The Florida Museum of Natural History likes large items.
Massive skeletons.
Impressive fossils.
Sizeable grants from the National Science Foundation.
The vertebrate paleontology division of the Florida Museum of Natural History recently received its largest collections support grant ever.
The National Science Foundation gave the museum $455,330 for its vertebrate paleontology collection. The maximum amount the NSF provides for collections is $500,000.
The amount the museum received was the exact amount requested, which is not usually the case, said Richard Hulbert Jr., vertebrate paleontology collections manager at the museum.
The museum received the money May 1, but the project is just now getting underway, Hulbert said.
The grant will allow the museum to buy new cabinets and hire extra help for the identification of about 40,000 extra specimens. It will also allow the museum to hire another employee and to digitize its collection, Hulbert said.
With the grant money, the museum can prepare the fossils that were found locally, said Jason Bourque, preparator and researcher at the museum.
Hulbert said it will help the university boost its research reputation.
“Any time we can make a major upgrade to our research capabilities that benefits our graduate students, it helps us attract new and better graduate students,” Hulbert said. “It’s just part of increasing the scientific research capabilities of the university.”
