Biodiversity Informatics and GIS Apprenticeship at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Michelle Koo, Staff Curator
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Applications for Fall 2024 are closed for this project.
The world's natural history museums are responsible for documenting over 1.8 billion species known as a result of 300 years of biological exploration of the planet. The information contained in museums include observational and specimen-based data, text, images, sound and video and form the foundation of what we know about life on earth. The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) on the Berkeley campus, is no exception, holding over 820,000 amphibians, reptiles, fish, mammals, and birds from around the world.
Informatics apprentices will learn about museum practices, global metadata standards and conventions, biogeography, spatial analysis, scientific visualization, and citizen science; in short, the cutting edge of biodiversity informatics. Students work on various informatics projects and tasks in the MVZ, depending on their experience and interest, and will directly interact with museum curators, staff researchers, scientists, programmers and staff. They will experience behind-the-scenes of an active research museum and contribute to our success.
Role: Specific tasks are dependent on current research and curatorial needs, and may include georeferencing of specimens and archival images, writing and implementing SQL in the collection management system, beta-testing new implementation of database portals or other programs, acquiring and processing GIS layers, creating GIS layers, and preparing material for websites. We train in all aspects and as required. Students from this program may have the opportunity to be hired for paid research or curatorial assistant positions in the museum.
This semester's tasks may include (several overlap): 1) Amphibian species range mapping, and include cartography, semi-automated approaches using R scripts, primary literature research; 2) mapping of type localities of newly described species; 3) interactive web mapping and cartography of large datasets; 4) fixing spatial database errors for the collections' over 5 M records.
Qualifications: The following are required qualifications: willingness to devote time to learn new skills, facility with computer programs, love of technical puzzles, and learning how to solve them; attention to detail is a must. We seek applicants strongly interested in one of the following: vertebrate natural history, information design and visualization, biodiversity informatics, history of science, or related fields. Biology major not required. Excitement in learning new technology and making data accessible a must.
The successful candidate will be familiar with GIS and R software, database concepts, and independent research. Specific familiarity with the following software tools are needed: GIS (ArcGIS or Quantum GIS), database management system, and/or web design (e.g., the Adobe Creative Suite).
Familiarity with or willingness to learn some programming or scripting languages such as R, SQL, Python, HTML, CSS, etc.
Tasks will be performed in the MVZ lab with the option to work remotely once trained. The apprentice will be expected to attend regular lab meetings (schedule TBD).
Apprentice must be able to work independently, communicate regularly, and coordinate with curatorial staff and other students.
Hours: to be negotiated
Related website: https://mvz.berkeley.edu
Related website: https://bnhm.berkeley.edu