Collaborative research: rapid: securing the guccion biorepository to build a unique dataset for natural resource exploration in the US using artificial intelligence

The National Science Foundation Division of Biological Infrastructure awarded $135,492 to the New York State Education Department on August 1, 2026, under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to secure, preserve, and digitize the Guccion biorepository.

The project rescues approximately 68,000 specimens of American plants and fungi collected primarily from the Mid-Atlantic region between 1960 and 2000. The collection, assembled by John Guccion, documents species data that fills major gaps in U.S. plant and fungal sampling, doubling specimen records currently available in biorepositories for some geographic regions and time periods. The award funds rapid dissemination of physical specimens and digital records to a coordinated network of 18 U.S. biorepositories, leveraging NSF-supported cyberinfrastructure and artificial intelligence approaches. The project applies large language models to accelerate specimen processing and metadata creation, immediately strengthening national biodiversity resources that support natural resource management, invasive species monitoring, biotechnology discovery, and studies of species responses to urbanization and environmental change.

Work is performed in Albany, New York, with a period of performance from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027. This RAPID award responds to the urgent need to prevent permanent loss of an irreplaceable scientific resource and advances scalable approaches for scientific collection rescue.

Abstract

This NSF rapid project responds to the urgent need to rescue, preserve, and make accessible a unique scientific resource that would otherwise remain at risk of permanent loss. Biorepositories in the form of natural history collections safeguard irreplaceable biological data across generations, but timely intervention is essential when historically important collections are discovered outside established repositories. This project will rapidly secure an unparalleled resource of physical and digital data associated with approximately 68,000 specimens documenting american plants and fungi, particularly from the mid-atlantic region between 1960 and 2000. The collection was assembled by john guccion (1936?2025), a pioneering scientist in human health and microscopy whose extensive work on plants and fungi remained unknown to the broader scientific community, creating an exceptional opportunity ? And urgent responsibility ? To preserve these at-risk materials before deterioration or dispersal can occur. The collection fills major gaps in U.S. Plant and fungal sampling, and for some geographic regions and time periods will double the specimen data currently available in biorepositories. Through the rapid dissemination of physical specimens and digital records to a coordinated network of 18 U.S. Biorepositories, leveraging existing NSF-supported cyberinfrastructure and innovative artificial intelligence approaches, the project will immediately strengthen national biodiversity resources that support natural resource management, invasive species monitoring, biotechnology discovery, and studies of species responses to urbanization and environmental change. The project also advances innovative, scalable approaches for scientific collection rescue. Artificial intelligence large language models will be used to rapidly interpret hundreds of typed data sheets, while QR code technology will permanently link physical specimens with complete digital records. Together, these methods establish a new, efficient framework for rescuing, digitizing, and securing large legacy scientific collections under time-sensitive circumstances. By rapidly unlocking the research potential of DR. Guccion's legacy collection and making its data publicly available and searchable, this rapid project will preserve an irreplaceable scientific resource for future generations. IT will also train students in collection rescue, digitization, and AI-assisted curation, enhance specimen-based educational resources, and produce an open-access publication describing the project's methods and outcomes as a replicable national model for the rapid preservation of at-risk biological collections. This collaboration between researchers at george mason unversity (VA) and the new york state museum (NY) will physically stabilize, curate, digitize, and publicly disseminate the guccion biorepository, which comprises an estimated 68,000 specimens (~31,458 plants, ~36,907 bryophytes and lichens). These unique data complement and greatly expand those now available through US biorepositories and fill significant sampling gaps in time, geographic location, and taxonomic representation. Salvage and preservation efforts for this project will establish a major research resource that addresses critical eastern US plant and fungal data gaps. The project leverages over 1000 pages of legacy metadata text, which will be parsed using generative AI large language models. Digitized data will be imported into a database hosted by the sernec portal and shared publicly through idigbio and gbif. Physical specimens will receive archival labels with QR codes linked to permanent ARK urls that will return json-formatted darwin core metadata. These will provide an additional stable data store independent of idigbio and gbif, ensuring machine-readable data remains retrievable by anyone in the future. Specimens will be georeferenced and verified by project personnel. Ultimately the physical specimens and digital data will be distributed across a network of 18 US biorepositories with specific regional and taxonomic foci. Two graduate research assistants and ten undergraduate students and interns will be trained in both foundational and next-generation AI-driven biodiversity informatics. Methodological innovations will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed open-access publication, providing a replicable framework for the rapid assessment, digitization, and preservation of orphaned biorepositories nationwide. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.