Curators report new hires, specimen work and field research at Virginia Museum of Natural History

Board members received a detailed research and collections briefing highlighting curatorial promotions, specimen stewardship and active fieldwork.

Research staff announced Dr. Cal Ivanov’s promotion to full curator and described the museum’s strength in underrepresented invertebrate collections, especially millipedes cataloged over decades. Jackson Means was noted as a permanent addition to collections staff and described as a myriapodologist who will work with the museum’s internationally significant millipede holdings built by the late Dr. Richard Hoffman.

Curators described active specimen transfers and training projects: Joe and other staff explained that legally procured cave specimens will be processed by students to extract age and environmental data and later entered into the museum’s collections. Staff said those students would present results at relevant conferences.

The board heard about in-progress fieldwork and publications: Dr. Pritchard is finishing a manuscript on a 55-million-year-old fossil snake from Virginia; Dr. Kyun will travel to Madagascar to collect morphological and molecular vouchers to evaluate what may be a previously undescribed salamander species; and Dr. Bassett’s underwater archaeology work at Smith Mountain Lake has found evidence of foundations and roads.

Curatorial staff highlighted public engagement tied to research, including a streamed lecture on millipedes in Waynesboro and outreach that brings regional researchers and educators into contact with museum collections.

Board members were reminded that space constraints for collections remain acute and curators were asked to specify space requirements to inform strategic planning and potential feasibility studies for future expansion.