NCSU Insect Museum Endowment
We've established an endowment through which we hope to fund activities that promote the mission of the NCSU Insect Museum, including:
- Student fellowships that enable recruitment of stellar graduate students with research interests in insect biodiversity and evolution.
- Visiting curator funds - Insects are extraordinarily diverse, and a properly curated collection enables efficient discovery of biodiversity, identification of potential pests, and the understanding of diversity changes over time. Visiting curators bring levels of expertise not currently available at NCSU. Their curation efforts would be followed by seminars that enlighten faculty, staff, and the public.
- Public displays and outreach - Insect exhibits that educate and inspire allow us to connect the public to the natural world and to reach future generations of entomologists. The Insect Museum loans its limited set of displays to the Department of Entomology's active outreach program and to faculty and local alumni. Initial funds would be used to improve the outreach collection, with subsequent funds supporting an ongoing citizen science program (e.g., school kids collecting or photographing local insects in order to monitor environmental health).
- Open access publications - Imagine having open access to all scientific publications resulting from research done at the Insect Museum. We strongly believe in the open access model for publishing science, but these principles cost hundreds to thousands of dollars per publication.
Donating to the Endowment
Your donations will help us realize these goals. Please feel free to email Andy Deans (andy_deans@ncsu.edu) with any questions or ideas. Donations can be made by downloading the museum support form and filling out the appropriate information for payment by check, credit card, or payroll/draft authorization. You can also contribute by clicking the link below.
NCSU Insect Museum Endowment
Contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
Talk to your accountant!
Consider also joining the Friends of the NCSU Insect Museum.