Pollen Reference Collection Cataloguing and Imaging

This project entails cataloging, labelling, storing, and imaging pollen slides into the Pollen Reference Collection at the Royal Alberta Museum. These slides are very fragile and require careful handling and care. During cataloguing, each specimen will require numerous database fields filled, which are obtained through online research (e.g., online herbaria, primary literature) and from the original specimen label and data. Experience working in a laboratory/museum setting, working with natural history specimens, and a compound microscope are preferred.

Beaver Hills Biosphere Brochure and Plant Checklist

 Develop a brochure and plant checklist for the Beaver Hills Biosphere, as a resource for the 2025 Botany Alberta hosted by the Alberta Native Plant Council (and Royal Alberta Museum). This will involve using a variety of resources and research using primary and secondary literature to complete a species checklist.

Native Plants of Alberta Plant Fact Sheet and Storymap

Develop 1-2 page Plant Fact Sheet and a Storymap for selected native plant(s) of Alberta in collaboration with the Alberta Native Plant Council (and Royal Alberta Museum). This will involve selecting plant species, researching information about the species and developing the fact sheet and storymap to correspond with it.

Level Up: Museum Database(s) Management, Updates, and Review

Student will spend 80 hours reviewing and completing database fields (using Excel Spreadsheets), mainly pertaining to entity descriptions (morphology, measurements, etc), storage update, site and sample details, plant species distributions and other plant/specimen related data. The student will identify any missing field cells, errors and/or duplications. The student will check between multiple spreadsheets, to fill missing field information, as well as to confirm correct data is in the appropriate fields. Outcome will include updated spreadsheets including flagged fields (for future updates), and a summary report of all work completed on the database(s). This project will provide the student experience working with museum databases and data related to collections. They will obtain skills navigating various types of literature to obtain data, and understand how to write succinct descriptions. Meticulous, redundant work is required for completion of this project. Student should be very comfortable using Excel and extremely diligent with data manipulation and entry. Access to a computer, web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, etc.), and Excel software are required. All work will be completed remotely, with Supervisor-Student meetings via online conferencing (e.g., Zoom). Deliverables will include updated spreadsheets and a short summary report of completed tasks, notes and/or other elements related to updating the data. Deliverables will be used to update current databases, associated with accessioned specimens and unprocessed sediment samples, at the Royal Alberta Museum.