An blog post by David C. Blackburn of the California Academy of Science, “Why More Biologists Need to Teach in Africa” is featured in American Scientist. He shares reflections on his trip to Cameroon to co-teach a class in the Biodiversity Informatics Training Curriculum (BITC), which is funded by JRS.  Blackburn recounts that he’s “always been struck by how few African scientists have participated in the formal process of discovering and describing new species” and that it is surprising that so few scientists in Cameroon have been involved in the process of describing new species although it is such a biodiversity-rich area.  Blackburn, a JRS Grantee,  concludes, “As an international community of scientists, we should be building in-country capacity for discovery and analysis to promote ownership and respect for local biodiversity and investment in sustaining rich ecosystems over the long-term.”

See the full article here.