NC State University Insect Museum

The concept behind the Gigapan is that a robot (given some prior information) automatically takes many successive megapixel-sized photos and software stitches them together into one giant (sometimes gigapixel-sized, hence the name) photo. After getting six AA batteries for our new Gigapan Epic100, we have finally taken our first hi-res photo of an insect drawer - albeit with the glass still on and of Scarabaeidae (BOOOOO, BEETLES!!).

This technology has been used mostly to take large panoramas with a high degree of zoom. One particularly famous example is a panorama of President Obama's inauguration that you can zoom to see individual's faces within the crowd. We are planning to image many of the insect drawers from the museum, enabling people to view specimens and label information from the comfort of their own computer.

Now we just need to get the stitcher to work faster, make a permanent fixture for mounting the Gigapan and decide/configure the camera that we want to use.....

I am happy (again) to announce the North Carolina Entomological Society's annual photo contest! Here are the details -

TO ENTER: Submit digital images (JPGs preferred) of living insects or related arthropods to ncsuinsects@gmail.com. All images must be received no later than Monday, October 19, 2009. Please include your name, a title, and category of competition for each image (category choices below). Each participant may submit a maximum of six images. Images will be displayed and judged on a screen using a LCD projector, so keep the image size and resolution appropriate (96 dpi, 2-3 MB seems to work). The contest is open both to members and non-members. Although emailed images are preferred, CD versions can be sent to:
Andy Deans
Department of Entomology
Box 7613, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613, USA

JUDGING: All submissions will be reviewed by a team of judges and the top four images in each of the following five categories will be selected for final judging at the North Carolina Entomological Society Fall Banquet on November 6, 2009 at the JC Raulston Arboretum, NC State University in Raleigh:

1. Adult insect or related arthropod (excluding moths and butterflies)
2. Adult Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
3. Immature insect or related arthropod (caterpillars, nymphs, etc.)
4. Unusual / Extreme / Close-up of Insect, Arthropod, or other Invertebrate (unusual or extreme invertebrates; interesting behavior; close-up photographs)
5. NEW! Young photographer (any insect or related arthropod submitted by a contestant 12 years old or younger)

An image may be entered in only one category (indicated by contestant in the email submission). The criteria for judging images will be determined by the judging team.

The top four images in each category will be shown twice, category by category, at the Fall Banquet and attendees will cast votes the "Best Image" in each category and "Best in Show."

RECOGNITION: If possible, all images submitted for the contest will be displayed in a presentation at the North Carolina Entomological Society Fall Banquet. Winners of "Best Image" in each category and "Best in Show" will receive an award certificate. Winning images will be displayed on the Society's web page with proper credit to the photographer.

If you have questions regarding the contest or if you would like information regarding the Fall Banquet, contact Andy Deans (ncsuinsects@gmail.com) or Steve Toth (telephone: 919/513-8189; Steve_Toth@ncsu.edu). Also see the North Carolina Entomological Society web site at: http://cipm.ncsu.edu/ent/ncentsoc/.

UPDATE: the positions have been filled. If you hang out on the NCSU campus you might see these employment fliers cropping up on various billboards this week. I mentioned recently that our NSF Biological Research Collections (BRC) grant (abstract) was recently funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Well, our cabinets have been ordered, and we're now ready to recruit a couple of students with interests in insects, scientific imaging, databasing, biodiversity informatics, information science, and/or public outreach. More details about this project will be posted soon.

We have an open position for an enthusiastic, enterprising, entomophilic NCSU undergraduate, who is interested in the interplay between library/information science and biodiversity research. Check out our advert on the HAO blog and contact Katja Seltmann (katja_seltmann@ncsu.edu) with questions.

We'll also have two other undergrad positions opening for students interested in collections informatics (how we share locality and other specimen data with other researchers), specimen imaging (taking cool photos of important insects), databasing, outreach (teaching others about insects), and exhibit development. More details to follow soon, as these two other positions open officially on September 1.

I've been sitting on my hands for a month now, trying to contain my **excitement** about our successful NSF Biological Research Collections (BRC) grant. We submitted a proposal last year to the BRC program, and, despite fairly positive reviews, it was declined. Then American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was put into motion, and NSF revisited what it considered to be worthy infrastructure (and other) proposals. They reversed the declination(!), and it was officially awarded today. Yay!

After the fall semester gets rollin' I'll provide a more detailed accounting of what we proposed, what the reviewers' thought we could do better (they were right), how fixed the holes in our grand plan (just in time!), and how we're moving forward. In the meantime here's the abstract:

The North Carolina State University Insect Museum houses the largest insect collection in North Carolina (1.4 million specimens) and serves as a critical resource for research on the insects of the southern USA. This project involves: 1) relieving crippling space shortages by integrating new, high quality storage units, which also mitigate potentially harmful chemical preservation; 2) capturing and availing specimen images and metadata through the Web to any interested party; 3) educating citizen entomologists through public displays and a refined Web portal, including blogs and data access; details available at http://insectmuseum.org/

NCSU's specimens and associated data are scientific cornerstones for biologists focusing on pests, agriculture, environmental health, biosecurity, the decline (e.g., due to climate change) or range expansion (e.g., new invasions of pests) of key insect species and for monitoring environmental change associated with the increasing urbanization of an ecologically diverse region. The new equipment, infrastructure, databasing, training, and research facilitated by this grant will transform the NCSU Insect Museum from a specialized, remote resource into a regional focal point for biodiversity research and conservation, public education and outreach, broad-based graduate student training, and dissemination of natural history information. Three students will be trained in insect taxonomy and curation practices.