The Molluscan Science Foundation is a non-profit stationed in Baltimore, Maryland. 

 

Our main goals are recording molluscan diversity, anatomy, and biochemistry,  and malacology in order to support research, documentation, and conservation of molluscs and their habitat worldwide.

 

 Another primary focus is to send information and materials to schools to help educate our youth and future generations about the wonders of marine life.

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Our goals can be outlined as follows:

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Posterity: Assembling shell collections, databases, and literature for future research.

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Education: Workshops in schools and exhibitions.

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Research: Taxonomy, Biodiversity, DNA barcoding, Medical Research, Funding of research projects and expeditions. Close networking with public institutions students, citizen scientists, and media.           

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Conservation: Assessing and Monitoring populations, Diversity, and Ecology through our expeditions, databases, and collections.

 

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A major thrust of the Foundation will be in publishing new research related to the different areas that have been enumerated. Two of our MSF Board members have been publishing ongoing work related to malacology. A large thrust of this Foundation will be to encourage amateur conchologists and other contributors for research as well. The different research endeavors, as well as the highlighted articles, will be featured on the website mentioned above. Not only will the website feature research from the Board members and scientific advisors, but various featured articles as well as a complete database of manuscripts will be included. These efforts will be documented not only in research articles, but also in forums and posted on the website. In addition, articles and further research of interest from around the world will also be posted on the website.

 

The Foundation is also involved in funding students of malacology in those areas where institutions fail: in providing funds for anything that takes place outside of a grant or officially funded research-project. For example, the expenses for traveling to conduct research on museum collections, to meet other malacologists to cooperate on a publication, or to take a diving-course to be able to conduct field research, which can lead to numerous scientific insights and the discovery of dozens of new species.

 

The IRS has granted 501c3 tax exempt status for our organization. This means that donations made to the foundation are tax-deductible.

 

For information on how to become a collaborator or sponsor, and how the process of tax refund works, please contact the Foundation's president, Dr. Michael Mont: molluscanscience@gmail.com

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