der Wranglers," experienced teachers and entomologists who 

 facilitate visitor learning six days a week. The exhibition was 

 on view at NMNH from June II through January 2, 1995, 

 with later stops planned for New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, 

 Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto, San Francisco, and 

 Honolulu. 



"In Search of Giant Squids," made possible by a generous 

 grant from the people of Chevron, opened to the public on 

 May 28. Two enormous squid specimens (the Tamngia danae 

 specimen is 7 feet long and weighs 135 pounds, and the 

 Architeuthis dux specimen is 9 feet long and weighs 

 440 pounds', along with photographs, illustrations, 

 and videos help visitors investigate the mystery, 

 beauty, and complexity of the large squidsa the 

 world's largest invertebrate, 'he Architeuthis dux speci- 

 men is believed to have been closer to 30 feet when alive, but 

 its long feeding tentacles were not attached when it washed 

 ashore. Furthermore, scientists have never seen Architeuthis 

 dux alive in its natural habitat. Clyde Roper, curator and 

 squid expert in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, tells 

 us that "In terms of its biology, the squid is far more inrerest- 

 ing than any myth you can dream up. These animals are not 

 to be feared but admired and appreciated. They are extremely 

 important to our ecosystem because of their role in the food 

 pyramid." 



These research and public-program endeavors as well as 

 other educational efforts have greatly influenced students 

 from grade school to graduate school in the past year. The 

 NMNH Research Training Program for undergraduates be- 

 comes more influential and well known every year. More than 

 10,000 requests for information and application materials 

 were received, a 47% increase from last year. In February, a 

 total of 497 completed applications from 42 countries were re- 

 viewed for only 26 available positions. From May 28 to Au- 

 gust 7, 1994, the program hosted 26 undergraduate students. 

 Ten were classified by the Office of Equal Employment and 

 Minority Affairs as minorities: I African-American, I Asian- 

 American, I Native American, and 7 Hispanic. Twenry-five 

 different topics were researched under the mentorship of 22 

 NMNH scientists, and two papers are already in press as a di- 

 rect result of the students' research projects. 



NMNH continues to emphasize minority outreach. The 

 museum hosted the fifth annual Natural Science Institute for 

 Teachers of Minority Students in July. Sponsored by the Of- 

 fice of Education and funded with a major grant from the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia Public Schools, the four-week program 

 acquainted 32 classroom teachers with the power of hands-on 

 science learning for urban youth and provided opportunities 

 to more fully utilize the resources of the museum. Museum 

 staff also participated in the annual Minorities in Science and 

 Technology (MIST) Career Day held at a local university. Staff 

 members brought specimens such as real bones and giant hiss- 

 ing cockroaches from Madagascar to gain the students' atten- 

 tion and stimulate their curiosity. One museum staffer noted 

 the importance of informing students that medicine and engi- 



neering are not the only careers in science, thus providing 

 them with more career choices as they head to college. 



On a slightly different educational front, NMNH was the 

 only U.S. site selected to participate in Safari 'p4, an innova- 

 tive distance-learning project generously funded through In- 

 dustry Canada and organized by the Royal British Columbia 

 Museum in Victoria. For six days in April, four hours of live 

 broadcasts from a remote site on the West Coast of Vancouver 

 Island, B.C., were fed directly to museums and schools across 

 North America. Students in the NMNH audience could 

 speak directly with field scientists working underwater, on re- 

 search ships, and in science laboratories some 3,000 miles 

 away. In addition, research scientists from this museum were 

 on hand to provide further information to the assembled 

 youngsters. This was the Office of Public Programs' first expe- 

 rience with real-time, distance learning via satellite. 



Public outreach took other forms as well in FY 1994. The 

 Repatriation Office reports that human remains were returned 

 to the following groups: the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of 

 South Dakota, the Southern Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma, the 

 Shoshone-Bannock Tribe of Idaho, and the Makah Tribe of 

 Washington. The museum's American Indian Program spon- 

 sored a first-time visit to the NMNH for seven members of 

 the Southern Cheyenne Tribe located in western Oklahoma. 

 Tribal members came in June to study and interpret objects 

 crafted by their ancestors as much as 130 years ago. Such visits 

 are beneficial for everyone: for the tribe members because our 

 collections are made more accessible to them; and for the mu- 

 seum as Native Americans share their knowledge about the 

 objects with us. 



Researchers at NMNH made an impact on the world at 

 large in a number of exciting ways this past year. On the criti- 

 cal topic of biodiversity, NMNH researchers participated in 

 several ventures, including the symposium "Biodiversity: 

 From 1986 to the 21st Century" held in November 1993 and a 

 collaborative workshop on "Biodiversity in Africa's Human 

 Landscapes" the following spring. The Fall symposium was 

 the first joint activity of the Consortium for Systematics and 

 Biodiversity, a new organization that includes the National 

 Museum of Natural History, the Agricultural Research Ser- 

 vice of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the University of 

 Maryland at College Park, the Maryland Biotechnology Insti- 

 tute, and the American Type Culture Collection. The Honor- 

 able Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the 

 Interior, and Thomas E. Lovejoy, Smithsonian Assistant Secre- 

 tary for Environmental and External Affairs, presented open- 

 ing addresses. The Consortium was created to address the 

 problems of biodiversity, noting that only 10 to 20 percent of 

 the world's biological species have been described. 



The workshop on "Biodiversity in Africa's Human Land- 

 scapes" — held in Nairobi, Kenya, and funded by the Na- 

 tional Science Foundation — was attended by a 

 multi-disciplinary and international group of scholars. The 

 workshop was co-organized by Don Wilson of the Biological 

 Diversity Program at NMNH and was co-hosted by the Afri- 



