2011 ANNUAL REPORT ➜ no caption 2011 Annual Report Worth the entire trip to neW York CitY… by far the best museum I have ever experienced.” —Cam C. via Yelp 4 Report of the Chairman and President 9 Science 21 Education 28 Exhibition 37 Digital Museum 40 Global Content Dissemination 43 AMNH Convenes 49 Special Events 52 Report of the Treasurer 55 Financial Statements 57 Board of Trustees 58 Committees of the Board 59 Committees and Councils 61 Gifts and Grants 73 Bequests 74 Credits Setting out on the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, visitors from Boca Raton, Florida, explore the major events in the development of the universe. Follow the Museum on Facebook Twitter Youtube Google+ Tumblr Flickr Foursquare Pinterest 2 20102011 Annual Report Report Jump to sciENcE To view this lizard's osteoderms, the bony plates located in the animal's skin, Edward Stanley, a doctoral candidate at the Richard Gilder Graduate School, uses the Museum's state-of-the-art CT scanner. cONTENTs Jump to EdUcatiON 4 Report of the Chairman and President 49 Special Events 9 Science 52 Report of the Treasurer Division of Anthropology 10 | Division of Invertebrate Zoology 11 | Division of Paleontology 12 55 Financial Statements Division of Physical Sciences 13 | Division of Vertebrate Zoology 13 | Rose Center for Earth and Space 15 | Richard Gilder Graduate School 15 | Center for Biodiversity and Conservation 15 57 Board of Trustees Southwestern Research Station 17 | Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics 17 | Office of the Conservator of Natural Science Collections 18 | Office of the Registrar 19 | Library 58 Committees of the Board of Trustees Services 19 | Microscopy and Imaging Facility 19 Jump to 59 Committees of the Museum, Project Committees, 21 Education and Advisory Councils ExhibiTiON 28 Exhibition 61 Gifts and Grants 37 Digital Museum 73 Bequests 40 Global Content Dissemination 74 Design, Photography, and Video Credits 43 AMNH Convenes 3 2011 Annual Report 4 Report of the Chairman and President 9 Science 21 Education 28 Exhibition 37 Digital Museum 40 Global Content Dissemination 43 AMNH Convenes 49 Special Events 52 Report of the Treasurer 55 Financial Statements The American Museum of Natural History achieved a number of historic milestones in fiscal year 2011. 57 Board of Trustees 58 Committees of the Board REPORT Of ThE chAiRmAN ANd PREsidENT59 Committees and Councils 61 Gifts and Grants 73 Bequests 74 Credits 4 2011 Annual Report REPORT Of ThE chAiRmAN ANd PREsidENT In a challenging year, the American Museum of Natural History continued to advance its mission of science and education. The Museum is, of course, not immune to the external conditions or the sluggish economic recovery that persisted throughout 2011. Despite this, we have succeeded in maintaining fiscal prudence while sustaining institutional momentum, and we are pleased to report that the Museum has stayed steady and strong, achieving a number of important, even historic, institutional milestones. Most notably, in the summer of 2011, the Museum received notification from the New York State Board of Regents that it had been selected to launch the country’s first freestanding museum-based Master’s degree program to prepare K–12 4 Report of the Chairman and science teachers. Funded with $2.625 million from the President New York State Education Department, awarded through a 9 Science competitive grant program created with federal Race to the 21 Education Top funds, the Museum’s new Master of Arts in Teaching 28 Exhibition (MAT) Earth science program will bring the Museum’s 37 Digital Museum resources—its scientists and collections, its educational expertise, and its magnificent galleries—to bear on the critical 40 Global Content Dissemination need to improve science teaching and thereby to support Shaena Montanari is pursuing a Ph.D. in comparative biology at the Richard Gilder Graduate School. 43 AMNH Convenes workforce development and a renewed culture of innovation 49 Special Events in our country. In addition, the Museum received a grant of the New York City Department of Education and seven other Scientists pursue research in the field and in cutting-edge 52 Report of the $2.925 million from the National Science Foundation to study cultural institutions throughout the five boroughs, which seeks laboratories onsite, working with collections of 32 million Treasurer the effectiveness of this new approach to teacher preparation. to reinvent science teaching and learning in New York’s public specimens and artifacts and new kinds of collections such 55 Financial middle schools. In its seventh year, Urban Advantage has as frozen tissues. The Museum’s science centersStatements include the Co-developed and co-taught by Museum scientists and served more than 37,800 students and 370 teachers in 150 Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, the Center for educators in partnership with selected high-needs schools in 57 Board of Trustees schools. Conceived as a program that could have a national Biodiversity and Conservation, the Ambrose Monell Collection New York City and the surrounding area, the MAT program will 58 Committees of impact, Urban Advantage has also been launched in Denver. for Molecular and Microbial Research, and thethe Board Lewis B. and welcome its first class of students in 2012. Together with the Dorothy Cullman Program in Molecular Systematics59 Committees studies. and These educational programs and all of the Museum’s work Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, the only museum- Councils based Ph.D.-granting program in the country, it helps establish in education and exhibition are built on the Museum’s The Museum’s scientific enterprise had an excellent year 61 Gifts and Grants a new role for museums in post-secondary education and in longstanding scientific leadership, with 200 working scientists of research advances, as detailed in the Science section of 73 Bequests the formal education landscape. It builds on such programs as led by nearly 40 curators pursuing research in the physical this report, including an active period of strategic planning 74 Credits Urban Advantage, the Museum’s signature partnership with sciences, the life sciences, paleontology, and anthropology. to position the institution for continued leadership in 21st 5 2011 Annual Report REPORT Of ThE chAiRmAN ANd PREsidENT 4 Report of the Chairman and President 9 Science 21 Education 28 Exhibition 37 Digital Museum 40 Global Content Dissemination 43 AMNH Convenes The major exhibition The World’s Largest Dinosaurs included a variety of media and interactive exhibits, including a dig pit featuring sauropod femurs, ribs, and skulls, to engage and educate.49 Special Events 52 Report of the century science. The Richard Gilder Graduate School’s Ph.D. Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging years. The Rose Center for Earth and SpaceTreasurer celebrated its program in comparative biology continued to recruit the best Technologies 10th anniversary year with a full suite of programs, including highlighted state-of-the-art technologies 55 Financial and brightest, with an exceptionally competitive 6 percent such as scanning electron microscopes and CT scanners that a packed-house appearance by the crewStatements of the Space admission rate and 67 percent yield. are assisting scientific research and showcased the beautiful Shuttle Atlantis , the last mission57 inBoard NASA’s of Trustees Space images produced. Shuttle program. While only a select few are admitted to the Richard Gilder 58 Committees of the Board Graduate School, the Museum throws its doors wide open to Visitors also participated in a wide range of public programs, The Museum also has been busy refreshing and restoring its 59 Committees and the general public, and 2011 was another landmark year in from our popular monthly SciCafe, in which visitors can meet physical space. To commemorate the Rose CenterCouncils anniversary, attendance. People of all ages came to enjoy such major and chat with scientists, to the annual Margaret Mead Film the exhibits and technology were 61fullyGifts refreshed and Grants and exhibitions as Brain: The Inside Story and The World’s Largest updated. And a massive restoration of the Central Park West Festival; and from the perennially popular Kwanzaa celebration 73 Bequests Dinosaurs, both of which employed a variety of media and to the once-in-a-lifetime reunion of paleoanthropologists entrance and the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda and Theodore 74 Credits interactive exhibitry to engage and educate. The fascinating Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson after more than 30 Roosevelt Memorial Hall continues apace. In conjunction with 6 2011 Annual Report REPORT Of ThE chAiRmAN ANd PREsidENT For more than a century, the Museum has continually forged and reforged an active, engaged role for science-based cultural institutions in society and in people’s lives. Now, with the Richard Gilder Graduate School, the new MAT program, Urban Advantage, and other programs like them, the Museum embarks on a new era of pioneering science education, coalescing and focusing its institutional capacity and resources not only to advance scientific discovery, but also to play a more formal role in improving science education and science literacy in our country at a time of critical need and importance. Many have contributed to the Museum’s growth and accomplishments this year, and we are first and foremost grateful to the Board of Trustees, which acts as the4 compassReport thatof the guides this institution, while also lending extraordinaryChairman financial andsupport. President We thank all of our donors and Members, who steadfastly bolster 9 Science the Museum’s vision and work. We thank all of our partners in 21 Education the public sector at the City, State, and Federal levels, who help ensure that the Museum is not 28only Exhibitiona safe, effective, and engaging place, but also that we 37can Digitalcontinue Museum to serve a changing world in new ways. And we40 thankGlobal the Content Museum’s Dissemination consummate scientists and staff, the lifeblood of the institution, 43 AMNH Convenes who lend their talents and hard work, day in and day out.