Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) Insect Collection & BioInteract Lab

I offer hands-on volunteering opportunities for students interested in entomology, biodiversity science, and natural history collections. These experiences provide practical skills in insect curation and data management while contributing to long-term biodiversity research infrastructure.

1. Insect Pinning and Curation

Students will learn:

• The art and technique of preserving and curating insect specimens
• How to use a stereomicroscope to observe fine morphological traits
• The extraordinary diversity of leafhoppers from around the world
• Best practices in museum-quality specimen preparation

Students will contribute to:

• Expanding and maintaining the insect biorepository at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS)
• Preparing high-quality voucher specimens for long-term preservation
• Supporting future taxonomic, morphological, and evolutionary research
• Strengthening biodiversity infrastructure that serves scientists, students, and the public
• This work ensures that physical specimens remain accessible for future generations of researchers.

2. Digitization of Voucher Specimens

Students will learn:

• The basics of hierarchical biological classification
• The principles of binomial nomenclature
• How to manage biodiversity data using the INHS collection database
• Standards for permanent digital archiving of specimen records

Students will contribute to:

• Increasing the number of digitized specimens within the INHS insect collection
• Enhancing accessibility of biodiversity records to the global scientific community
• Supporting data integration with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Advancing open-access biodiversity science and large-scale ecological research
• By digitizing specimens, students help make biodiversity data discoverable worldwide and contribute to global efforts in conservation, ecological modeling, and species distribution research.

How to Apply

If you are interested in volunteering, please email me at
My Email Address

Please include a brief statement of interest and your availability.