Department Collections
The Biology Department has several specimen teaching collections for multiple organismal groups. The vascular plant and insect collections are the largest, but other invertebrate groups are well represented as are some vertebrate skeletons and skulls. Aside from a small teaching collection of fungi, the department houses the research fungal collections of Dr. Avis and past students in a separate fungarium within a room inside the north suite of Marram Hall 303.
There also is a large microscope slide collection encompassing subjects of microbiological interest, parasites, histology, diseases, animal development, and cells, tissues and sections of both plants and animals. This collection, as well as the macro-collections mentioned above are in the slow process of being catalogued and organized by the department's Academic Lab Specialist.
The Department has an extensive collection of human anatomy models housed in the Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory in the center of the third floor of Marram Hall. There are multiple copies of each model covering all the major organs and systems of the human body. In addition there are skeletal specimens and preserved mammal specimen material available for dissection.
The Biology Department is the home of the Northwest Indiana Restoration Monitoring Inventory (
NIRMI) and its associated collections, field instrumentation, tools, and databases. NIRMI has space in the first floor opposite the shared Fluorescent Microscope Lab. The NIRMI reference herbarium (collection of dried pressed plant specimens) is located in the outer area of the lab. In the main lab there is a quality stereoscope with microscale objective, two PC computers, a multi-use printer/copier, field gear (meter sticks, 50m meter tapes, dbh tapes, compasses, Nikon range finders, a Canon PowerShot G12 digital camera with tripod, an Ashtech GNSS GPS receiver and antenna), a library of regional floras and associated plant identification books, maps, site reports, and the NIRMI archives.
