Mississippi state university, in collaboration with a consortium of partners representing zoological parks, aquariums, private landowners, academia, federal agencies, and state wildlife, will lead a…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Mississippi State University $679,325 on September 1, 2026, under the National Leadership Grants program (CFDA 45.312) to lead a research and outreach initiative addressing amphibian population sustainability through a consortium of zoological parks, aquariums, private landowners, academia, federal agencies, and state wildlife partners.

The project expands national support for assisted reproduction, cryobanking, and decision support technologies for threatened amphibian species. The team will develop and test an artificial intelligence-driven tool that integrates genomic, husbandry, and cryopreservation data to support species prioritization recommendations. By sharing methods that maintain genetic diversity among captive colonies of vulnerable amphibian species, the project strengthens sustainability indices for living collections and mitigates risks of population collapse.

Performance runs through August 31, 2029, with work conducted in Starkville, Mississippi. This project grant is classified as assistance funding under the National Leadership Grants program, which supports projects with potential to advance museum and library practice through models, tools, research findings, and alliances that can be scaled or replicated across the field.

Mississippi state university, in collaboration with a consortium of partners representing zoological parks, aquariums, private landowners, academia, federal agencies, and state wildlife, will lead a research and outreach program to address amphibian population sustainability. The project team will expand support nationally for assisted reproduction, cryobanking, and decision support technologies, and test an AI-driven tool that integrates data about genomes, husbandry, and cryopreservation to assist in making recommendations for species prioritization. By sharing methods that ensure genetic diversity among captive colonies of threatened amphibian species that could be vulnerable to collapse, the project will strengthen sustainability indices for living collections.