-to-classroom connections within the North Carolina Public School System; new content creation via NCSM's digital media production program TeenTV; monthly presentations in the NCSM's free Daily Planet Theater; and established NCSM social media platforms (e.g., multiple blog sites, Twitter, and live expedition websites.) Planned professional deliverables include iDigBio webinars. Results can be viewed at (collections.naturalsciences.org). This project will also support NCSM's demonstrated commitment to increasing accessibility of the Paleontological Collection as an external research resource. All paleontology collections at NCSM were recently registered with GRBIO and Earth Cube, and can be accessed via the Museum's website, The Gobal Biodiversity Information Facility, VertNet (invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology collections only) and iDigBio (idigbio.org).