Research Programs and Facilities

The Division of Anthropology is dedicated to the study of human culture and biology, continuing in the tradition established by Franz Boas and Margaret Mead. Members of the Division carry out ethnological research in Asia, Africa, North, Central and South America. Projects include the archaeology of Native American peoples from South America, Mesoamerica, and North America; the ethnology of Asia and South America; and the physical anthropology of humans from all times and places.

The Division of Invertebrate Zoology brings together a broad range of systematic and methodological expertise, including all aspects of research dealing with non-vertebrate animals at the American Museum of Natural History. Current research projects focus on dragonflies and damselflies; termites, cockroaches, and mantises; spider silk; amber; true flies; Lepidoptera; scorpions, whip scorpions, and whip spiders; sea anemones; wasps; microbial genomics, taxonomy, and systematics; and the development of new approaches for phylogenetic analysis, which are being combined with geographic modeling to give insights into the origins and prediction of pathogenicity. The Division is a leader in DNA sequencing and sequence analysis, fostering research that led to the establishing of the Institute for Comparative Genomics.

The Division of Paleontology seeks to describe the diversity of extinct invertebrates and vertebrates and explore the mechanisms driving their evolution and extinction. The Division’s research programs focus on a variety of fossil organisms, including trilobites, ammonites, sharks, turtles, dinosaurs, and mammals, and cover a range of topics, encompassing higher level systematic studies of mammals and archosaurians; the use of fossil mammal faunas to investigate patterns of global climate change; using information on the early ontogenetic development of ammonoids and nautiloids to reconstruct the phylogeny of these groups; and exploring the evolution of the Carnivora through a combination of traditional paleontological techniques with molecular biology through a combination of paleontological techniques with molecular biology and fieldwork.

The Division of Physical Sciences incorporates scientists from the Departments of Astrophysics and of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Research in Astrophysics at the Museum focuses on the formation and evolution of planets, stars and galaxies. The program includes observations from major ground and space-based observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope, instrumentation development for direct imaging of extrasolar planets, and computational modeling using resources of the division and national supercomputer centers. Research in Earth and Planetary Sciences investigates the mineral and chemical origins of solar systems; understanding and using coral geochemistry to reconstruct ocean-atmosphere interactions, climate behavior, and pollution histories over the past 500 years; the formation of minerals, gems, rocks, and mineral deposits; and the mantle oxidation state, deep carbon cycle, and generation of kimberlite melts.

The Division of Vertebrate Zoology, which includes scientists from the Departments of Herpetology, Ichthyology, Mammalogy, and Ornithology is currently undertaking research on fish conservation in Madagascar, central Africa, Vietnam, Brazil, and Venezuela; phylogenetics of catfishes, cichlids, and other groups of fishes; biogeography and systematics of reptiles and amphibians of Madagascar and Guyana; phylogenetics of lizards; mammal inventories in French Guiana, Peru, the Central African Republic, and Vietnam; systematics and phylogenetic studies of rodents, marsupials, and bats; studies of recent mammal extinctions on Caribbean Islands; studies of mammalian pathogens and possible links to extinctions; surveys of bird diversity and distribution patterns in South America, Southeast Asia, and Australasia; and studies of molecular and morphological phylogenetics of many groups of birds.

The Institute for Comparative Genomics was established in 2001 as a center for collections, research, and training in the field of non-human comparative genomics. In support of this objective, the Institute supports seminal research in the study of gene variation which informs the understanding of the human genome and the broader evolutionary tree of life, advancing the use of comparative genomics in biodiversity and conservation, and exporting innovative approaches to areas of human health and infectious diseases. That effort has now become the focus for more than 70 research staff using facilities that include modern molecular laboratories, substantial bioinformatics capacity, a frozen-tissue collection facility, and an ancient biomolecules lab (AbLab). These, together with research partnerships with other prominent scientific institutions, such as the New York Botanic Garden, position the Museum to enhance its important contributions to genomics research.

The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), which was founded in 1993, brings together Museum scientists, collections, library resources, technology, and external collaborators to respond to the regional, national, and global biodiversity crisis. The center strives to integrate scientific knowledge into conservation practice and resource management and disseminates that knowledge widely. It also supports the training of professionals and graduate students from developing countries and assists institutions in the United States and abroad with outreach programs. The CBC carries out a broad range of integrated research programs that focus on world areas where biodiversity is richest and most threatened, with current projects in The Bahamas, Bolivia, Madagascar and southern Africa, Vietnam, and the United States.

Since 1990, the Division of Paleontology has organized joint expeditions to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Continuing the tradition of groundbreaking work in this region that was established by the Museum’s Central Asiatic Expeditions of the 1920s, this new generation of expeditions has led to spectacular discoveries of dinosaurs, birds, and mammals.

Ongoing biodiversity surveys and inventories of the fish and mollusk faunas of the Lower Congo rapids are yielding large collections of specimens, which are combined with remote sensing technology to investigate pressing questions concerning the evolutionary history and ecological interactions of aquatic organisms in this region, as well as providing critical biodiversity data for conservation planning.

Over the past three decades, researchers from the Division of Anthropology have used archaeological field projects in the Tehuacán Valley and Cañada de Cuicatlán in Oaxaca, Mexico, to investigate the development of ancient Mesoamerican chiefdoms and early states, militarism and resistance, and water-management techniques and strategies.

As part of a large-scale project to investigate the higher-level evolutionary relationships of spiders and their relatives, researchers from the Museum’s Scorpion Systematics Research Group have been collecting at sites across South America, including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, French Guiana, and Uruguay.

Researchers from the Museum's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation are collaborating with colleagues from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Malagasy researchers to collect tissue samples from humpback whales. These are being used to build a genetic database of samples from Madagascar and elsewhere in the southern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans, for a comprehensive assessment of movements between populations.

The Research Library is one of the Museum's crown jewels in support of scientific research. It is the largest independent natural history library in the Western Hemisphere—housing nearly 500,000 printed items as well as extensive non-print collections that span the full range of all the natural sciences and date back to the 15th century. The Library’s primary collecting foci are zoology, paleontology, Earth and planetary sciences, biodiversity and conservation, anthropology, and archaeology. An estimated 220,000 items in the Print Collection pertain to comparative biology, and the Library is especially strong in the areas of behavior, evolution, morphology, systematics and nomenclature, and paleontology. Each year, the Library adds approximately 1,500 monographs and 10,500 print journal issues. Currently, it receives 4,000 serial titles in print from subscriptions, gifts, and through exchange; of these, 1,200 are also available online.

The Library also collects materials on scientific biography, the history and bibliography of the fields of natural history, anthropology, exploration and travel, general natural history, cartography, marine biology, oceanography, general biology, botany, microbiology, museology, and library science. Documentation on the history of exploration and science is deep, including a large array of original still and moving images taken by Museum scientists over the last century. More recently, the collections are being made available online and integrated with the Museum’s physical collections and their associated documentation.

Museum faculty, students, staff, and affiliates may use the Library from Monday through Friday. The main Reading Room is equipped with desk space for research and terminals for searching the Library catalog, index databases, and e-journals. 

The facility includes Field Emission and Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopes as well as a variety of other microanalysis tools such as a Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope, a Fluorescence and Transmitted Light Microscope, Bruker x-ray microanalysis systems and a wet chemical laboratory for sample preparation. Computing capabilities enable manipulation and processing of all data acquired within the facility to provide a shared resource for scientific imaging, analytical microscopy, and image processing.

The Institute of Comparative Genomics is housed in four, "state of the art" facilities within the Museum. The three molecular biology laboratories include the 3,200 square foot Molecular Systematics Laboratory, the 2,179 square foot Lewis and Dorothy Cullman Research molecular laboratory, housed in the Department of Ornithology, and the recently opened Genomics Laboratory, which occupies 5,200 square feet.

All of the laboratories include high throughput automated DNA sequencing cores and other equipment to conduct research in molecular evolution, systematics, and comparative genomics. Significant research areas include assembling the tree of life for a variety or organisms, molecular phylogenetics, microbial diversity, and conservation genetics. These facilities currently house approximately 70 staff including curators, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, interns and support staff. Complementing these laboratories is a powerful parallel processing computer core and the Ambrose Monell Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research, an internationally important repository of frozen biomaterials spanning the diversity of life on the planet.

Research at the Museum relies increasingly on high performance computing, with science applications extending from phylogenetic analyses of genomic and anatomical data in comparative biology to simulations of star cluster evolution in astrophysics. These fields generate data sets of immense size and complexity, which requires supercomputing resources.

Museum scientists are at the forefront of cutting-edge approaches in three areas: (1) commodity cluster computing, (2) special purpose hardware computing, and (3) scientific visualization. The Museum currently runs three high-performance computing systems (Demeter, Eve, and Enyo) and a SUN cluster, which are deployed in support of a variety of research projects; and an Onyx supercomputer and five GRAPE boards that are used in astrophysical research.

The Museum's technology backbone is set up to be comparable to that of the most advanced research institutions and universities. The Museum is connected to both Internet-1 (commodity Internet) at 24Mbps and Internet-2 (research-only Internet, or Abilene) at 100Mbps, via the Manhattan Fiber Network. Users generally have 100Mbps service at the desktop (via Cat-5 cable) or 802.11b or 802.11g speeds (11Mbps and 54Mbps respectively) through wireless connections. Higher speeds to the desktop or laboratory can be arranged, as necessary, since services are delivered over a fiber backbone to most locations. Wireless access points have been installed in select public areas, meeting rooms, and classrooms. The Richard Gilder Graduate School facilities have complete wireless coverage. Museum users have access to a wide range of services and support, including Email, FTP, Help Desk services for hardware and software on a wide variety of platforms, assistance with acquisitions of new systems, remote access to the network using Virtual Private Networking and a 39TB Storage Area Network.

The Biodiversity Informatics Facility at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation strives to utilize information technologies in biodiversity research and applications while developing and promoting the effective use of these technologies for biodiversity conservation around the world. They are a leader in developing and freely distributing resources in the form of software, methods, and training material and promoting their effective use in the conservation community through training and web-based technologies. Visit Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP).

The Southwestern Research Station is a year-round field station under the direction of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, serving biologists, geologists, anthropologists, and advanced students studying the diverse environments and biotas of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Research is conducted in entomology, herpetology, ornithology, mammalogy, botany, geology, arachnology, and animal behavior and population, behavioral, physiological, and conservation ecology.

Facilities include a library, an insect collection, a herbarium, vertebrate collections, and a photography lab. Completed in 1992, the Technical Equipment Laboratory provides excellent microscopic facilities, constant temperature chambers, chemical hood, precision balances, and centrifuges. Recent additions of outdoor aviary complexes and an Animal Behavior Observatory afford outstanding facilities for behavioral and behavioral ecology studies. Classes from the Richard Gilder Graduate School, as well as other colleges and universities, use the Station. 

The Museum is a member of the Black Rock Forest Consortium, a unique alliance of colleges and universities, public and independent K-12 schools, and leading scientific and cultural institutions. The Consortium operates the 4000-acre Black Rock Forest, located 50 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Highlands, as a field station for scientific research, education, and conservation. The Forest features dramatic topography with over 1000 feet of relief, numerous lakes and streams, and high habitat and species diversity. Field station facilities available for faculty and doctoral research include the Center for Science and Education, with laboratory, teaching, and computer areas; the Forest Lodge and the Old Headquarters Building for overnight visitors and conferences; and a Solar Pavilion that provides protected outdoor learning and gathering space. 

Since 1935, the Hayden Planetarium has served as the premier conduit between the frontier of cosmic discovery and the public’s appreciation of it. Operating through the Astrophysics Department (Division of Physical Sciences), the Planetarium conducts, interprets, and brings frontier astrophysics research into the educational offerings of the American Museum of Natural History. More than 100 books on the universe have been authored by staff of the Hayden Planetarium. The institutional identity of the Hayden Planetarium has conventionally (and successfully) flowed through this and countless other high-profile public outreach activities of its staff. 

Scientists in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences perform a wide range of collections-based research, with a focus on basic mineralogy, petrology, crystallography, and isotope and trace element geochemistry. Researchers and students have access to a broad suite of geological sample preparation facilities, including ultra-fine saws and microsampling devices. Analytical tools include an SX5/Tactis electron microprobe, FTIR lab, and x-ray microdiffractometer. The EPS experimental petrology laboratory includes a high-precision balance, and facilities for exploring rock and mineral behavior at high pressures and temperatures.