16th Annual Early Career Scientists Symposium: A Virtual Symposium held on five consecutive Fridays from 5 March -- 2 April 2021. "Natural History Collections: Drivers of Innovation”

"When biologists think of natural history collections, most tend to think of taxonomy and systematics, yet many are unaware of the uses of biological collections beyond those traditional fields. These studies span the breadth of the tree of life and address broad subjects that span comparative genomics to bioengineering and climate change to historical pathogen dynamics, among many, many more. As stewards of one of the largest university-based biological collections in the world, we are in an extraordinary position to leverage our holdings of biological material from the last century or more. We envision this symposium as a way to showcase the often-unrealized opportunities and non-traditional avenues of research that our collections make possible to the entire scientific community, and emphasize some of the interdisciplinary ways in which our collections are being or could be used. We hope to foster a broader understanding and expanded use of an incomparable resource that the University of Michigan has cultivated for the past two hundred years."