Dear Friend of the Essig,

It has been a very productive year at the Essig Museum. This semester (Fall 2022) we have over 30 students participating in various aspects of our research, including specimen processing, digitization, and photography, as well as caring for our live insect colonies. We are currently involved in two digitization grants (LepNet and Big Bee) to capture label data for over 150,000 specimens in our collection. With our new Macropod camera (see below) we have taken thousands of high resolution, focus-stacked photographs of bees that will help train automated identification services. And we have pinned, spread, and labeled over 10,000 moth specimens from our Sulawesi Biodiversity Survey.

We have also opened our doors to the public. Over 300 attendees toured the collection on Homecoming Weekend in September, and over 150 students from UCB classes visited the museum to learn about biodiversity and museum management. By the way, our next open house is Darwin Day on February 12.

Some of these efforts are funded from competitive grants, but much of our work is funded by donations. In particular, your help makes all of our education and outreach possible, as well as training opportunities for students. 

Donate to the Essig Museum to support our outreach and education.

We engage students in hands-on museum science through our Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program and Internships. And we host seminars and public events to spread the word about arthropod science and conservation. This coming year we plan to increase our outreach efforts by creating more public accessible exhibits.

Your gift, large or small, helps the Essig Museum to:

• Support student education and hands-on experience with Essig Museum collections
• Digitize our collections that span 100 years of environmental change in California
• Engage with the community through public events like Homecoming 2022 and Darwin Day 2023
• Create engaging exhibits to better connect with our local communities

You can help us to continue shining a light on the importance of science education and biodiversity!

Sincerely,

Peter T. Oboyski, Executive Director
Essig Museum of Entomology
 

P.S. Don't forget about our Adopt A Drawer program!