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[[underlined]] THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: DR. HOFFMAN'S VIEWS [[/underlined]]

Dr. Robert S. Hoffmann, recently appointed Assistant Secretary for Research after a relatively short but productive stint as Director of the National Museum of Natural History, had prepared the following report on two important new directions for that museum.   In a brief oral presentation he expanded upon these topics and invited members of the Board of Regents to ask questions concerning any aspect of the current status or future of natural sciences at the Smithsonian.

Dr. Hoffman pointed out that a major theoretical advance, phylogenetic systematics, coupled with the advent of the use of computers in the natural sciences, and advances in molecular biology make it both possible and imperative to apply molecular characteristics to the study of systematic relationships of organisms and their evolutionary patterns. As this approach requires a major shift from the Museum's traditional focus on the anatomy and morphology of the specimens in the collections, the Museum is undertaking to establish its own molecular laboratory as well as cooperative arrangements with molecular biologists at neighboring research institutions. This more modern approach will be further enhanced by a turnover in personnel; about 40% of the current staff, largely comprising the traditional systematists, will reach retirement age within the next seven years and thus provide an opportunity to attempt to recruit the best young evolutionary biologists who are trained in these modern techniques and theoretical approaches. Efforts are also being made to stimulate greater research productivity among the current research staff. The result should be a major improvement in the quality of research which will be of great importance as the Museum tries to meet its major challenge, the crisis of extinction -- a crisis of global proportions.