A letter from the Director, September 2014

This past summer saw UCMP firing on all cylinders — our community was active in the field, wrote papers, attended meetings, hosted visitors, and ran teacher workshops. The ongoing re-housing and digital imaging of the former USGS invertebrate collection was also a priority, and UCMP supplemented our NSF grant to fund undergraduates this summer, and will continue to do so during the Fall to speed the work. But we have had little time to reflect on our accomplishments — the Fall semester has now begun! We are excited to have five new graduate students, and we are teaching a full palette of undergraduate and graduate-level classes, nurturing our next generation along. And with the new academic year, the on-going process of grant writing is now getting into full swing, including preparation of a large NSF grant to continue our digital imaging of the collection. This grant builds on the current NSF collection grant, and we are excited to be partnering with other collections, including the Burke Museum, University of Oregon, California Academy of Sciences, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, and the Paleontological Research Institute. So, as we work hard to keep UCMP growing, I am, well, floored by the very positive responses to our fund-raising campaign announced in our last newsletter — UCMP is deeply appreciative of the commitment and support you provide this amazing place, to help us in our goals of furthering the understanding of the history of life, through our research, education and outreach, and service.

Sincerely,
Charles Marshall