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SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AT THE 

SMITHSONIAN—MORE THAN A MUSEUM 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JANUARY 14, 2014 

Serial No. 113–61 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HON. LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas, Chair 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia 

STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

BILL POSEY, Florida 

CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming 

DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona 

THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky 

KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

RANDY WEBER, Texas 

CHRIS COLLINS, New York 

VACANCY 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon 

ERIC SWALWELL, California 

DAN MAFFEI, New York 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JOSEPH KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

SCOTT PETERS, California 

DEREK KILMER, Washington 

AMI BERA, California 

ELIZABETH ESTY, Connecticut 

MARC VEASEY, Texas 

JULIA BROWNLEY, California 

MARK TAKANO, California 

ROBIN KELLY, Illinois 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

HON. LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana, Chair 

STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming 

DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona 

THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

CHRIS COLLINS, New York 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

FEDERICA WILSON, Florida 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

SCOTT PETERS, California 

AMI BERA, California 

DEREK KILMER, Washington 

ELIZABETH ESTY, Connecticut 

ROBIN KELLY, Illinois 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

January 14, 2013 

Page 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 

Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 

Opening Statements 

Statement by Representative Larry Bucshon, Chairman, Subcommittee on 

Research and Technology, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 

U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................................ 6 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 6 

Statement by Representative Daniel Lipinski, Ranking Minority Member, 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................... 8 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 9 

Witnesses: 

Dr. G. Wayne Clough, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 12 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 14 

Dr. Eva Pell, Under Secretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 28 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 30 

Dr. Kirk Johnson, Director, National Museum of Natural History 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 47 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 49 

Discussion ................................................................................................................. 58 

Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions 

Dr. G. Wayne Clough, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution .................................. 70 

Dr. Eva Pell, Under Secretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution .................. 71 

Dr. Kirk Johnson, Director, National Museum of Natural History ..................... 72 

Appendix II: Additional Material for the Record 

Submitted statement of Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking 

Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology .................................. 74 

(1) 

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AT THE 

SMITHSONIAN—MORE THAN A MUSEUM 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, 

Washington, D.C. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:29 p.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Larry Bucshon 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 
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Chairman BUCSHON. All right. The Subcommittee on Research 

and Technology will come to order. 

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today’s hearing entitled 

‘‘Scientific Research at the Smithsonian.’’ In front of you are packets containing the written testimony, biographies, and truth-in-testimony disclosures for today’s witnesses. I now recognize myself for 

five minutes for an opening statement. 

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum 

and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the 

National Zoological Park, and nine research facilities. In addition, 

the Smithsonian Institution houses 137 million objects—and probably increasing every day—artworks, and specimens. The Institution has been busy digitizing its records, with 8.45 million records 

currently available online. In 2013, 31 million people visited Smithsonian museums and there were over 102 million visits to its 

website. 

However, the Smithsonian Institution is more than a museum; it 

is home to nine research centers and numerous research programs, 

which range from astronomy to marine biodiversity and ecosystems 

of Florida to understanding tropical biodiversity. Today’s hearing 

will focus on the world-class scientific research activities at the 

Smithsonian Institution. 

In 2013, the Smithsonian’s Submillimeter Array peered through 

the galaxy to provide the first clear view of W49A, a stellar nursery 

where star formation takes place, revealing a giant star cluster in 

the making. In another finding, a team of Smithsonian scientists 

further explored overlooked preserved museum specimens. The 

journey that started at a museum in Chicago led to the cloud forests of Ecuador in the Northern Andes and back to the genetics 

labs in Washington, D.C., ending in the discovery of the olinguito, 

the first carnivorous mammal species discovered in the Americas in 

35 years. This discovery was one of the top science stories of 2013. 

In other research, the first wild horse species was born from artificial insemination at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. These are a few of the research highlights being done that we 

will hear about during today’s hearing. 

In its 168-year history, the Smithsonian has inspired millions of 

Americans, and also given us the opportunity to learn about our 

Nation’s history, culture, and values. At the same time, it is important that the Smithsonian focus its resources on research that will 

maintain its world-class status and will allow its researchers to 

solve problems that are vital to the national interest. 

Our witnesses today will display and have displayed some of the 

important research activities that are ongoing at the Smithsonian 

and will provide a vision for future activities. I look forward to 

hearing from our distinguished witnesses and having a productive 

discussion. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bucshon follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

CHAIRMAN LARRY BUCSHON

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research 

complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and 

nine research facilities. In addition, the Smithsonian Institution houses 137 million 
7 

objects, artworks, and specimens. The Institution has been busy digitizing its 

records, with 8.45 million records currently available online. In 2013, 31 million people visited Smithsonian museums and there were over 102 million visits to its 

website. 

However, the Smithsonian Institution is more than a museum; it is home to nine 

research centers and numerous research programs, which range from astronomy to 

marine biodiversity and ecosystems of Florida to understanding tropical biodiversity. Today’s hearing will focus on the world-class scientific research activities at the 

Smithsonian Institution. 

In 2013, the Smithsonian’s Submillimeter Array peered through the galaxy to provide the first clear view of W49A, a stellar nursery where star formation takes 

place, revealing a giant star cluster in the making. In another finding, a team of 

Smithsonian scientists further explored overlooked preserved museum specimens. 

The journey that started at a museum in Chicago led to the cloud forests of Ecuador 

in the Northern Andes and back to genetics labs in Washington, D.C., ending in the 

discovery of the olinguito—the first carnivorous mammal species discovered in the 

Americas in 35 years. 

This discovery was one of the top science stories of 2013. In other research, the 

first wild horse species was born from artificial insemination at the Smithsonian 

Conservation Biology Institute. These are a few highlights among the research being 

done that we will hear about during today’s hearing. 

In its 168 year history, the Smithsonian has inspired millions of Americans, and 

also given us the opportunity to learn about our nation’s history, culture and values. 

At the same time, it is important that the Smithsonian focus its resources on research that will maintain its world-class status and will allow its researchers to 

solve problems that are vital to the national interest. 

Our witnesses today will display some of the important research activities that 

are on-going at the Smithsonian, and will provide a vision for future activities. I 

look forward to hearing from our distinguished witnesses and having a productive 

discussion. 
8 

Chairman BUCSHON. With that, I will now recognize the Ranking 

Member, Mr. Lipinski from Illinois, for his opening statement. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the distinguished witnesses who will testify here today. 

Many of us remember school field trips and family outings to 

local museums, zoos, and aquaria, and you only have to visit the 

National Mall on any given weekend to see droves of young kids 

and families in line to see a range of Smithsonian exhibits. From 

the full skeleton of a Stegosaurus at the Museum of Natural History, to the command module of the Apollo 11 Moon landing at the 

Air and Space Museum, and a little further northwest, Bao Bao, 

the giant panda cub at the National Zoo who has gotten so much 

attention. I have to say, for not the Smithsonian so much, but 

going to museums and zoos back home were certainly important to 

me as a kid. 

So for young people, the Smithsonian, thousands of museums 

and other science centers around the country, find some of the earliest exposures they have to science and some of the things that 

really hook many of them into an interest in science. 

We heard a few years ago from the Chicago Zoological Society’s 

Brookfield Zoo about their informal education programs and the 

important role they play in my own community. I am co-chair of 

the Congressional Zoo and Aquarium Caucus and have long been 

an advocate of the important role of museums, science centers, 

zoos, and aquaria, and informal science ed. 

This Committee held a hearing last June to hear more about the 

Administration’s proposal for the Smithsonian to take on new leadership in federal efforts on informal STEM education. While the 

Smithsonian has an impressive track record in providing informal 

education, it doesn’t do everything that other science agencies now 

do. For example, unlike NSF, the Smithsonian does not make 

grants to external organizations including science centers and museums across the country. I am interested in hearing how the 

Smithsonian in its proposed new role would strengthen the partnerships it has with its 184 affiliate museums and how these local 

organizations and communities they serve will continue to benefit 

from their long-standing partnership with the federal government. 

In addition to the opportunities it provides as a collection of museums and centers of science education, the Smithsonian is also a 

leading research institution, as Chairman Bucshon mentioned. The 

scientists at the Smithsonian’s research centers conduct research 

on many topics of today’s most interesting and important science 

from species preservation to climate change. 

The Smithsonian collections also allow great science to take place 

and allow millions of visitors a firsthand glimpse of our national 

history. However, if these collections are not preserved, all this 

work could be lost. This Committee included a provision in the 

2010 America COMPETES reauthorization requiring OSTP to develop consistent policies for the management and disposal of federal scientific collections and ensure development of an online 

clearinghouse for information on federal scientific collections. The 

Smithsonian is a natural leader among federal agencies in this effort along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a significant collection of its own. I am interested in hearing from the panel 
9 

what means are being taken to preserve these artifacts and digitize 

them so that they can be studied and viewed for generations to 

come. 

And finally, the way the Smithsonian is funded is somewhat 

unique since it receives around $800 million annually in federal appropriations in addition to its many sources of private funds. But 

as everyone knows, we have been in a reduced budget environment, 

which the Smithsonian has not escaped. The American people also 

have slimmer checkbooks, and as such, may not be donating in the 

amounts that they have in the past. I would be very interested in 

hearing how the Smithsonian is prioritizing their research and 

what challenges they have faced during the last few years of budget cutting. 

Again, I want to thank Chairman Bucshon for calling this hearing and the witnesses as well for being here. I look forward to your 

testimony and a productive discussion. With that, I yield back. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Lipinski follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

RANKING MINORITY MEMBER DANIEL LIPINSKI

Thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing, and thank you to the distinguished witnesses who are testifying. 

Many of us remember school field trips and family outings to local museums, zoos, 

and aquaria, and you only have to visit the National Mall on any given weekend 

to see droves of young kids and families in line to see a range of Smithsonian exhibits; from the full skeleton of a stegosaurus at the Museum of Natural History, to 

the command module of the Apollo 11 Moon landing at the Air and Space Museum, 

and—a little further northwest—Bao Bao, the giant panda cub at the National Zoo. 

For many young people, the Smithsonian and the thousands of museums and other 

science centers around the country provide some of the earliest exposures they have 

to science. We heard a few years ago from the Chicago Zoological Society’s Brookfield Zoo about their informal education programs and the important role they play 

in my own community. I am a co-chair of the Congressional Zoo and Aquarium Caucus and have long been an advocate of the important role of museums, science centers, zoos, and aquaria in informal science education. 

This Committee held a hearing last June to hear more about the Administration’s 

proposal for the Smithsonian to take on new leadership in federal efforts on informal STEM education. While the Smithsonian has an impressive track record in providing informal education, it doesn’t do everything that other science agencies now 

do. For example, unlike NSF, the Smithsonian does not make grants to external organizations, including science centers and museums across the country. I am interested in hearing how the Smithsonian, in its proposed new role, would strengthen 

the partnerships it has with its 184 affiliate museums and how these local organizations and the communities they serve will continue to benefit from their long-standing partnership with the federal government. 

In addition to the opportunities it provides as a collection of museums and centers 

of science education, the Smithsonian is also a leading research institution. The scientists at the Smithsonian’s research centers conduct research on many of today’s 

most interesting and important scientific topics, from species preservation to climate 

change. 

Smithsonian collections also allow great science to take place and allow its millions of visitors a first-hand glimpse of our natural history. However, if these collections are not preserved, all of this work could be lost. This Committee included a 

provision in the 2010 America COMPETES Reauthorization requiring OSTP to develop consistent policies for the management and disposal of federal scientific collections and ensure development of an online clearinghouse for information on federal 

scientific collections. The Smithsonian is a natural leader among federal agencies 

in this effort, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture which has 

significantcollections of its own. I am interested in hearing from the panel what 

means are being taken to preserve these artifacts and digitize them so that they 

can be studied and viewed for generations to come. 
10 

Finally, the way the Smithsonian is funded is somewhat unique since it receives 

around $800 million annually in federal appropriations in addition to its many 

sources of private funds. But as everyone knows, we’ve been in a reduced budget 

environment which the Smithsonian has not escaped. The American people also 

have slimmer checkbooks, and as such, may not be donating in the amounts that 

they have in the past. I would be very interested in hearing how the Smithsonian 

is prioritizing their research and what challenges they have faced during the last 

few years of budget cutting. 

Again, I want to thank Chairman Bucshon for calling this hearing, and the witnesses as well for being here. I look forward to your testimony and a productive discussion.And with that I yield back. 
11 

Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you very much. 

If there are Members who wish to submit additional opening 

statements, your statements will be added to the record at this 

point. 

Chairman BUCSHON. At this time I would like to introduce our 

witnesses. Our first witness today is Dr. G. Wayne Clough, and he 

currently is the 12th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Since he began as Secretary in July 2008, Dr. Clough has overseen 

several major openings at the Smithsonian, including the reopening 

of the National Museum of American History, the David H. Koch 

Hall of Human Origins and Sant Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History. Before his appointment to the Smithsonian, Dr. Clough was President of the Georgia Institute of Technology for 14 years. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degree 

in civil engineering from Georgia Tech and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Clough 

will be retiring later this year as the Secretary of the Smithsonian. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your hard 

work these past six years and wish you well in future endeavors. 

Our second witness today is Dr. Eva Pell. As Under Secretary for 

Science at the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Pell directly overseas 

the operations of several museums, including the National Museum 

Of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Zoo and its Conservation and Research Center in Front 

Royal, Virginia, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 

Cambridge, Massachusetts. Do you have time for all that? 

Dr. Pell was a Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology 

at Penn State University for more than 35 years. In her role as 

Senior Vice President for Research at the university, Dr. Pell 

spearheaded the development of cross disciplinary institutes for life 

sciences, materials, energy, and environment, social sciences, cyber 

science, and the arts and humanities. Dr. Pell earned her BS in biology from the City College of the City of New York and a Ph.D. 

in plant biology from Rutgers. Thank you. 

Our third witness today is Dr. Kirk Johnson, who is currently 

the Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History and 

was appointed to this position in October of 2012. In his previous 

position as Chief Curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and 

Science, Dr. Johnson oversaw a 70-person Research and Collections 

Division. From 2001 to 2006 Dr. Johnson was the Chair of the museum’s Department of Earth Sciences. Between 1991 and 1995 he 

was one of the two scientists who led the development of Prehistoric Journey, the museum’s permanent exhibition about the 

history of life on Earth. From 1989 to 1990 he was a postdoctoral 

research associate in the Department of Botany at the University 

of Adelaide in Australia. He was a marine geologist with the U.S. 

Geological Survey in California from 1982 to 1983 and has been a 

research associate at the Burke Museum of Natural History and 

Culture in Seattle since 1991. 

Thanks again to all our witnesses for being here this afternoon. 

As our witnesses should know, spoken testimony is limited to five 

minutes each, after which the Members of the Committee will have 

five minutes each to ask questions. 
12 

I now recognize Secretary Clough for five minutes to present his 

testimony. Welcome, sir. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. G. WAYNE CLOUGH, 

SECRETARY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

Dr. CLOUGH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for this 

opportunity to testify. 

I was last here in 2010 and at that time we were in the early 

stages of implementing our new strategic plan. Since then, we have 

made considerable progress towards all of our goals and much of 

this relates to our science museums and our research centers. 

Many of you just saw compelling evidence of that progress if you 

were able to visit with our staff members here. I am extremely 

proud of our 500 scientists at the Smithsonian and what they do 

to help us understand our world, our universe, and enable us to 

create a sustainable future for future generations. The scientists 

you just met demonstrate the passion all of our employees at the 

Smithsonian have, and that is why for the past four years we have 

been named as one of the best places to work in the federal government. 

The Smithsonian, as was mentioned, is a public-private partnership. Roughly 60 percent of our funding comes from federal appropriations and 40 percent from other sources. We have worked hard 

over the past five years to enhance our private funding and use it 

in a way that best complements the federal funding that we receive. With our strategic plan as a guide, we have attracted increased support from donors and funding agencies to make 

progress we would not have imagined a decade ago. 

Last year, 31 million visits were made to our museums, the best 

attendance we have had in a decade. For the millions who could 

not visit, we are doing more than ever to reach them through our 

traveling exhibition service, our 184 affiliate museums, and digital 

technology. More than 140 million unique visitors used our 

websites last year. We are now delivering education materials 

geared to state standards to all 50 States. This is a passion of mine 

because I am an educator. I was raised in a family of modest 

means in a small rural town of Douglas, Georgia. I didn’t experience the Smithsonian until I went to college. Our strategic plan 

documents our commitment to ensure people in any part of our Nation can access our resources, and we are working hard to deliver 

on that promise. 

As noted, we were founded in 1846, and the Smithsonian is the 

world’s largest museum and research complex with 19 museums 

and galleries, the National Zoo, nine research centers, and 20 libraries and archives. As noted, we have 137 million objects in our 

collections and 127 million of these are scientific objects, some of 

which you have seen here. We are active in more than 130 countries through our research and education efforts. Last year, we had 

more than 3.8 million social media followers on Facebook and Twitter. The Smithsonian Channel now reaches 30 million people and 

families and households, up from 6 million five years ago. 

Under our strategic plan our activities are organized to focus on 

four grand challenges, two of which are focused on science. The 

first is understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet. The sec-
13 

ond is unlocking the mysteries of our universe. The plan also calls, 

one, for greater emphasis on cross disciplinary research and collaboration and cooperation with other science-based federal agencies, universities, nonprofits, and industry; two, increase sciencebased educational offerings; and three, improved attention to care 

of collections. 

Our collaborative and cross disciplinary approach is exemplified 

by something we call the Forest Global Earth Observatory, a network of more than 50 sites around the world where long-term 

standardized observations of forest changes are made. The data are 

organized and stored digitally so all scientists around the world 

and teachers and students can use the information. More than 20 

countries, nine U.S. universities, and the U.S. Forest Service participate with us in this effort. 

And thanks to a generous donor, we have recently launched the 

Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, which will perform a 

similar monitoring task to the forest effort in our coastal waters. 

As the partnership expands, many other universities and science 

agencies will join our initiative. Our scientific research forms the 

basis for educational resources offered in digital online lesson 

plans. We also offer direct assistance to school districts through the 

Smithsonian Science Education Center. For 28 years, the center’s 

innovative STEM program has been improving the K–12 science 

education in our nation, and in 2011, it won a highly competitive 

i3 innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education to work 

with school districts in New Mexico, Texas, and North Carolina 

serving approximately 90,000 students, most of whom fall in the 

Title I classification. Assessments of this work have shown it to be 

extremely successful and more will come from this work since we 

are expanding it to workforce education. 

As I look back over the past five years, I am proud that our scientific efforts have made a difference and we are positioned to do 

even more. As an educator, I am also proud of the fact we have increased participation of interns and fellows. Last year, we had 

more than 1,300 interns and 700 fellows working at the Smithsonian. And though we don’t offer degrees, we help educate the scientific workforce of the future. Of course we also continue in what 

we do best, and that is inspire young people to learn more about 

science and our world. 

You may have heard of high school junior Jack Andraka from 

Maryland who devised an inexpensive and quick test for pancreatic 

cancer after his uncle died of that disease. For that, in 2012 we 

presented him with our American Ingenuity Award for youth 

achievement. As a young boy, he was inspired by coming to the National History Museum. That is the power of science, to change the 

world with ideas and make it a better place and that is what we 

do best at Smithsonian. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Clough follows:] 
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Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you very much. 

I have subscribed to Smithsonian Magazine, by the way, for 

many, many years. I would recommend it to everyone. It is a great 

magazine. 

Dr. CLOUGH. Thank you. 

Chairman BUCSHON. Now, I recognize Under Secretary Pell for 

five minutes for her testimony. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. EVA PELL, 

UNDER SECRETARY FOR SCIENCE, 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

Dr. PELL. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. 

To most people, the Smithsonian conjures a public place on the 

National Mall. We are a remarkable tourist destination, but behind 

that is a world-class research infrastructure making a difference in 

the lives of Americans. 

The Smithsonian conducts scientific research through a blend of 

remarkable collections, field sites and observatories on Earth and 

in space. These assets allow our scientists and collaborators to address significant questions from understanding the origin of the 

universe to explaining losses in biological diversity around the 

globe. 

To demonstrate the rich depth and breadth of Smithsonian 

science through collections research, exploration, and educational 

outreach, I would like to take you on a journey, a journey of flight. 

We are cleared for takeoff from the Hill, so let’s take a short hop 

down the Mall. We land at our National Air and Space Museum 

where our future pilots, engineers, and astronauts look at the museum’s impressive collections encompassing 60,000 objects ranging 

in size from rockets to space helmets to microchips. These youngsters attend lectures, family events, and educational programs that 

often feature pioneers in aviation and space, including pilots, astronauts, and scientists. Each day, explainers bring the science of 

flight alive in the How Things Fly Gallery. 

We continue our journey now and explore the real dangers that 

airplanes face. You met our scientist Dr. Carla Dove, who is instrumental in keeping you and millions of pilots and passengers safe 

in flight on both commercial and military flights. Dr. Dove is an 

ornithologist and a forensic expert who identifies the birds that can 

cause airplane crashes like that of the commercial flight in the 

Hudson River in January 2009. 

Carla runs the Smithsonian’s feather identification lab at the 

National Museum of Natural History. The aviation industry relies 

on Carla and her lab to identify the birds involved in thousands of 

collisions with planes every year. The Smithsonian has interagency 

agreements with the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air 

Force, and the Navy. Carla’s identifications help scientists and engineers take action to avoid a crash through activities like altering 

an airplane’s flight path or implementing bird habitat management 

schemes at airports. Carla receives more than 8,000 samples per 

year, called ‘‘snarge,’’ to identify birds via feather identification or 

DNA analysis. We can help because of our unique comprehensive 

collection and the specialized training of our staff. Thanks to Carla, 

we are safe to continue our metaphorical flight. 
29 

Now, we are going to go and visit some continents: Asia, Africa, 

and South America. The question is, when we go home, how do we 

know we are going to be alone? What if a virus, a rodent, or an 

insect is hitchhiking a ride on our plane? We or others we come 

into contact with may end up getting sick when we get home. 

The diseases can be caused by pathogens that are carried by animals and insects causing zoonotic diseases that are spread between 

animals and humans. You have heard of SARS, malaria, and West 

Nile virus infection. In fact, about 75 percent of recently emerging 

infectious diseases affecting humans originally infected animals. 

Because of extensive international air travel, these diseases can 

travel undetected very quickly, posing serious public health and 

economic threats. 

To respond to these diseases, the Smithsonian is a partner with 

USAID on the PREDICT project, charged with predicting and preventing such problems. Our scientists help build pathology skills so 

that scientists in the developing world can help identify the cause 

of animal deaths, both wildlife and agricultural, often an important 

indicator of disease threats that could jump to humans. 

In November of last year, scientists in the Middle East found a 

disease caused Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in camels in 

Qatar. The SARS-like coronavirus, which emerged last year, has 

killed 40 percent of the 170 people to whom this virus was transmitted from camels. Pinpointing camels as the disease required a 

range of tests, including DNA sampling and antibody testing. The 

Smithsonian was able to help by providing a baseline comparison 

for these samples through use of our collections, which include 30 

years of banked serum from more than 100 species that we have 

at the National Zoo. The Qatari Health Counsel, armed with this 

information, was able to issue warnings for vulnerable populations 

to avoid close animal contact. Our scientists and colleagues have 

nipped this problem in the bud before it walked onto a plane. 

Our brief journey has come to an end. We can land safely now. 

But the possibilities for future exploration for you and your constituents are endless at the Smithsonian. Please come visit our collections, our field sites, and our observatories. Meet more of our 

dedicated scientists, and I can promise you an incredible journey 

you will not forget. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Pell follows:] 
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Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you very much. I was interested in 

the word snarge. It is one of those words that kind of sounds like 

what it is, kind of, you know—I now recognize Dr. Johnson for five 

minutes to present his testimony. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. KIRK JOHNSON, DIRECTOR, 

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

Dr. JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I am going to talk today about the research, the collections, and 

the public impact of just one of the Smithsonian museums, the National Museum of Natural History. This is the largest of the museums. Not only is it the largest Smithsonian Museum, but it is also 

the largest natural history museum in the world by far. At the 

Natural History Museum, we really do only three things. We do 

basic scientific research, we guard and use the Nation’s science collections, and we inspire and educate our public who knows they 

learn best when they are having a social and fun time with their 

families. 

We have more than 7 million visitors each year at the National 

Museum of Natural History, which is an amazing number. It is the 

most-visited museum in the world. And 84 percent of our visitors 

come from out of town, which means they are unique visitors, 

which means every year we get a different 84 percent of 7 million 

which means in a decade we might see as many as 60 million people in that one building on the National Mall. That makes us the 

premier science education space in the world and it means that 

something like 20 percent of the American population will walk 

into that building every decade. So it is a phenomenal asset for 

communicating about the natural world. 

We also have more than 90 percent of the Smithsonian’s collections with 127 million objects, specimens, and artifacts. And this is 

where we keep the objects that we treasure about the world and 

study those objects. We have 11,000 scientists who visit us each 

year to study those objects here in our facility in Suitland, Maryland. We are the home to the iconic Hope Diamond, and we are the 

real Jurassic Park. 

With more than 200 scientists, we have the largest museum 

science staff in the world, and these are scientists who have three 

primary areas of expertise: the study of Earth and similar planets, 

the study of the diversity of life on Earth, and the study of human 

diversity and cultural change. They publish more than 600 scientific books and papers every year often describing new species 

and making discoveries about plants, animals, and organisms 

around the world. 

Also embedded in the Natural History Museum, we have scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from the U.S. Geological Survey, from the Department of Defense, and from NOAA’s 

National Marine Fisheries Service. They are there because our collections allow them to do the work they need to do, things like preventing our troops from getting malaria, things like preventing 

invasive pests from crossing our borders, and understanding the 

vulnerabilities of our fishery stocks. 

Today, we had a number of scientists here. I will just mention 

two of them. Dr. Tim McCoy is the Chair of the Mineral Science 
48 

Department. He studies meteorites. And if you ask him why he 

studies meteorites he will say, well, I want to understand the formation of the solar system, which seems a little bit ethereal to a 

lot of us. It is a very important topic but you have to think back 

in February, just a year ago in Russia when the Chelyabinsk meteorite exploded over Russia, there was a meteorite the size of a bus 

traveling at five miles a second that, depending on how it came in, 

could cause a tremendous amount of damage. We know that a sixmile-diameter asteroid is probably what caused the extinction of dinosaurs and most life on Earth 66 million years ago. So these 

things are real and they are in our time frame and we need to understand them, and that happens at a place where we have the 

world’s collections of meteorites. 

You saw the work of Dr. Kris Helgen, who is a mammalogist, 

who at a very young age has discovered dozens of new species of 

previously undescribed mammals by looking at collections and visiting natural habitats around the world. 

These experts represent a dedicated staff but they are also the 

inspiration for what we present to the public as our various exhibits. 

In this last year, we partnered with the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health to put 

together an exhibit called Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code. This is 

in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Watson and Crick’s discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the decoding of the human genome. And 

this is one of these very rapidly evolving fields in science and medicine where we are all real interested in what is going to happen, 

and a really good place to get started learning about it is to come 

down and see the exhibit on the Mall. 

In December we opened a 10,000 square-foot exhibit called 

Q?rius, and this is a place where we have turned the museum inside out and made our collections, our scientists, and our scientific 

equipment available to primarily teenagers because we know that 

people will study things if they are very interested in them. And 

we find that museums are a great way to catalyze people’s curiosity. 

We will be opening in a few years a complete renovation of the 

Nation’s Fossil Halls, which originally opened in 1911 as the Hall 

Of Extinct Monsters. In the last century we have learned so much 

about the history of the Earth and the story of dinosaurs that we 

are going to be renovating that entire space. And later this spring 

we will be bringing to Washington, D.C., a complete real Tyrannosaurus rex in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

and the Museum of the Rockies. It will be the first real Tyrannosaurus rex in the Nation, the Nation’s T-rex in Washington, D.C., 

and we will use that to launch our renovation, which will open in 

2019. 

So as you can see, the Natural History Museum is a curiously 

successful blend of three very different things: very serious science, 

our treasured objects, and a deeply engaged public that is learning 

while it is having fun. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Johnson follows:] 
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Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you for your testimony. I have also 

watched movies about you guys such as ‘‘Night at the Museum.’’ 

I would like to remind the Members that the Committee rules 

limit questioning to five minutes. At this point I will recognize myself for five minutes for questioning. To all witnesses, with regard 

to scientific research, what does the Smithsonian Institution bring 

to the table that cannot be achieved by other federal agencies like 

the National Science Foundation or NASA? Can you describe 

things that might be unique to the Smithsonian? 

Dr. CLOUGH. I will get started. The agencies obviously have different missions, and I served on the National Science Board and 

was a researcher with NSF funding for many years. We don’t fund 

other groups. We do work with other groups and our collections is 

one way we would be different from the others. We have the largest 

scientific collection in the world as Kirk described, and it works a 

little bit like a national lab the way I see it because it serves as 

a tremendous research base for all the other scientists to come in 

and use the collection. We are the caretakers in that way but we 

use it for our own research as well. 

And the interesting thing is collections have become far more important to us in our research endeavors because of genomics and 

some of the new scientific instruments and tools that we have. So 

this is sort of a new day if you will for our collection. So our collection is one of those things. 

A second way is I mentioned the Forest Global Earth Observatory and the new marine observatories, which Dr. Pell really has 

made happen. Those are long-term projects. The Smithsonian is 

very good at collaborating, bringing together teams, and then carrying out work that you can sustain for long periods of time. 

We are trusted around the world. I mentioned ForestGEO has 

over 20 countries involved in it. These are countries that want to 

share information with us. They trust us as a source of reliable information and they trust us with the data. So I think that the ability to do long-term research, the collections, and the unique capabilities of our scientists are some of the things. My colleagues 

might want to comment otherwise. 

Chairman BUCSHON. Dr. Pell? 

Dr. PELL. Well, I would just build on what Wayne talked about 

because coming from a university where I worked most of my career, you are very much confined as a faculty researcher by the 

term of your grant. Having the federal appropriation that allows us 

to establish programs and know will be there in five years, in ten 

years, in 50 years in 100 years is a huge difference. And as a result, many faculty send their graduate students here and post-docs 

come here for that experience to work in an environment that has 

that kind of longevity. 

Dr. JOHNSON. And I will just agree with what both of my colleagues said, but just add the fact that we do very basic research 

on what is on the planet—the life, the rocks, the minerals—and 

that is a very baseline sort of research that underpins so much 

more of the innovative and applied research that is out there. 

Chairman BUCSHON. And, Dr. Pell, a question about big data. 

Obviously, we are talking about digitalizing everything and we talk 

about that a lot. Specifically, how is the Smithsonian handling the 
59 

issues of data access, data management, storage, duration, cost 

control? Because obviously—and Dr. Clough can answer this, too— 

that is advancing quickly. And how is the Smithsonian trying to 

address that? 

Dr. PELL. That is a huge question and I want Kirk to weigh in 

as well because we have 137 million objects and we have a mandate to make what we have available to the world. And the best 

way to do that is through digitization, and so we are on a march 

to digitize our collections and we are also very much interested in 

open access at every opportunity that we have. This past year, we 

had three presidential fellows who came for the very purpose of 

trying to help us figure out how to do our digitization more rapidly 

than we had been doing it and we have been taking advantage of 

crowdsourcing. 

And an example I find very intriguing is, as a plant biologist myself, biologists go out in the field and they have field notebooks and 

they write all this information down, and what you really want to 

be able to do ultimately is to access those digitally, but you would 

also love to be able to search them digitally, which is different than 

just making PDF images of things. And we have started this transcription program for field notebooks and put it out on the web and 

said anybody interested in—you can bring it up online but it needs 

to get—it is handwritten and it needs to get digitized. It is remarkable. Am I remembering 1,100 people? Is that the right number of 

people—from all over have been inputting these data and we have 

been verifying it and we see ourselves doing more and more of that. 

Dr. CLOUGH. I would make one other quick comment. We do deal 

with the big data and we have a big data challenge. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is awash in data because they are 

actively observing the heavens from multiple points of view and retrieving enormous amounts of data. And these we think of as images but it is actually digital information. 

The genomics initiatives we have underway are going to generate 

an additional wave of data. So with Dr. Pell’s help, we have been 

having discussions with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Department of Energy. They are very interested in what we are doing and 

obviously they have greater capacity in terms of handling big data 

than we do and we look to partner with them in the future. They 

did say they thought we had very interesting problems and I 

thought that was a compliment. 

Chairman BUCSHON. It is. I now recognize the Ranking Member, 

Mr. Lipinski, for five minutes. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you. I want to go back to something I talked 

about in my opening statement is STEM education and informal 

science education. I know a lot of my interest in science came in 

part from visits to great museums in Chicago like the Museum of 

Science and Industry and going to Brookfield Zoo. And in fact research has shown that as much as 80 percent of science learning 

occurs in informal environments like these. 

I want to ask Dr. Johnson, putting on your hat as a former chief 

curator and vice president of the Denver Museum of Nature and 

Science, can you talk about the challenges faced by museums and 

science centers across the Nation in terms of availability of funding 

for developing and maintaining exhibits and educational opportuni-
60 

ties for youth and the public in the communities that they serve, 

and also talk about how the Smithsonian can be helpful in that regard. 

Dr. JOHNSON. That is a very interesting topic. We do know that 

something like 95 million people a year go to science and technology centers, and it is a very pleasant way to learn very important things. There has been a trend in the last several decades for 

there to be fewer and fewer scientists at science centers, and as a 

result, the content isn’t necessarily always there. So one of the 

things the Smithsonian can and is doing is helping to supply 

science-based content to the museums around the country because 

it turns out that it is difficult at a certain scale to maintain collections and scientists and still run a viable standalone science center. 

And what we have seen in many cities across the Nation in the last 

few decades is the decrease of the health of science in collections 

at natural history museums and the growth of science centers, 

which don’t have to bear the costs of maintaining collections and 

scientific researchers. 

So this is where being the mothership of the museums allows us 

to share our resources quite well. We have a product called the Encyclopedia of Life, which is a website that we are building to host 

literally a page for every species on the planet. And we presently 

are at 1.34 million pages towards a target of 1.9. So ultimately, I 

think that the popularity of museums remains high. Funding is 

challenging, but most of the museums in the country and local 

markets where the markets realize the value to the education of 

their youth and families and it is very much my goal as a director 

of this museum to use the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum 

to improve the health of natural history museums and science centers across the country. And we are in contact with the Association 

of Science and Technology Centers to think about how we can bring 

science back into science centers and support this national endeavor. 

Dr. CLOUGH. I will comment on that. This is a very interesting 

question because at one time you could think of a formal track and 

an informal track and they did their separate things. I believe that 

the informal track has shrunk because of the need to meet state 

standards and so forth, and as a result, there is a gap there for us 

to fill and that the Smithsonian and other science centers are moving much more closely into the formal education sphere. And we 

can do that effectively through programs like digital badging where 

we can give youngsters credentials for completing exercises and 

proving competency if you will. And so we have about 100 different 

digital badges now that we offer in different programs that help 

teachers. We have 2,000 lesson plans available for free to teachers. 

Now, in addition to that sort of digital approach, we have a 

boots-on-the-ground approach in the Smithsonian Science Education Center. I mentioned we are working in three States primarily with Title I students where we work with principals and we 

work with teachers. We have 600 teachers a year to help them get 

comfortable in teaching science. We give them curriculum materials. We help the students learn, and we work with the communities to support their schools and to transition through leadership 

changes with superintendents. So we believe we need to look at it 
61 

not just from the point of view digital delivery but also boots-onthe-ground and hard-core being in that space. We are just starting 

up a big program in Denver in the same way. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. In the little time I have left I wanted to go a little 

more into the issue of the provision in 2010 COMPETES reauthorization that required OSTP to develop consistent policies for the 

management and disposal of federal scientific collections and develop an online clearinghouse for information on federal scientific 

collections. You talked a little bit about this already, but how are 

you working to achieve this and what kind of collaborations do you 

have with federal agencies with large collections? You talked about 

general questions with big data and where to store this, but can 

you provide further comments on how this process is coming along? 

Dr. PELL. Well, I would want to mention that we co-chair with 

the USDA the interagency working group on scientific collections 

because I think across the government we are recognized as probably having the largest collection, so we are working with them on 

all of the standards. And Scott Miller is sitting behind me and is 

the Deputy Under Secretary for Collections and he is the co-chair 

of that committee. I would also say that we work very closely every 

day with a number of the agencies that have large collections. 

USDA, Park Service, and Department of Interior all have collections and staff that live at the National Museum of Natural History, so there is a very close collaboration on a daily basis as well. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. All right. I see my time is up. I will yield back. 

Thank you. 

Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you very much. 

I now recognize Mr. Massie, five minutes. 

Mr. MASSIE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I see some nice it looks like 3–D models up there that come from 

some of the artifacts that were scanned I presume. One question 

that I have is do you allow public use of all of your 3–D models? 

Can people who have a 3–D printer go and get these models and 

what sort of efforts do you have to promote those 3–D models if so? 

Dr. CLOUGH. Well, we think 3–D models have a great future, 3– 

D imaging and 3–D files if you will, because it gives people access 

to our collections in ways they never had before. It may not be exactly the real thing but it sure looks like the real thing in many 

cases. So we have developed a three-dimensional imaging group 

and we think it is the leading group in the world. We just had an 

international conference where hundreds of people came to the conference. We rolled out, in essence, our first collection of images that 

are fully 3–D ranging all the way from a ship, the Gunboat Philadelphia in American history, down to a bee to show the possible— 

as well as—I guess the big one was the—we had a galaxy collapsing also that we imaged. But the idea was to illustrate the 

range of things we can do. That is accessible on our website. It is 

20 objects. You can download the files themselves. You can manipulate them when you are there. You can look at them in different 

colors. And what we learned from that exercise was many scholars 

are astounded because they can see things on objects they have 

never seen before. These can be downloaded by a teacher in schools 

in your community if they have access to a 3D printer. Some of 

these printers get to be very cheap now. They can print out the ob-
62 

jects themselves. If they don’t have access to a printer, there are 

internet sites now where you send these files to a company and 

they will print it out for you. 

Mr. MASSIE. All right. Are there any—— 

Dr. CLOUGH. So we are making this available for free. 

Mr. MASSIE. Are there any restrictions on the use of those—— 

Dr. CLOUGH. No. 

Mr. MASSIE. —data? 

Dr. CLOUGH. None whatsoever. 

Mr. MASSIE. So they can show up in a movie and be used there 

as well? 

Dr. CLOUGH. Presumably. We have to be a little careful. 

Mr. MASSIE. Okay. 

Dr. CLOUGH. I will say that, as I showed several Members of the 

Committee, we had this conference and they had demonstration 

technology there, one piece of which was they would take an image 

of anything within this cage, which happened to be, in one instance, me. And so I was imaged and the next day they presented 

me with a seven-inch-high model of myself, which my wife says is 

weird. 

Mr. MASSIE. Yes. I have got another question while we are talking about archiving into shapes. You know, it used to be popular 

to go out and shoot rare animals and stuff them. Is there any sort 

of contemporary version of that where we are cataloging DNA of 

existing species, for instance? 

Dr. JOHNSON. Yes. One of the things we have realized is that 

every organism has an amazing amount of information in its genetic code, so every single organism is a unique example of life on 

the planet. And the best way to preserve that is to freeze it at very 

cold temperatures. And we have built in Suitland, Maryland, a frozen repository with 5 million slots. We use both nitrogen and deep 

cold freezers to preserve tissue samples of objects that we have the 

body of the object in the museum. So we have both the actual physical entity and the frozen tissue from which we can extract genetic 

information and genomic information. So we are realizing that a 

museum of the 21st century preserves both the body and the genetic components. 

Mr. MASSIE. Along those lines, I think in other countries there 

is an effort to archive seeds sort of to preserve at least the genetic 

diversity that we have among our agricultural crops and the opportunities to grow that. And those are always at risk because these 

things propagate on their own through pollen and through the 

wind. Do we have any sort of seed archive at the Smithsonian? 

Dr. JOHNSON. Yes. We do not have a seed bank. We do keep a 

number of animal gametes at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute so the fertile parts of rare and endangered species 

that we are breeding right now, we keep their gametes frozen. So 

that is effectively the seed of the animal if you will. And we are 

breeding things like cheetahs and black-footed ferrets and maned 

wolves. So rare and endangered animals, we will preserve their reproductive output. 

Mr. MASSIE. Great. I just have one other question on climate 

change. What percent of your budget is devoted to studying climate 

change or archiving that in sort of the contemporary debate right 
63 

now over whether man is having an effect on that and to what degree? 

Dr. CLOUGH. I don’t think we know the percentage as you describe it. The Smithsonian does a lot of research that relates to climate change. It is not directly focused on that. For example, we 

study bird migration patterns at the National Zoo. We know that 

bird migration patterns are changing because the climate is changing, but we have studied bird migration patterns and birds for 

other reasons than just that. There are many areas where we are 

actually doing work that relates to and illustrates climate change. 

We look at the acidification of oceans because we study reefs, and 

acidification of oceans affects reefs and it has something to do with 

the chemicals of the greenhouse gases that are in the atmosphere. 

So we do a lot of work that touches on climate change but is not 

necessarily directed at the singular issue by itself. 

Mr. MASSIE. Thank you very much. My time is expired. 

Chairman BUCSHON. I now recognize Ms. Kelly for her questions. 

Ms. KELLY. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for being here. 

Under your leadership, Dr. Clough, the Smithsonian named 

Claudine Brown as its first Director of Education, now the Assistant Secretary for Education and Access. We have all heard the latest statistics from the Program for International Student Assessment finding that American students are lagging further and further behind their international counterparts in math and science, 

scoring average to below average in the subjects. Unfortunately, 

these scores are even lower on average for minority students in 

communities with limited access to the kinds of advanced technology found in many higher achieving school districts and classrooms. Can you talk more about your efforts to broaden participation? And beyond counting the number of students your programs 

touch, how do you measure the impact on the students who go 

through these programs? 

Dr. CLOUGH. That is an excellent question. Dr. Brown has been 

essential to the work that we have been doing. We didn’t have that 

position before. And many of our museums, as Kirk described, have 

wonderful education programs but we wanted to coordinate them 

and use them in some capacity so more people can access the 

broadness and pick and choose what they need. What we have 

learned from teachers, for example, is they don’t want our lesson 

plans per se. They would prefer us to provide them with a framework in which they can fill in and paint the palette, if you will, for 

their local communities, and so we have tried to work with them 

on that kind of concept. 

I think what we have tried to do is to take the multiple approach 

of there are places where boots on the ground are essential and we 

can help teachers teach science better. But many teachers, as you 

know, are not necessarily credentialed in science, and so we try to 

help teachers get over that hump of being afraid of the subject that 

they have to teach. They have no choice but to teach it. So we have 

worked at this now for 20 years and we have gotten very good at 

it. 

Claudine’s group also is working very closely with our affiliate 

museums to give them options for access to our materials. For example, in the sciences we have about 50 of our affiliates—and the 
64 

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, Washington just signed up, as a matter of fact, as one of our affiliates— 

that are science museums, or research centers. So recently, we got 

a grant from the Gates Foundation and we created an option for 

our students to go to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 

and use their telescope and talk to our scientists and to their educators and learn about the universe by actually talking to experts. 

So active learning, we think, is a real key to what to do. 

We are also very grateful to the Gates Foundation for having 

given us a $30 million grant for an endowment called Reaching 

New Audiences. It is a competitive grant process, and all of our 

museums apply and they have to come up with really good ideas 

to reach audiences we traditionally have not reached very well. 

And that is now in its third year. We have now given out $5 million. It is an endowment that we spend to reach new audiences and 

we are really learning a lot about that. And educators from NSF 

and others now are joining us in these efforts. It is a collaborative 

effort and it is exciting what we are seeing. 

Ms. KELLY. Wow, that is fantastic. Also you mentioned in your 

testimony that the Smithsonian Science Education Center launched 

its new Workforce Development Initiative. And I am just curious, 

why is that under the scope of the Smithsonian to concentrate on 

workforce issues and how does that fit with your mission? 

Dr. CLOUGH. Well, there has been an interesting thing because 

I came out of the university world and I was used to a little more 

traditional age group in terms of the group you are targeting for 

education. The Smithsonian, we like to say, starts with 2-year-olds 

and goes to 92-year-olds. So we have a lot of experience in educating people who are nontraditional learners, who are lifelong 

learners, who are curiosity-based liners, and adult learners. And 

we like to work with families, if we can because that is also very 

helpful as well. But we are learning from the Department of Labor, 

and from the Department of Commerce. We work closely with the 

Patent Trademark Office in the Department of Commerce—there is 

a big gap in terms of workforce training. We won’t do all of that 

but there are places where our digital badging program will be perfect for some of the material that we teach to late-grade students 

and others to help people get literacy and understand what they 

need for scientific literacy to do their work. 

Ms. KELLY. Thank you. I yield back. 

Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you very much. 

I now recognize Mr. Hultgren, five minutes. 

Mr. HULTGREN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all so 

much for being here. Thank you for your great work. 

I do think it is so important for us as a Committee and as Members of Congress to be having this conversation, and I believe so 

strongly in our museums. We had a very interesting hearing last 

week about STEM education and specifically how do we inspire 

young people to get engaged in science and technology and engineering and mathematics, a very good hearing but so much more 

work that we need to do. 

One of the things that really does bring us together as Members 

of the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, is a need in 
65 

our Nation to be recommitted to STEM education. And I see museums as a key part of that. So thank you for your work. 

I also want to say I thank you for your recognition of the young 

man Jack Andraka who invented the pancreatic cancer test strip. 

I got to meet him at Ideas Week in Chicago a year ago, so impressive, so energetic. But that is what it is all about is getting young 

people excited and seeing that there is no barriers really at that 

age to have a passion and pursue it. And that is what is so exciting 

to me. So thank you. Thank you for your work. This is so important 

for us to discuss this so that we can prioritize with limited resources, prioritize funding and also make sure that we are not 

wasting and doing duplicative type programs. 

I do want to focus a little bit on something that does concern me 

a little bit or I have heard some concern for some of my local museums. When the Administration decided to reorganize how STEM 

education was handled at the federal level, there were many in the 

stakeholder community who seemed taken by surprise with the 

proposal that they were not consulted about. 

Dr. Clough, I wonder, the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget in- cluded an additional $25 million for the Smithsonian to become the 

lead agency for informed—to inform STEM education. Many in the 

informal education community that I have been in touch with in 

Illinois are concerned about this, especially since your organization 

cannot make external grants. I wondered what role you played in 

developing this new role for the Smithsonian, how you have responded to concerns from the STEM education community, and 

what I can take back to my local institutions? 

Dr. CLOUGH. We did not have any role in formulating the plan. 

We heard about it rather late in the process, unlike most. Basically, when we got our passback we learned that there was an effort to do this. Obviously, we had concerns ourselves when we first 

heard about it because many of the agencies that were going to lose 

some of their capacity, we work with them. And in some cases they 

fund us. And so, in the Air and Space Museum we work with 

NASA in space education and HIH and so forth. So we wanted to 

talk to our friends and try to understand what we could do, and 

if the plan were to go through, we wanted to make it one where 

we helped them in any way. 

We felt, for example, if we were going to go through with this, 

that maybe two or three NASA educators will come to the museum 

and in essence be surrogates for NASA in our programs so they 

could help make sure we were doing the right thing on their behalf. 

I think what we learned out of this and the whole effort eventually 

moved on, but we had a number of meetings that were very useful. 

It was an odd sort of process and it happened rather quickly, but 

it really brought all of us together in the STEM education field and 

we started talking and we found out places where we were doing 

things that others weren’t doing and places where others were 

doing things we weren’t doing and we created some really remarkable new collaborations out of that. 

For example, I mentioned digital badging. It happened to be 

something that we have been very aggressive about with funding 

from the MacArthur foundation, and so we were able to share what 

we were doing in digital badging and now we have little groups 
66 

coming together to talk about digital badging where we are sharing 

our insights about that. And so in a way it had this odd sort of 

positive benefit at the end of the day. 

Now, as far as the other museums are concerned, obviously, we 

are the Nation’s museum and we try to make a point about that. 

That is why we have 184 affiliate museums. So we have museums 

all over the country, many of which happen to be science museums. 

And we share everything we have. Our goal is, as soon as we do 

something, share it. As I mentioned with Colorful Cosmos was an 

unusual case where we did issue a sub-awards. We used the Gates 

Foundation money that I mentioned earlier and we provided that 

to the regional museums that didn’t have a lot of money. We would 

award them $2,500 so they could advertise it thoroughly through 

their local schools and get as many young people as possible engaged in this great opportunity to work with our scientists at SAO. 

So we try to work very collaboratively with everyone wherever we 

go. 

Mr. HULTGREN. Let me follow up on this real quick. My understanding is you can’t make external grants specifically with your 

resources that you have been given. How is the institution able to 

partner with private sector organizations? You have talked to about 

a little bit, I guess, with the Gates but also just—if you can further 

on that a little bit more of any other STEM education-related research or programs that you see moving forward again that could 

provide hope and encouragement? Maybe that has already been 

presented to a lot of these institutions, but I have heard some concern I know from some great institutions in the Chicago area. 

Dr. CLOUGH. A good example of that was the innovation grant 

from the Department of Education. It is very competitive to get in 

the game and we were, because of our experience, chosen to go forward with that effort. The Department of Education gave us $25 

million but we had to raise $8 million privately. And the idea is 

to engage the corporate community in the project so they get, if you 

will, skin in the game in their schools and so we leverage federal 

dollars with private dollars to make this work. 

I mentioned we are in Denver and it partly started when Kirk 

was still out in Denver and we visited out there. We have four affiliates in the Denver area of our museum. We worked very collaboratively with those four museums. The Science and Nature Museum is one of those. That effort is being entirely funded by the 

corporate community because they love what we are doing in our 

laser program, the one I mentioned, and they are more than willing 

to fund us to do this. And so in that case it happens to be almost 

a totally privately funded effort but we are doing it in total collaboration with the local museums. In fact, the head of the Denver Museum is our champion in Denver to get that done. 

Mr. HULTGREN. My time is past expired. Thank you very much. 

I appreciate it and yield back, Chairman. 

Chairman BUCSHON. Thank you very much. 

I recognize Mr. Collins, five minutes. 

Mr. COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

You know, I love your museums. I used to come down here in another life and I would always come down the night before and pick 

one of your museums to go to. So I am going to ask you a tough 
67 

question so I want to set the stage. I love museums. I love what 

you do. I am a collector of a number of things. And so here is my 

question. When I was the county executive of Erie County, New 

York, largest upstate county. If you know our history, 1901 Pan 

Am Exposition, one of the wealthiest cities in the United States at 

the turn of the last century, now the third-poorest in the United 

States, but because of that history, we have one of the most magnificent science museums, one of the first in the country. We have 

a wonderful historical society. We have got one of the greatest rare 

books collections anywhere in the world. And, Dr. Johnson, we are 

home to the Penn Dixie paleontology site. I don’t know if you visit 

us but that is well known. 

So here is my issue. As county executive, we provided millions 

of dollars of funding to each of these institutions, and I remember 

a tour of the science museum and they display about two percent 

of what they have. When I went into one room, honest to God, they 

had 1,000 spears, from hundreds of years ago and 10,000 arrowheads. And I am pragmatic to a fault. I know I am. It is dollars 

and cents. But in this day, as Dr. Johnson said, funding for these 

museums is difficult, especially at the community level. What is 

your opinion of deaccessions and if I have got 10,000 arrowheads 

and I got to store them, selling 8,000 of them and—you know, you 

could raise big—I am not talking about selling the Hope Diamond 

although I would wonder what that might bring. It might dent our 

national debt. 

But could you just, you know, for a local museum and local people, no one ever wants to give anything back, but let’s face it, many 

of them have so much stuff they have got to pay and—just kind 

of interested in your opinion, not at your level but more at the local 

level? 

Dr. JOHNSON. Yes. I think one of the important things to think 

about collections are many things and many of them formed in the 

late 1800s or early 1900s and we have got a lot of legacy collections 

out there. Museums that are well run do a fair amount of collections planning and collections improvement, and improvement includes both adding things to the collection but also removing things 

from the collections that are no longer useful or needed. It is a 

tricky business, and in some cases, things like rare and endangered 

species or Native American artifacts, it is very difficult to ethically 

dispose of them. So you might think this is no longer needed but 

what is the right step to deaccession it and then remove it to a different place ethically? Often, we find it takes more money to 

deaccession something than is available. So it is not a simple solution. There have been many museums who thought they could get 

out of the business of being museums and find that it actually costs 

more to get out of the business than it does to stay in the business. 

So it is a challenge but there has been a growing trend and we 

are one of the leaders in the trend of careful collections planning 

with the intent of collections improvement because collections must 

be used to be housed in the collections arena. And we have done 

a lot of good work with that here because it is not just the condition of the collection; it is what their intellectual value is. Is it 

something that we need to keep? Is there a reason for society to 
68 

keep these objects in the public trust? So a very hot topic in museology right now. 

Dr. PELL. I will just add to that. You are talking about arrowheads, which are pretty small. Well, we have some very large 

things in our collection, too. We have aircraft, many of them, and 

storing them is a huge challenge for us. And General Dailey, who 

is the Director of the Air and Space Museum is very carefully and 

from time to time deaccessioning some of our aircraft to other aircraft museums around the country. So there are times when it is 

appropriate to deaccession, especially if we know that we can then 

make that artifact more available to more people. 

Dr. CLOUGH. I would just add one more thing to this. The opportune time to really make decisions about some of these things is 

when you are doing some major overhaul to a collection center. And 

we have military history uniforms at the Smithsonian in the American History Museum, and recently, we were fortunate to really go 

after that collection center and update it and upgrade it. And it 

turned out we had many duplicates of those uniforms and there 

was no reason for us to have those. And as you know, there are 

many military museums around the country. And so we 

deaccession by giving them to other museums that had a case for 

those objects. 

Mr. COLLINS. Well, I appreciate that. I can tell you when I mentioned that at a board meeting, there was a hush in the room that 

is even hard to describe when I thought of doing it, not to give it 

to another museum but to sell it for money to help fund the operations. It didn’t go over real well. But, in this day and age you have 

got to consider things. And as you said, whether it is uniforms or 

other objects, there is a value there and so forth. 

Well, again, my time is expired but thank you for letting us enjoy 

your exhibits today, and again, I am a big fan of yours and thank 

you for all you do. 

Dr. JOHNSON. Thank you. 

Chairman BUCSHON. Well, thank you very much to all the witnesses. It has been fascinating testimony. Thanks for bringing the 

scientists, for bringing all of your objects from the Smithsonian. We 

have a nice military museum, by the way, in Vincennes, Indiana, 

and a private guy would appreciate a few planes if you are getting 

rid of any of them. This is a guy who actually started a collection 

when he was in high school and now he is probably in his late 60s; 

over the years he has collected—and he of course travels the country meeting all kinds of people and people give him planes because 

they know him. It is fascinating. 

The record will remain open for two weeks for additional comments and written questions from the Members. At this point the 

witnesses are excused and the hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:30 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 
(69) 

Appendix I 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS
70 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Dr. G. Wayne Clough 
71 

Responses by Dr. Eva J. Pell 
72 

Responses by Dr. Kirk Johnson 
(73) 

Appendix II 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL FOR THE RECORD
74 

SUBMITTED STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, RANKING

MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY

Good afternoon, I would like to thank the Chairman for holding today’s hearing 

to explore the scientific research the Smithsonian is undertaking. 

The Smithsonian was established from a bequest of more than $500,000 from a 

British scientist who never set foot on American soil. While he never wrote about 

his motivation of giving the money to the US, some speculate that he was inspired 

by the United States’ experiment with democracy, as well as his own philanthropic 

ideals. He gave this gift to found an institution for the ‘‘increase and diffusion of 

knowledge.’’ From that initial gift over 160 years ago, this country has continued 

to fund the Smithsonian which has become as much of a national treasure as any 

other monument on the National Mall. 

It is easy to see how kids can be inspired to run home and look for fossils in their 

backyards or try to identity the constellations in the night sky after walking 

through the halls of any one of the Smithsonian’s museums. We only have to look 

at the latest student assessment statistics to understand that our students are falling further behind their international counterparts in science and math. American 

competitiveness depends on our students’ ability to meet the science and technology 

needs of the not so distant future. The Smithsonian’s role in informal education is 

one that very much gives students a hands-on experience for those subjects they 

learn in their classrooms, enhancing their overall learning experience. Making 

STEM education a positive learning experience is very important, and making more 

STEM education programs accessible in communities that are underrepresented in 

the STEM career fields is essential for our nation’s competitiveness. 

I am eager to hear the status of the Smithsonian’s role as the lead agency on informal education and outreach as outlined in the Administration’s fiscal year 2014 

proposed STEM education reorganization. 

In addition to the Smithsonian’s administration of STEM programs, it leads largescale, worldwide research and curates and manages scientific collections used not 

only by Smithsonian scientists but also federal agencies. I congratulate Dr. Clough 

and Dr. Pell on their work, and wish them well as they move on to future endeavors. I look forward to a smooth transition in leadership and continuation of the important research and education work done at the Smithsonian. 

Again, I thank the witnesses for being here today and look forward to their testimony. I yield the balance of my time. 

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