Mission

The mission of the Biodiversity Institute is to conduct high-quality research and develop programs to advance four primary goals:

  • Initiate and lead large-scale, collaborative biological surveys to document biodiversity on a global scale.
  • Conduct collaborative, translational research in biodiversity informatics, education, and natural resource management, protection, and sustainability.
  • Acquire, validate, and synthesize information on biodiversity to create a Library of Life that is widely accessible to clients in an understandable format that will accelerate research and information transfer.
  • Transfer biodiversity information to science and society through varied and novel means including workshops, curricula, e-learning initiatives, innovative technologies, museum exhibits and other public programs, scholarly publications, and predictive models and policies relevant to accelerating biodiversity discovery and addressing major environmental issues.

Vision

The Institute will explore the world's past and present biodiversity at all levels of organization, from molecules to ecosystems, and the relationship of biodiversity to climate change and to healthy and sustainable natural and human environments. Scientists and students at the Institute will study and evaluate data from all relevant sources on topics of interest and distribute the newly synthesized information to individuals and organizations seeking validated biodiversity information. The Institute's analyses will lead to development of new methods, products, and technologies for accelerating the discovery of, improving the understanding of, and disseminating information on the planet's biological diversity.