Collaborative Research: Research Infrastructure: Bringing historic collections into the 21st century: Digitization of Southeastern Lepidopteran collections

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $72,486 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

Awards are made to the University of South Carolina, College of Charleston, and Dalton State College to enable digitization and dissemination, to public and professionals, of important data from collections of historical and modern moth specimens. In addition, historical photographs, letters, and artifacts relevant to the specimens will be made available publicly. The project will also provide training for undergraduate students in museum research, databasing, and natural history. These students will be given the opportunity to attend and present research at a local entomological conference. Our knowledge of the fauna across the United States is patchy, with certain important and diverse regions having little existing data available. The Southeastern Coastal Plain of Georgia and the Carolinas is exceptionally diverse in insects, yet few researchers have documented it. A notable exception was Richard Dominick, who led a massive collecting effort in South Carolina’s Santee Delta between 1965 and 1976. His collection of ~30,000 moths and butterflies is held at the University of South Carolina but has not been databased nor has any data from it ever made publicly accessible. This project’s primary aim is to photograph and database every specimen held in that collection. The second aim is to digitize modern collections from both the Santee Delta and other under sampled regions of South Carolina and Georgia (Sapelo Island and NW Georgia). In totality, this project will greatly

Key facts

NSF award ID
2422435
Awardee
College of Charleston (SC)
SAM.gov UEI
SWV9EK5S9BX5
PI
Brian G Scholtens
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH COLLECTION, EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES
Estimated total
$72,486
Funds obligated
$72,486
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
09/01/2025 → 08/31/2027