Underpinnings of Science

By D'Lyn Ford

As museums go, it's small – just two rooms on the fourth floor of Gardner Hall. After signing the guest book and peering at a few bright butterflies, it takes some imagination to get past the lingering odor of mothballs and appreciate what's inside rows of gray cabinets: a collection of 1.4 million insects.

"People tend to assess collections as sort of antiquated or not particularly useful - something from a bygone era," says Dr. Andy Deans, assistant professor of entomology and director of NC State's Insect Museum. "They smell mothballs and associate it with grandma's closet. But collection-based science is probably more sophisticated and active right now than it's ever been."

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