Collaboration

Throughout our collaboration we seek to integrate and evolve a shared practice of community norms. Read more about working with us.

Research

SFG members lead, co-PI, consult and facilitate, and contribute to a wide range of research

Internally NSF funded efforts include work on insect systematics, biodiversity informatics infrastructure, digitization, freshwater ecology and socio-technical concerns. Our evolving workbenches (see History for more), in use for over 2 decades, have supported well over a hundred projects involving well over 400 active participants, many in conjunction with collaborator's awarded funding, many supporting a labs day-to-day data curation in support of their research.

Online Resources

SFG hosts websites and workbenches used in primary research including natural history collection management

Catalogue of Life

The SFG supports the Catalogue of Life via its Editorship, digital tooling, primary curation, data-aggregation, and outreach and promotion

• Through its collective efforts the SFG year-over-year ranks at or near the top of the financial contributors to the CoL.
• The SFG manages a pipeline contributing over 20 datasets amounting to almost 20% of species in Catalogue of Life. See Data for the complete list. It hosts the TaxonWorks instances used to curate many of these.
• SFG actively works with the taxonomic community to plan for and implement migrations of historically important (e.g. curatorial efforts spanning decades) nomenclature-rich data into both a modern format/platform and more sustainable community-based practice. Historically, many efforts are the result of a single individual, while this is highly functional during the course of the individual's effort in many cases it leads to significant, sometimes critical issues during times of transition.
• As the core team behind TaxonWorks, a tool with the world-class nomenclature curation tools required by curators of datasets aggregated in the CoL, the SFG ensures high-quality contributions to the CoL. Derivative/integrated efforts such as NOMEN contribute data-semantics considerations and quality-assurance aspects to CoL.
• The Editor of the Catalogue of Life, Yuri Roskov, is a SFG Core member.
• Geoff Ower, also a SFG Core member, is the lead data-wrangler for datasets flowing into the CoL, and a lead contributor to GBIF's new Catalogue of Life+ tools and metadata development.
• The SFG has actively funded those seeking to fill gaps in the Catalogue of Life. Its early mission was focused on facilitating the growth of the Catalogue of Life through the sharing of its tools to others who wished to contribute to this project.
• SFG's DeWalt sits on the CoL board of directors, he has also contributed significant personal time on legal and managerial aspects of the CoL.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

The BHL and GlobalNames have a long history of integrated services, funding efforts, and collaboration

Global Names is the key technology behind the taxonomic name index critical to the BHL. Global Names contributions to the BHL also catalyzed a grant with the HaithiTrust.

Natural History Collections

SFG collaborates with an expanding number of Natural History Collections providing infrastructure, training, and help

With data on nearly four million objects in Natural History Collections SFG's contributions to the emerging concept of an open digital specimens is growing rapidly.

• California Academy of Science, San Francisco, California
• Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA), Gainesville, Florida
• Frost Museum, State College, Pennsylvania
• INHS Insect Collection, University of Illinois
• New Hampshire Insect Collection, Durham, New Hampshire
• North Carolina State Insect Collection, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Northwest A&F University Insect Collection, Shaanxi, China
• PRI Center for Paleontology, University of Illinois
• Purdue Entomological Research Collection, Purdue, Indian
• SJSU Insect Collection, San Diego, California
• UCF Collection of Arthropods (UCFC), Orlando, Florida

Outreach and broader impacts

From funding to STE(A)M support

The SFG contributes funding and time in support of research, teaching/trainging, and scientific societies. Past and ongoing examples include:

• Small grant awards, see grants via the Orthopterist's society and contact R. Edward DeWalt regarding potential opportunities for small awards that fill gaps in the Catalogue of Life.
• Undergraduate and graduate student stipends
• Societies, like the Entomological Collections Network
• Curators, at an hourly rate
• Taxonomists, particularly those contributing to the Catalogue of Life Curators, at an hourly rate
• STEM internships for high school students.
• Outreach events at the Illinois Natural History Survey and Prairie Research Institute Level.