The Office of Public Affairs organized "Forever Changed: 

 Birds on che Hawaiian Islands" — an all-Smithsonian sympo- 

 sium thar featured scientists Helen James and Storrs Olson 

 from the National Museum of Natural History' and Rob 

 Fleischer and Scott Derrickson from the NZP. These four dis- 

 cussed the history and conservation status of Hawaii's remark- 

 able bird radiation and the discovery of recently extinct birds 

 that provided DNA samples for analyses that forced scientists 

 to rethink evolutionary relationships between Hawaiian avi- 

 fauna. 



The Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) began FY '95 by 

 initiating its first annual ZooArts Festival featuring a number 

 of prominent Washington area artists and photographers as 

 well as the works of local high school students and commu- 

 nity groups. In the spring of '95, FONZ constructed and 

 opened a modern gift and food service facility at Panda Plaza 

 and celebrated its twelfth annual gala fund-raiser, ZooFari, 

 which netted a record $240,000 for NZP exhibition, educa- 

 tion, conservation and research programs. In the summer, 

 FONZ also launched its first series of week-long overnight 

 wildlife conservation camps for children at the NZP Conserva- 

 tion & Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia. FONZ vol- 

 unteers also contributed over 100,000 hours of assistance that 

 supported a variety of projects. 



The NZP won three major awards at the annual meeting of 

 the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA): the top 

 Conservation Award for the NZP's outstanding Golden Lion 

 Tamarin Conservation Program (in FY '95 NZP marked its 

 first decade of success in reintroducing golden lion tamarin 

 monkeys back to Brazil); shared with two other U.S. zoos the 

 Edward H. Bean Award for Excellence in Conservation for col- 

 laborative work on behalf of the endangered tiger; and a Sig- 

 nificant Achievement award for breeding Matschie's tree 

 kangaroo (at the Conservation &. Research Center). 



The Conservation & Research Center, Environmental Sys- 

 tems Research Institute, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Company 

 collaborated in forming a consortium, The Conservation Tech- 

 nology Support Program, to provide computer hardware, soft- 

 ware and training to non-profit conservation organizations in 

 the U.S. and abroad. This program will make it possible for 

 biologists to more effectively analyze the environmental im- 

 pact of land and natural resource utilization. 



NZP and the Fairfax County Public Schools' Office of 

 Media Services co-produced four separate "Science Safari" 

 programs that targeted elementary school students, and an 

 "Electronic Field Trip" that was aimed at middle school 

 students. Related curriculum materials were created and 

 distributed to participating schools. The programs were 

 broadcast to schools nationally via satellite downlink or 

 cable TV systems. 



A novel underwater videotape camera provided by the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society was employed by a team of scien- 

 tists led by NZP's Dr. Daryl Boness to gather 

 never-seen-before underwater images of and data on harbor 

 seal behavior. The team traveled to Sable Island in the North 



Atlantic Ocean to temporarily attach cameras to the backs of 

 the seals. 



The first breeding outside of the wild of a Hawaiian 

 honeycreeper was achieved at the Conservation & Research 

 Center in 1995. This unusual bird, an i'iwi (Vestiaria 

 coccinea)(pronounced ee'eevee), was hatched on 25 May, and 

 was subsequently raised to independence by its parents. 

 Several non-endangered types of honeycreepers, including 

 the i'iwi, are being used at the Center as "research surro- 

 gates" in order to develop husbandry and propagation tech- 

 niques for a number of Hawaii's highly-endangered avian 

 species. 



The lobby of the Education Building was the location for 

 "Impressions of Another Land," an exhibition of children's 

 art. The artists were grade 4 students from Sydney, Australia, 

 and Chevy Chase, Maryland. The children drew a remarkable 

 series of pictures ot Australian animals — the Sydney students 

 from their own personal experience; the Marylanders from 

 photos and videotapes. 



Office of Fellowships and Grants 



Roberta W. Rubinoff, Director 



The Office of Fellowships and Grants supports and enhances 

 research at the Institution, throughout the nation, and over- 

 seas by linking the Smithsonian with students and scholars 

 from universities, museums, and research organizations. 

 Through fellowships, internships, and other visiting academic 

 appointments, the Smithsonian maximizes the use of its vast 

 and unusual resources and provides an important complement 

 to more formal modes of education. The office manages cen- 

 tralized fellowship and internship programs and all other sti- 

 pend appointments, some of which are designed to increase 

 minority participation in Smithsonian research activities and 

 disciplines. Two competitive grant programs providing schol- 

 arly support for Smithsonian professional staff also are admin- 

 istered by the office. 



Approximately 900 students, scientists, and scholars from 

 the United States and abroad received appointments to use 

 the Institution's facilities and collections. These awards in- 

 cluded stipends for visiting scholars and students, internships, 

 and short-term travel grants. Of the 66 awards made under 

 the Smithsonian Fellowship Program, 21 percent went to stu- 

 dents and scholars from underrepresented groups. 



With suppott from the Educational Outreach Fund, the 

 office coordinated a seminar series given by nine Smithsonian 

 research staff members at 16 large U.S. universities with a sig- 

 nificant number of students from underrepresented groups. 

 Students and faculty learned about some of the research being 

 conducted at the Smithsonian and about the opportunities 

 available to them here. 



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