It is with great pleasure that I congratulate the awardees and all the
participants in the American Museum of Natural History Young Naturalist
Awards. We were absolutely delighted with the number and the quality of the
submissions we received in this, the first year of the program. The range
and variety of the submissions from around the country is strong evidence of
the interest and commitment that our young people have in protecting and
conserving the species and habitats so essential to our lives and our very
survival. It is a heartening sign to see the joy that young people derive from
the natural world and their powers and capacities to observe and to
communicate.
This years' awards mark the beginning of an annual program sponsored by the
Museum and administered by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers to
recognize young people in grades 7-12 for their excellence in biology,
earth sciences, astronomy, and cultural studies. The Young
Naturalist Awards is one element of a new educational initiative of the
Museum to extend its scientific resources -- including a research staff of
over 200, 32 million artifacts and specimens, and a world class program of
exhibition -- beyond our walls to a national audience. It is one of many new
Museum programs that provide an opportunity to connect young people to real
scientists and real science.
The theme of this year's awards was biodiversity, designated in conjunction
with the Museum's new permanent exhibition, the Hall of Biodiversity,
opening in May 1998. We asked young people to respond to one of three
suggested projects, all involving observation and analysis of the natural
world and all focused on biodiversity and the interconnections among species
and habitats. The projects asked entrants to document a natural area in
their community, to research a species and its role in the ecosystem, or to
trace an object's connections to the environment. Scientists and educators
at the Museum judged and selected the awardees whose work you will find in
this catalogue.
Again congratulations to all the participants and the awardees. Your work
gives me great hope and confidence as I think about your generation as
stewards of the planet. We look forward to receiving your submissions next year when the Young
Naturalist Awards will focus on earth sciences, in conjunction with the
opening of the Museum's new Hall of Planet Earth in Spring 1999.
Ellen V. Futter
President
Judges for the Young Naturalist Awards from the American Museum of Natural History
Dr. Robert DeSalle, Associate Curator, Entomology, Co-Director of Molecular Systematics Laboratory
Myles Gordon, Director of Education
Dr. Francesca Grifo, Director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation
Nancy Hechinger, Director of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology
Dr. Michael J. Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost
Dr. Ross MacPhee, Chair and Curator, Mammalogy
Dr. Paula Mikkelsen, Assistant Curator, Invertebrates
Dr. Nancy Simmons, Assistant Curator, Mammalogy
Dr. Melanie Stiassny, Chair and Curator, Ichthyology
Bruce Stutz, Editor-in-Chief, Natural History Magazine
